Kevin Hart has added a new car to his growing collection, a 1987 Buick Grand National—an icon of the 1980s.
However, like many of the classic muscle cars that dominate the comedian and actor’s collection, the Grand National has been extensively worked over, in this case by Wisconsin’s Salvaggio Design, the same company that built Hart’s 940-hp 1969 Plymouth Road Runner.
Salvaggio Design dialed things down for the Grand National, choosing to forgo the easy route of dropping a V-8 under the hood and instead sticking with V-6 power. The selected engine was the twin-turbo 3.6-liter V-6 from a Cadillac ATS-V, tuned here to deliver 650 hp instead of the stock 464 hp.
Kevin Hart’s 1987 Buick Grand National by Salvaggio Design
Almost all of the engine’s accessories needed to be changed or relocated to fit in the Grand National. However, Salvaggio Design went a step further and swapped the stock twin-turbo setup for a custom single-turbo design as a homage to the engine in the Grand National GNX. A custom Magnaflow exhaust was also added.
Fed with 103-octane race fuel and running about 20 psi boost, the engine hit 650 hp during dyno testing. Salvaggio Design still plans to fit performance camshafts in a chase for 700 hp.
Underpinning the car is a custom chassis frame built by Salvaggio Design and featuring Detroit Speed & Engineering X-Gen 595 front suspension and a DSE four-link setup with Panhard bar for the rear. The wheels are a set of 19-inch HRE 501s, and are wrapped in Toyo Proxes R888R tires measuring 265/30 at the front and 325/30 at the rear.
Kevin Hart’s 1987 Buick Grand National by Salvaggio Design
For the body, fabrication expert Sean Smith was called in. He started with a donor body which was kept mostly stock, focusing instead on the details. For example, the front fascia is a unique design made from carbon fiber. The lightweight stuff was also used for the hood, rear spoiler, and mirrors. It can also be found inside the cabin and engine bay.
Also in the cabin, you’ll find a combination of dark blue and gray leather on the front seats and a roll cage in lieu of the rear seats. Bronze accents matching accents found in the engine bay also litter the cabin, and are joined by a shift knob and shift boot bezel that are machined from solid. The instrument panel was 3D printed and fitted with Holley gauges.
Salvaggio Design presented the car for the first time during last week’s SEMA show in Las Vegas, with Hart present at the showing.
