700-HP 1977 Buick LeSabre Is a Sub-10-Second Malaise Era Sleeper
Early-bird special at the Golden Corral? Beat ya there!
Upon first glance, this looks like your typical Malaise era 1977 Buick LeSabre coupe, albeit in clean condition, given that a lot of these cars were left to rot in fields if they didn’t succumb to rust while still on the road, that is. But would you believe this two-ton land yacht is actually capable of running the quarter-mile drag in less than 10 seconds?
Lurking under the hood of this unassuming 4,200-pound body lies a 385-cubic-inch, LT1-based Chevy V8, tuned out the wazoo to help this puppy crack the quarter-mile in a time that would make Dominic Torretto happy.
According to the video’s dub-over, it’s been converted from fuel injection to a carbureted set up along with a custom nitrous system. Without the custom tune, it churns out around 400 horsepower to the wheels; however, thanks to plenty of tweaking and upgrades, the supposed result is now 700 hp at the wheels on pump gas with the nitrous shot, as claimed by the owner.
Built specially for the owner’s dad, the LeSabre retains its daily drivability and apparently still has air conditioning, its original radio, and the stock interior.
Prior to replacing the engine's original hydraulic cam lifter with a solid unit, the owner was able to crack a 9.85-second quarter-mile drag time. Now, he claims it's capable of an additional 25 horsepower, which would hopefully end up with a slightly quicker time. They've supposedly had to dial back the tune as the setup that produced 700 horses kept ruining spark plugs, but once that kink gets ironed out, expect to see more improvement from here on out. Talk about the ultimate sleeper.
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