Some vehicles catch your eye with bright colors, big motors, loud noises, a thumping stereo system. Some are so frighteningly ugly that you’d just as soon go look at whatever’s in the parking lot at Wal-Mart first. Then you have cars that don’t fall into the first category, but aren’t right in the second one either. And that is where we find Project Low Buck Long Roof, a 1974 Chevelle station wagon that was built by Holley. Low, cool and ready to both cruise and embarrass anything that confuses it for anything Mrs. Brady ever drove, this long roof is certainly an eye-catcher.
The Chevelle, as purchased. (Photo courtesy Holley.com)
At first glance it looks like someone found a really nice wagon, freshened the paint, did wheels and lowered it. But the Chevelle is way more than that. This is one of the LS Testbed cars that Holley uses for development purposes. The wagon sports a 6.0L LQ9 Chevrolet iron block. Originally equipped with dual 390cfm carbs on a high-rise intake, the Chevelle is now fueled by a Terminator EFI system and breathes out Hooker exhaust manifolds. The 4L60E transmission is controlled by a Dominator ECU system, and the power is routed out to a Moser 9” rear axle with a Detroit Speed swaybar.
The Chevelle was treated to a full frame-off restoration. Everything chassis-wise was powdercoated by Superior Powdercoating in Nashville, Tennessee. The interior was freshened up with new carpeting, On the outside, the bumpers were cleaned up.
The LQ9 with the Terminator EFI system.
The bumpers were moved in, and trimmed for side overhang.
The interior is fresh…except for new carpeting, it was exactly as Holley got it.
It even has the rear jump seat. Perfect for Junior to sit in…while he’s flipping off traffic.
(Special thanks to Jeremy at Holley for bringing the Chevelle out at the crack of dawn. You rock.)
that is fine work, love the 74.
I love this car.
I’m not usually a fan of the big bumper cars of the seventies but I like how they removed the front and rear porches from this car. Really looks good.
Isn’t a TBI on an LS motor a bit of a step backwards?
Pretty cool car, just one detail that seemed a bit out of place.
I am not a huge fan of this body style, but they did a great job on this car. I pulled the huge bumper in on my 73 Impala and it made a huge difference in its looks.
I hated this car in its original guise . Can’t say I think much of its looks now either despite all the improvements . But the performance alone I’m guessing will more than make up for it .
I’d love to see the looks on some pretentious C7 or new Z/28 owner’s face when this ‘ wagon ‘ goes blowing by him . Ahhhh … they aint nuthin better in the whole wide world sometimes than a bad@&$ed Draggin Wagon in MommyMobile disguise .
Yeah, it is a great car,,,the only thing I would change would installing a “Laguna” nose on it
Does it have any way for blasting out of a Bowling Green sinkhole?
Why do they call this a low buck project. Since when is a frame off resto a low buck resto?
Didn’t Stacey David do some of the work on Gearz?
I’ve been telling people for years how cool these cars can be. These are really neat cars, but people didn’t like them way back. Now they will cost a fortune to get them, damnit.