It isn’t too hard to be a fan of the Buick V6…it’s one of the most criminally underrated engines ever produced. Front-drive, rear-drive, supercharged, turbocharged…it’s a damn good building point for someone who wants to explore their options. Produced for decades, made legendary in the all-black Buicks of the 1980s and a sleeper hit in the family cars of the late 1990s and 2000s, Buick sixes are well-renowned for what they can do.
Now, add one Australian with a bent for power into the mix and watch the magic appear before your eyes. You’re looking at a 1996 Holden Commodore and while the names might not be familiar, the parts list will make up for that. Down under, this was the Ecotec engine, and this one is a 4.2L stroker motor with a a Garrett turbo cramming over 40 PSI of boost down into the well-build block. Capable of 8.79@156 MPH, the part that kills us about this Holden is that it’s still rocking hubcaps on the wheels. Imagine running a car like this on the streets just one time. Nobody would be safe because “just a V6” would be all you would need to say.
One small correction. It’s a VT Commodore 1997-2000. They handed the unlovely, unloved, unsuccessful and mostly unwanted AU Falcon it’s arse