ALPHA OMEGA

HOLLEY’S LATEST PROJECT LEADS THE PACK FOR EFI PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

- Wes Duenkel

In a world where manufacturer-commissioned project cars are flawless trailer queens, Holley Performance Products in Bowling Green, Kentucky, wanted to build a car worthy of the average enthusiast. Sure, they have built their fair share of spotlessly clean muscle machines—but Holley’s horsepower honcho Tom Tomlinson and Engineering Director Tim Grillot figured their next project should be, as Grillot describes, “more obtainable.”

Tomlinson and Grillot browsed the market and settled on this 1977 Oldsmobile Omega from Arizona. It ticked the right boxes: cheap, rust-free, and quirky. Tomlinson set a few ground rules: it needed to use an aluminum-block L33 5.3 engine, use an overdrive auto trans, have air conditioning, and run 10s. Oh, and it had to be done in three weeks—in time for Holley LS Fest.

Tomlinson unleashed Grillot and his build team of Lucas Embry and Logan Duvall to build the Omega as a test bed for their new Super Sniper blow-through throttle body EFI systems, a product that combines the simplicity of a blow-through carburetor with the driveability and tunability of Holley’s EFI.