A couple of months ago before being in the market for a Lightning, I paid a visit to Courtesy Chevrolet to see their advertised Thunder. They equip these 5.3's with a whipple supercharger, 18 wheels, Edelbrock TSR headers, Borla cat back, and Helwig suspension and they want $39K for them. The young salesman claimed they produce 400 hp. Has anyone seen or heard of the track times or has anyone run one of these?

 

This truck is very similar to the Arizona Speed and Marine (ASM) truck. I met **** Headman (of the Headman Header Family) at Firebird back in September. He gave me his card and we had a great talk while they cleaned the track for probably a 1/2 hour. He was hired by Courtesy to head their performance division.... he said they were tired of waiting for something that even comes close to the 454SS concept truck, and wanted to create a GM product that could match the Lightnings. He was very excited that night because he felt they had just figured out how to modify the chip to actually use the power the motor was making. Apparently the computer senses torque in the transmission and cuts back the engine if it exceeds the prescribed limit. In fact the ASM jerk was there that same night and **** was pleased that he was doing better. His times that night were a few .10's off mine, I think 14.4 @ 97mph. That was several months ago and with development they could be where were at today. The whipple is really neat in that it is a true efficient compressor. We definitely have the least expensive package. I think ASM was asking in the neighborhood of $42K.

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Joel.......
99.5 White Lightning,
SVT # 0052

 

Thanks Joel. Yeah, I was real curious on the Thunder, cause when I finally receive my L, I wanted to know if they are a force to be reckoned with. I definitely need to meet you sometime, probably we'll hook up at Firebird. Got plenty on the mod list for my Vette, so probably won't head out there till after the New Year. I'll make a posting prior to my next trip.

P.S. I credit you and Yoda with getting me into this Lightning craze. I saw both you guys run at Firebird on Nov 12th, after that I just had to have one.
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[This message has been edited by Peter B (edited 12-19-1999).]

 

I'll be there also. I was planning on making a trip to ASM to look at the their truck ut just havent had the time. Wanna see what they have to say about it. After they tel me the price I might say "hum for $42k I could go buy a Lightning", then see what they say.