Andre Da Silva is a stunt man and actor for television, movies, and video games. He’s also an out-and-out muscle car fanatic, and for an incredible reason. His mother was killed when she was hit by a car after her own automobile had broken down. Andre vowed that nobody in his family would ever have a breakdown again, and learned how to wrench in honor of his mother. To have an incredible automotive fanaticism grow out of such a tragic event, and spawn a life of collecting and building and driving. There aren’t many Oldsmobile enthusiasts out there, but the ones that still love them are hard core about it.
This episode of The House of Muscle centers on Andre’s 1975 Hurst/Olds Cutlass Supreme with an optional 455 big-block that has been pumped up to nearly 600 horsepower with an extra 250 shot of nitrous just for good measure. The suspension has been completely reconfigured, and the interior is still being restored (you’ll notice the headliner is out for this filming). Being that this car was kitted out from the factory with the “Hurst Hatch” t-tops, and an extra pimpy white interior, it might be the perfect boulevard cruiser muscle car now.
This big boat of a car can actually handle reasonably well now, and with more than double the power it came with standard, it’s an impressive display of Oldsmobile pro-touring-ish prowess. This is the kind of car that you wouldn’t be afraid to take to the drag strip on a Saturday night, take to a track day on Sunday morning, then kick off a cross-country road trip on Monday. It’s fast, it’s comfortable, and it gives the owner a whole lot of joy. Isn’t that really the point of being a car person? It seems to me that Andre really gets it.