For many years, the phrase high performance truck was an oxymoron. Sure, there were trucks which gave the impression they could serve up big performance when it came to off-road excursions, heavy duty towing, or brawny load-carrying capacity, but when the term “high performance” was used to refer to acceleration, handling or braking, trucks were the antithesis those skill sets.
But in 1991, someone at General Motors who was thinking waaayyyyy outside the box, decided to float this idea past the GM product planners. How about a GMC Sonoma-class pickup with a turbocharged and intercooled 4.3-liter V6 making close to 300 horsepower, full-time all-wheel-drive, a snarky set of lower body moldings or cladding, and a cool name?
Say “Hello” to the 1991 GMC Syclone.
The hellacious little pickup that rolled from the GM assembly lines immediately changed the way performance enthusiasts viewed trucks. The Syclone was suddenly one of the quickest accelerating vehicles available to the public—car or truck. Only the 1991 ZR-1 Corvette was a fair American fight for the Syclone with its 375-horsepower LT-5 engine, while every other domestic manufacturer was still struggling to get back into the performance game after a performance-dreary decade of the 1980’s (Chrysler’s Dodge Viper was still one year away from production).
The 225-horsepower Ford Mustang GT 5.0 couldn’t match the Syclone’s 0-60 MPH time of 4.3 seconds nor could the 245-horsepower, 5.7 Liter 1991 Camaro. Chrysler’s heaviest hitter in 1991 was the Dodge Spirit R/T, powered by a turbocharged 2.2-liter, 4-cylinder engine spinning out 224 horses.
Again, no match for the Syclone.
And anyone who remembers the cover of the September 1991 issue of Car and Driver magazine will certainly attest to the surprising results of the drag race the road testers at C&D conducted between a Syclone and a Ferrari 348t—several times—with the little black pickup truck torching the Italian Stallion repeatedly in the quarter-mile.
The GMC Typhoon followed in 1992 and 1993. I own a 1993 Typhoon and have had it since 1995. Based on the S-15 Jimmy, the Typhoon has the same powertrain as the Syclone but is hauling around a little more weight, hence it’s not quite as quick. But it IS fast, getting from 0-60 in 5.3 seconds and capable of quarter-mile elapsed times in the low 14-second range. Both the Syclone and Typhoon have grippy ABS, all kinds of standard amenities such as a leather interior, power brakes, power steering, power windows, power seats and locks, air conditioning, an excellent 700R4 overdrive transmission, and low-profile performance radials on model-specific aluminum alloy wheels. And it should be mentioned that these trucks handle like, well, cars with their taut suspensions, quick steering ratios, and low centers of gravity.
It should also be pointed out that Syclones and Typhoons are remarkably affordable. The market on these low-volume “muscle trucks” has been stagnant for a long time and I’ve seen low mileage, well-maintained examples sell at auction for anywhere from $15,000 to $25,000, with driver-quality specimens changing hands for far less. At some point in the future, as we’ve seen with many other collectible-grade automobiles, the market is going to wake up to the historical significance, performance proclivities, and undeniable “cool factor” the GMC Syclone and Typhoon bring to the party. Then, the prices will begin to go up.
All things being equal, they are performance trucks which taught performance cars a thing or two.
