24,772 original miles. Completely unmodified. Never raced or abused, no winters. Enthusiast-owned and beautifully maintained. Everything works, drives great, ready to scare some Ferrari owners. What a truck!
Black was your only choice in 1991, the first and only year for the Syclone, but what else would be as appropriate? This sucker is nasty! It wears all its original paint and bodywork, including the aggressive plastic body kit that makes it longer and lower than a standard S10. The finish is better than expected for a ‘90s GM product, with a nice shine and none of the peeling that seems to plague other vehicles of the period. The satin black body kit offers a cool contrast that emphasizes the hunky little pickup’s performance aspirations, and obviously someone has kept this as a toy rather than a daily driver all its life. Panel gaps are good, if not great, which is how GM was doing business in the ‘90s, and even the original Syclone decals are in place on the doors and tailgate. The rear roll pan was also standard equipment (there is no rear bumper) and since GM wouldn’t let you tow a trailer with it, it was irrelevant anyway. A snug-fitting tonneau cover is the lone deviation from stock spec, but it turns the bed (with a measly 550 pound weight limit) into the world’s biggest trunk. I think you’ll find that acceptable.
Black cloth buckets with red piping and “Syclone” embroidery were also part of the package, making it a true 2-seater in the strictest sense. But seeing a pickup with buckets and a console back in 1991 was pretty cool and the chairs are supportive enough to be the right choice for a truck with this much performance. The interior remains in exemplary condition that’s commensurate with its low mileage, and it has clearly been stored out of the sunlight because there’s no fading or cracking on any of the interior plastics. GM gave you a full gauge package, including a tachometer with a built-in boost gauge to monitor the turbocharged V6 and it’s fun to watch it bounce up and down in time with your right foot. They also made everything standard, including A/C (blows cold), power windows, locks, and mirrors, cruise control, fog lights, and a tilt steering column. The original Delco AM/FM/cassette stereo is still in the center stack and it sounds decent, even today. As you can see in the photos, it’s all beautifully preserved and shows very little evidence of use, making this a truck that you will be pleased to show.
GMC wanted to showcase some of their technical know-how and move a bit upscale with the Syclone, so they took the familiar 4.3 liter V6 and pressurized it with a big, honkin’ turbo. The 4.3 was a tough truck engine, little more than a 350 Chevy small block V8 with two cylinders lopped off, but it was never known for performance. Well, with a big Mitsubishi TD06-17C turbocharger, Garrett water-to-air intercooler, special pistons, rods, reinforced main caps, upgraded head gaskets, a bigger fuel system, a custom intake manifold with throttle bodies from the 5.7 liter Corvette engine, and obviously special exhaust manifolds, it’s pretty far removed from the garden-variety 4.3 lump. The end result is 280 horsepower and 350 pounds of torque, enough to make the featherweight S10 a legitimate threat to the Corvette. It can be a little grumpy at start-up, which is typical of early GM turbocharged vehicles (the Buick Grand National and Trans Am Turbo are quite similar in their cold-start antics), but once it’s up and spinning, look out! If you stay out of the throttle, it’s content to trundle around town without seeming like a high-performance machine. Stomp the throttle, however, and the boost gauge comes up while things start to happen in a hurry. Since this one is unmodified, it remains OEM reliable, but as with the aforementioned Grand National, huge horsepower gains are inexpensive and don’t come at the cost of reliability.
A big part of that dominance comes from the Borg-Warner all-wheel-drive transfer case bolted to the back of the quick-shifting 700R4 4-speed automatic transmission. The suspension has been beefed up to handle the performance as well, with big sway bars and stiffer shocks and springs to hunker it down over the wheels. It’s not a Corvette, but it’s not a pickup anymore, either, and that’s a lot of fun. The undercarriage is a little dirty (it looks like someone drove it in the rain) but there’s no rust or critical damage and this truck has never seen winter weather of any kind and you could spend a weekend wiping it down to make it look almost new again. The CV joint boots are excellent, bushings are not cracking, and it carries what appears to be a stainless steel cat-back exhaust system that gives the V6 a little bit of a snarky sound. Factory 16-inch alloys were unique to this truck, and they carry 245/50/16 Firestone radials that are probably only the second set of tires it has ever worn.
You remember these and always thought they were cool. Now is your opportunity to grab one that hasn’t been modified or abused, and relive that awesome time in the ‘90s when horsepower was making a comeback. GM is probably done taking chances like this, which makes the Syclone that much more special. Call today!
We also have a 1993 GMC Typhoon available and the two trucks are available as a set—call for details!
