1991 GMC Syclone Pickup Truck - Jay Leno's Garage

Another episode of Jay Leno's Garage today we are going to talk about my

1991

cyclone

truck

. I bought this new in

1991

, a limited production vehicle, they only built three. They thought well, they built two hundred and twenty-nine hundred and nine hundred and ninety-eight. of these and there's only one year in 1991, they built three in 1992, but the reason I bought it was faster than a Ferrari and you go there, look at that, but this little

truck

was the fastest accelerating vehicle you could buy in 1991. faster than Corvette, bastard with the Ferrari 348 faster than trying the Rossa, it's hard to believe this has a v6 engine, it's turbocharged, many people think it's the engine from the Buick Grand National which was a 3, 8 liters, this is 4.3, this is a vortex engine. the Grand National had a liquid cooled intercooler, the Grand National had an air intercooler so it was a bit quicker and with four wheel drive it engaged pretty quickly but that shows how things were in 1991 when a

pickup

truck was the fastest accelerating vehicle you could buy from 0 to 60 and I think 4.6 4.2 or so whatever it was 280 horsepower from the factory everyone seems to think it was closer to 330 horsepower but For insurance reasons they build it at 280 in a very similar way to them.

I did with the first Hemis that were actually two times 25, they are actually quite a bit more than that. It's an interesting vehicle because it's too light for heavy duty and too heavy for light duty, making it more like a sport utility vehicle. I don't recommend loading more than 500 pounds in the box. You only have 37 percent of your weight over the rear wheel of the car. You only have brakes on the front and rear drums. You really need this. and back because the front, the distant, all the work up front with only 37% of the weight back here, they didn't work very hard anyway, obviously, mission auto, nineties type of velvet seats, these sold for about from 25 to 26 thousand dollars.

It doesn't seem like much today, but in 1991 it was quite a bit of money and, like I said, they only built two thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight of these, but it's surprising how many cars I've surprised at traffic lights with this thing because it's I mean, except the traction on all four wheels, it just hooks up, in fact, I read about guys who modified them and ran nine seconds on the street with them, so it's pretty surprising that it's not really a truck, it's more of a truck, sports car, yeah You consider it sporty, we can carry a lot of things in the back.

I would carry mainly, like I said, maybe down bags because you can't really put much weight back there and it's air conditioned and all that's not meaningless, they also sold it like the typhoon. ​​Now the typhoon was basically a cyclone, but with what they call Jimmy's body, you know, four seats, the whole thing, you know, that was the most practical one, so they sold a lot of five ten thousand, although quite a few of those , but this was the one that was the lightest, it weighs about 3,500 pounds, the Typhoon weighed about 37 3,800 pounds, of course, it was only a two-seater that the Typhoon could accommodate. four or five and a pinch if necessary, as you see big, beefy tires, the wheels mimic the Corvette wheels of the period.

The drag coefficient is like something, but it's just a brick. It's just a brick passing through the air. It's not particularly aerodynamic at all, but let's take a look inside the vehicle, you have power windows, power door locks, you still have to adjust your mere by hand, it's a little tight here, but not bad, I mean, on Actually, for the period, it was pretty good, I can't. I complain about it, it's very tacky, but most American cars had a 91 am/fm radio premium sound system and all that boost gauge, all that kind of stuff, but they have a nice sound to it, You have abs and all that kind of stuff. stops a lot of furry things everywhere.

I never quite understand that GM must have had a race with someone who wants to give them a bunch of skins and they just need to put them all on all these cars, this vehicle is not designed to work. road use a lot of guys raced these things and they were pretty fast and I think this one is a little faster than the original because it has some factory tricks but I put the bed liner line on it and some other stuff and this is it An option, you can place locks like this to seal the bed from the inside.

I had a lot of fun with this thing, as I said it was my everyday car for years and years, so it got a little dented when a lady crashed into me. the back of it pushed that bumper inward a little. I didn't do it right for me, so let's see how she does it. I mean I've had this thing for over 20 years and it's pretty bulletproof, everything I've done, really, just changed the oil and you know, they do things like that with brake pads, but it's been pretty reliable. You know, the Buick Grand National got all the hype, but I think it's actually faster.

They were built in Shreveport, Louisiana. I love that part of the country. It's really funny when you go there and a company, I think PSA, something like that, built them for GM and then they went out of business and that's why they didn't build more, plus the typhoon was actually more practical. It could carry more people in it. There is no air bag. This is the last. I guess the airbag came in at about 95 96 which was required so it's a pretty light vehicle and with 4 wheel drive it connects very well and is attractive. van, most people have no idea what it is and are very surprised when you blow their doors off now, although it was faster than a Ferrari, you could buy an America, that was acceleration, not top speed, they were limited or governed at 126 miles per hour. hour, I think Ferrari at a top speed of 166 back then, but that shows what a difference 20 years can make in 66 was considered pretty crazy in the past, now of course supercars go over 200 miles per hour , but in the late 80s and early 90s, it was not a good time for fast cars, in fact, my Bentley Turbo R, which measures 189, was the fastest four-door sedan you could buy in United States and this was the fastest truck you could buy in the United States.

Topic here, we like things fast, but imagine going to a Chevy dealership and it's 91, what's the fastest? You got the Corvette, not the little truck there for the v6, really now this particular truck was a test bed for GM and they did some gigs. The mods on it had different wheels when I got stuck I put the original wheels back on. I think it has a little more horsepower than the original. I recently had the president of General Motors here in the

garage

and he noticed some marks, he says. Hey, how did you get that before your time?

The fun thing about this little truck is how compact most trucks are, especially now that we're big things. Ford f250 s f-150 God they are huge, then the big Chevy, where is it? I guess this is for truck is the best term and it handles well, there's a lot you can do with a live axle redline on this engine it's not very high, about 4700 rpm and that's where it changes, you can get a little more. outside of this if you want, but it doesn't help you much, you know, these trucks are a classic example. I've always said, the real fun with most cars is between 20 and 120 miles per hour once you get over 120, especially on public roads it gets crazy, but the real fun is that acceleration between 20 and maybe 70 or 75 and that's why this one packs a lot of power and does it all pretty quietly and discreetly.

You know you've got these big tires, so there's not a lot of tire squeal, you just give it some torque, brake it a little bit, up the revs and drop the hammer. Everything is considered. It is a great vehicle to drive. You know you set it up. It has a nice big windshield and the pillows are not too thick. There aren't many blind spots, good Maris, and it's fun, think about the old question: will he do a Burnout? No, not really because of these big tides and four-wheel drive, you really can, but you can fly a Ferrari and that should be enough for anyone and we'll see next week.