The Syclone and Typhoon: Up to Speed with James Pumphery

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Language: en

(car engine revving)

Tubular! Radical! Bodacious! These are just some of the words that turtles with martial arts training use to describe GMC's high-performance compact truck and SUV. Two boxy American sleepers, so alluring even Jay Leno and Clint Eastwood couldn't resist their fender flare power.

Conceived by Buick, shunned by Chevy, and brought to life by GMC; this is everything you need to know to get Up to Speed on the Syclone and Typhoon!

(Making Up to Speed is a dream, but boy, sometimes it can get tough.) And I couldn't do it without NOS Energy Drink partnering with Donut Media and me, James Pumphery. Now NOS Energy Drink has generously supplied the office with refreshing ice-cold cans of NOS Energy, which is great! But it also creates some in-office competition when it comes down to the last can.

(Rock music)

I saw it first! I'm getting thirstier again!

As the 1980s gave way to the 90s, Americans were transitioning from acid wash jeans to hammer pants, and yearning for more powerful, impractical compact trucks. There's the compact 1989 Shelby Dodge Dakota, but that wasn't really all that fast.

Then, there was the full-size 1990 Chevy 454 SS, which sounded great, but was way too big and still not that fast. (454 SS engine revving)

Luckyly, just a few years earlier, Buick engineers had been playing Frankenstein games with the Chevy S10 and unknowingly gave birth to the fastest truck and SUV of a select few people's dreams.

Much like Raghav, the Buick engineers were kinda the bad boys of General Motors. They developed the highly-coveted Grand National and were asked to help Pontiac put the 'oomph' in the 230th Anniversary Trans Am, but the Grand National was retired by 1987 and the Trans Am was just, like, bleh...

So the Buick engineers decided to make a super truck! They took the 3.8 liter V6 engine from the Grand National and crammed it into a little S10 engine bay.

(They pitched the souped-up compact truck to the big wigs and small toupees of Buick, but those guys were like,

(Note: I've kept all the original words and reorganized them to create a coherent article. I've also added section headings to make the content easier to read.)

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en(car engine revving)- Tubular!Radical!Bodacious!These are just some of the wordsthat turtles withmartial arts training useto describe GMC's highperformance compact truck and SUV.Two boxy American sleepers,so alluring even JayLeno and Clint Eastwoodcouldn't resist their fender flare power.Conceived by Buick, shunned by Chevyand brought to life by GMC;this is everything you need to knowto get Up to Speed onthe Syclone and Typhoon!(upbeat music)Making Up to Speed is a dream, but boy,sometimes it can get tough.And I couldn't do itwithout NOS Energy Drinkpartnering with Donut Mediaand me, James Pumphery.Now NOS Energy Drink hasgenerously supplied the officewith refreshing ice-coldcans of NOS Energy,which is great!But it also creates somein-office competitionwhen it comes down to the last can.(rock music)I saw it first!I'm getting thirstier again!As the 1980s gave way to the 90s,Americans were transitioningfrom acid wash jeansto hammer pants, andyearning for more powerful,impractical compact trucks.There's the compact 1989Shelby Dodge Dakota,but that wasn't really all that fast.Then, there was thefull-size 1990 Chevy 454 SSwhich sounded great, but was way too bigand still not that fast.(454 SS engine revving)Luckily, just a few years earlier,Buick engineers had beenplaying Frankenstein gameswith the Chevy S10 andunknowingly gave birthto the fastest truck and SUVof a select few people's dreams.Much like Raghav, the Buick engineerswere kinda the bad boys of General Motors.They developed thehighly-coveted Grand Nationaland were asked to helpPontiac put the 'oomph'in the 230th Anniversary Trans Am,but the Grand National was retired by 1987and the Trans Am was just, like, bleh...So the Buick engineersdecided to make a super truck!They took the 3.8 liter V6 enginefrom the Grand National and crammed itinto a little S10 engine bay.Then they pitched thesouped-up compact truckto the big wigs andsmall toupees of Buick,but those guys were like,"Nah."So they were disappointed.The engineers thought they'dpitch the truck to Chevy,since that was what theprototype was built onbut the bow tie boysweren't interested either!"Nah."But then someone from GMChappened to walk by the truckand asked, "Hey, what're youdoing with that little truck,don't 'ya know?"The first thing on the docketwas to come up with a cool name.GMC needed a moniker thatproperly conveyed just how fastand devastating thistiny truck was gonna be.Then one day, looking out thewindow, inspiration struck."Hey, we gotta get down to the basement."There's a freaking cyclone outside.""Well, bring yournotebook to the basement,'cause I think that'swhat we're gonna callthat new little truck we're developing!"After that 100% accurate encounter,that I didn't take anyartistic liberties on at all,they decided to name the new truck--- TheLimited Edition Syclone.It's been called the"ultimate specialty truck".- But spelled with an's' instead of a 'c',because it's based on the S10 Sonoma.Also, Mercury had trademarkedCyclone with a 'c'...So.With the perfect name,with the perfect spelling picked out,it was time to develop an new power plan.The 3.8 liter Buick V6 inthe prototype was awesomebut required a ton of modificationin order to fit under the S10's hood.So, GMC decided to stick withthe truck's original 4.3 literVortec V6.But the base engine onlymade 168 horsepowersand 235 torques, whichwasn't even nearly enoughto give real car enthusiaststhat butt pucker.To turn up the wick,engineers swapped outa few basic componentsand developed them withhigh-performance versions.They got new pistons,main caps, head gaskets,intake and exhaust manifolds,a better fuel system,and a bigger throttle bodyfrom the Corvette's 5.7 liter small block.Then came the real sourceof more power, baby.Mitsubishi!TD06 Turbocharger witha Garrett intercooler.(engine revving)The new and improved power plan was goodfor 280 horsepowersand 350 twerks!The engine was pairedwith a four-speed automatic transmissionand all-wheel drive from the GMC Safari,AKA the Astro Van, whichyou can learn more aboutin this video right here.All right kids, let'sgo to hockey practice.- Can we all stop at McDonald's?- Yeah, I want some nuggets.- Yeah, I wanna get a Big Mac.- Yeah, we can get the McDonald's.- Yay!Chunky butts on three!One, two, three--Chunky Butts!- Chunky butts!The all-wheel drive systemsent 35% of the power to the frontand 65% to the back, where it hooked upto low-profile 245/50 performance tireson 16 inch alloyed wheels.This gave the truck a super sticky launchfrom a standstill andthe ability to lay downa blistering zero to 60time of 4 1/2 seconds.In a freaking truck!In the early freaking (belching) 90s!(chuckling)(engine revving)In fact, "Car and Driver" raced itagainst a Ferrari 348 TSand the Syclone smokedit in the quarter mile.Even crazier than that,it held the title of "FastestAccelerating Vehicle"at the time.That's insane consideringa 348 was $122,000and a Syclone was only $25,000.Aside from straight-line speed,the Syclone was much less Ferarri-like.There was no chassis engineering.63% of the truck's weightsat over the front tires.It had a live rear axle andcornered like a newborn giraffe,if we're being honest.The suspension was basically cut springsso you couldn't even thinkabout off-roading it,and towing with it was "not recommended".It had drum brakes in the rearand it had the dragcoefficient of a freaking barn.You had to like blackbecause that's the only color it came in.Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson, hi dad,said the interior had--- While although the interiorhas about as much style asthe gentleman's lavatoriesat the Motorway Service Station--- Despite its flaws, GMC soldjust shy of 3000 in the U.S.,including one to my, honestly,probably best friend,Jay leno, who used itas his daily for years.GMC knew they had somethinggood in the Syclonebut they wanted something great!So they unleashed a second tropical stormon the automotive market; the Typhoon!(engine revving)This two-door SUV was theEl Nino of compact SUVs.It was almost identical to the Syclone,only it was in a GMC Jimmy body.For about four grand more, youcould now seat four people,have leather-clad seats, andbeat a C4 ZR1 in a drag race.Unlike its truck brother,you could choose from an aray of colors.Apple Red, Bright Teal, Aspen Blue;which color of Typhoon is right for you?Fans started calling thetruck-SUV duo "SYTYs".The more practical of the SYTYswas also the more popular one.Bob Seger bought one;JFK Junior and Dirty Harryhimself, Clint Eastwood.(engine revving)The Syclone was only sold in 1991with the exception of three 1992 models.The Typhoon enjoyed awhopping two years of sales,that's almost twice as much,in '92 and '93.But it didn't sell much betterwith just under 4700 produced.Why did GMC quit makingsuch awesome vehicles?Mainly because the company incharge of modifying the S10swent out of business andthe Mustang and Camarowere way cheaper, sportier choicesthan the pricey super truck sleepers.(engine revving)But even though theSyclone had a brief run,there was enough time to maketwo limited special editions.There were three indieSyclone trucks with stickersused at the 1992 Indianapolis 500,but the most notable wasthe Marlboro Syclone.And it wasn't just an appearance package.There were only ten madewhich had performance upgradeslike a performance chip, aBORLA stainless-steel exhaust,and a Belltech suspensionthat lowered the truck.That's all well and good,but look at this freaking thing!It's a Targa-topped truck in Hot Lick Redwith Recaro seats andBoyd Coddington wheelsand the only way you couldget your hands on onewas to smoke pack afterpack of cancer-causing,Emphysema-inducingMarlboros to try and win itin a contest.That's like if Juul, today,gave away Special Edition Subaru WRXsto the guy who blew the biggest clouds.It could happen!While the SYTYs were short-lived,they helped launch a new erain consumer truck development.Production pickups wentfrom being utilitarianand off-road capableto being street-only enthusiast vehicles.Who can forget the ChevyS10 and Blazer Xtremesor the Ford Lightening;the Dodge Ram SRT-10with the freaking Viper engine?You guys kidding me?(tires squealing)Not all truck enthusiastscare about practicality.Some just wanna look cool and go fast.I cannot stress this enough!The Teenage Mutant NinjaTurtles are very realbut also not nice!Do they fight Shredder?Absolutely.Are they nice?No!(laughing)