Video: Jay Leno and His 1991 GMC Syclone

http://www.sportmachines.com/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Car+and+Driver+Sept+1991

One of Car and Driver's best comparos: Maranello vs. Shreveport

Love the Syclone, a guy I knew in high school had the Typhoon, beat the hell out of it and eventually wrecked it. I also remember coming home from school once and there was a green Typhoon in our driveway with temp tags, I was so excited that I thought my parent's bought one but it was a newspaper guy taking pictures of our house for the paper.

Who decided that "full-size" trucks should be as big as a house?

"Who decided that "full-size" trucks should be as big as a house?"

The guys who think that bigger means better. The guys that embrace their inner 10-year old. The guys that think having "X Ranch" on their truck means they're a cowboy. The guys who have dreams of driving Bigfoot and later make their own.

Thanks for digging that one out.
-mm

Okay, first of all Leno, would it kill you to drag a brush across your head before you step in front of a camera? Do you really have to have makeup people for everything?

I am also the original owner of a 1991 GMC Syclone, and everything he says is true. Mine was #2312 and I have the original Certificate of Authenticity that GMC sent to the new owners back then.

Unfortunately, because of this sucky economy I lost my storage space and hence a couple of my beloved toys last year. And my Syclone was one of them. I sold it for what I paid for it though, so I had 19 years of great fun for free. This blog post made me really sad. But crap happens I guess.

A couple comments about this truck:

I am a tall guy. This thing was never comfortable for me. I had the seat all the way back and still didn't have enough leg room, and the bucket seats that were unique to the Syclone had a headrest that hit me square in the shoulders and pushed me forward. Pushed me forward. Ugh!

There were two cupholders in the console, one of which was totally useless because it was basically under the dashboard. The armrest on the console was also too low to be useful, and over time the rubberized padding on the armrest started to detach and curl. There was really no way to repair it, but it wasn't too noticeable. The engineers/designers didn't think this through.

As Leno demonstrated, this thing was amazingly fast. But it had to hit second gear to really impress. Off the line because it had all wheel drive it actually kind of bogged, even when power braking. I took it to the track a few times and always drove around the water puddle because burnouts weren't necessary or even possible. It did really well and wowed the crowds. But, driving fast on back country roads was almost frightening. It is still a truck, and while it handles better than a conventional truck, it didn't handle at all like a sports car. Or even a car. It does have a nice ride though. Not too rough, not bouncy. Smooth and tight.

Leno failed to mention that a modified Syclone took the land speed record away from Porsche in 1991 in its class. I still have all the magazine ads showing the modified Syclone in an attempt to get people to buy one.

But, they didn't. I bought mine brand new and it was deeply discounted. The sticker on it was over $25K and I paid $17K. I did have to travel to California and drive it home to get it at that price, but it was a fun trip...except for the lack of leg room and those damned seats.

My Syclone was climate-controlled garaged for the entire 19 years I owned it, but the plastic cladding on the sides and covering the bumper still oxidized. It couldn't be cleaned off and I tried various products to try and prevent it. But whatever he has done to his, it looks better than mine.

Forgot to mention, in 19 years I only had 22K miles, so it was in great shape when I sold it and like Leno mine was completely problem free.

On the downside, I like to take my cars to shows and cruise nights, and the Syclone got little to no attention. In fact some people would walk by and make derogatory remarks about someone who would put a little old Chevy pickup in a car show with all that crap on it. People just didn't know what it was, and they really didn't believe me when I told them what it would do. Only one the few occasions when another Syclone showed up and we parked them together would believe believe that I hadn't just hung a bunch of cladding and big tires on a dinky truck.

Oh, and Marlboro modified 10 of these trucks and gave them away in 1991. They painted them red (all Syclones are otherwise black) and did some trick mods on them. There were several trucks that were shipped to Saudi Arabia as well, so the 2998 number Leno mentioned is actually lower for stock Syclones in the USA if you take out these trucks.

Forgot to mention, in 19 years I only had 22K miles, so it was in great shape when I sold it and like Leno mine was completely problem free.

On the downside, I like to take my cars to shows and cruise nights, and the Syclone got little to no attention. In fact some people would walk by and make derogatory remarks about someone who would put a little old Chevy pickup in a car show with all that crap on it. People just didn't know what it was, and they really didn't believe me when I told them what it would do. Only one the few occasions when another Syclone showed up and we parked them together would believe believe that I hadn't just hung a bunch of cladding and big tires on a dinky truck.

Oh, and Marlboro modified 10 of these trucks and gave them away in 1991. They painted them red (all Syclones are otherwise black) and did some trick mods on them. There were several trucks that were shipped to Saudi Arabia as well, so the 2998 number Leno mentioned is actually lower for stock Syclones in the USA if you take out these trucks.

thanks wrinklebump

I think "visually spectacular" is an overstatement, even for 1990's standards. There are turbo volvos from 1990 that are as visually specatular as this truck.

that said, 280 hp for the 1990's is pretty damn good.

Don't forget about the Typhoon. That one should solve the problems with interior space, and maybe even handling since it should have better weight distribution. I love all these beasts. Every now and then I spot one, and my other car friends all wonder why I'm going nuts over a stupid S-10.

Yes, I was in a Sy/Ty owners club and the Typhoon was much more comfortable. As for handling the first one I saw sat funny and handled horrible. The owner drove it that way for a few weeks before taking it back to the dealer to complain about it. The dealer looked under the Typhoon, then climbed under the dash and plugged in the fuse for the air shocks. The car leveled out and handled great after that.

The Syclone has Bilstein rear shocks, but the Typhoon has air shocks in the rear and they pulled all the fuses for the air shocks before shipping. The dealers were suppose to plug the fuses back in, but so few were sold they didn't know how to prep them for delivery.