Every now and then, a car comes along that leaves a lasting impression on the automotive industry and remains unmatched for decades. The GMC Syclone was one of those vehicles.
Highlighted in this excellent video from Hagerty, the Syclone was actually the quickest acceleration pickup for 30 years straight, up until the launch of the Ram 1500 TRX.
As Jason Cammisa explains, General Motors initially wasn’t all that interested in producing a high-performance pickup truck with the type of performance to rival supercars. However, one particular GM engineer, Kim Nielsen, really wanted to see the car become a reality but was told developing such a vehicle would take seven years and cost $200 million.
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Not willing to take no for an answer, Nielsen arranged for ASC/McLaren and Production Automotive Services (PAS) to each develop their own proposals. The company that produced the best vehicle would get the contract to develop, conduct emissions and durability testing, and actually build the car. PAS ultimately won the contract.
What PAS created was truly phenomenal. Powering the car was a 4.3-liter turbocharged V6 engine pumping out 280 hp and 350 lb-ft (475 Nm), all of which was sent to the ground through the all-wheel drive system from a Chevrolet Astro van. In a particularly famous edition of Car and Driver magazine, the publication set a phenomenal 0-60 mph (96 km/h) time of 4.3 seconds and ran down the quarter-mile in 12.9-seconds, beating out supercars of the day.