Automotive Shotime — May 31: GMC Syclone
Introduction
Welcome back to Automotive Shotime, the article series where you get the know some of the most fascinating cars around the world. From supercars, and hypercars, to even race cars, this series is for everyone who wants to know more about the world’s most outstanding automobiles.
Today’s car, however, looks nothing special on the outside, but its potential is not to be underestimated. It is the ultimate ‘sleeper’ car made in America, and it showed what the USA was truly capable of in manufacturing pickup trucks. Enter the 1991 GMC Cyclone.
Rising demand for fast trucks
As the world moved on from the 80s to the 90s, Americans were yearning for more powerful and less practical compact trucks. A few examples of those include the 1989 Shelby Dodge Dakota and the 1990 Chevrolet 454 SS, but they were too big or not fast enough. Buick also had one of those. Some engineers from Biuck put the 3.8 litre V6 engine from their Grand National into Chevrolet’s S10 pickup truck. Neither Buick nor Chevrolet were interested, but GMC had a different opinion.
After coming up with the name Cyclone(or actually Syclone because it is based on the 1991 GMC S10 Sonoma and due to trademark issues with Mercury, but I still prefer to call it ‘Cyclone’), the development soon commenced for their new prototype truck. GMC found out that although the original V6 engine from the Grand National was good, it required a lot of modification to fit under the hood of the S10. Therefore, they decided to stick with the original engine of the truck, which only made 168 horsepower. But as you will know later, the truck had way more horsepower than that.
Ordinary truck, unordinary feats
All of the car’s potential was hidden beneath its generic boxy appearance. Its engine, for example, is a 4.3 litre Vortec V6 engine, and that is quick and big for a small pickup truck. Like its appearance, the V6 engine is also from the GMC Sonoma. However, the Cyclone was also fitted with a TD06 turbocharger from Mitsubishi that could put out a 14 psi of boost and was fed from a powerful liquid intercooler that supported the strain caused by the increased performance. They also upgraded many parts of the original engine such as the pistons, intake and exhaust manifolds, fuel system, and more.
This allowed the Cyclone to have a maximum horsepower of 280 and generate 350 lb-ft of torque, and in between the engine and drivetrain, it had a 4-speed automatic transmission. 280 horsepower really isn’t any notable by modern-day standards, but the 1991 Corvette, which was Chevy’s performance flagship model, only had 250 horsepower. This pickup truck outperformed what was believed to be the best American Sports car at that time in terms of power.
However, even with a good power figure, the car will not be fast if it cannot be delivered to the road efficiently. Back in its era, the difference between the amount of power a vehicle can produce and what can be transferred to the road is big, and lighter pickup trucks are not well known to achieve, this, including the Sonoma. GM used the same technology that was used in the Porsche 959 and the Nissan R32 Skyline: an all-wheel-drive system. They created the system to send 35% of its power to the front and the rest to the rear, and this helped the Cyclone to achieve a much faster acceleration compared to the other pickup trucks at the time.
Combined with the Firestone Firehawk performance tires, the Cyclone offered drivers a 0 to 60 time of 4.3 seconds, and a quarter-mile in a stunning 13.7 seconds at 105 miles per hour. It was so powerful, in fact, that when Car and Driver pitched the Cyclone against a Ferrari 348 TS on the quarter mile, the Cyclone smoked it. It even held the title of being the fastest-accelerating vehicle at the time.
More of a drag car, and less of a truck
Despite all the good things listed above, the car didn’t enjoy much success. The main reason is the price of the car. With an ordinary look and interior, this car had a price tag of $25,500, a figure that was too big for the average consumer at the time. If you have the money in the first place, you probably want an actual sports car like the Corvette or Mustang. They look much cooler on the outside while offering a lot of fun while driving.
What’s worse is that because GM put so much focus on acceleration, it sacrificed way too much stuff in any other areas. The handling of the car is below average, as the car did not receive any chassis engineering, and 63% of the truck’s weight is sitting over the front tyres. The drag coefficient of this car is horrible, which actually surprised me considering that it has great acceleration. You also have to like black as this is the only available manufacturer colour.
But the worst drawback of the GMC Cyclone is that it uses everything else as a pickup. Because the suspension is basically cut springs, the Cyclone has no offroading capabilities, which is ridiculous for a truck. Moreover, due to the suspension being lowered and its unique all-wheel-drive system tuned for off-the-line acceleration, the GMC Cyclone has a non-existent hauling capacity for a truck. The Cyclone’s hauling capacity was a mere 500 pounds, a figure that made the pickup truck almost useless for transporting cargo. Compare it to the Ford Raptor, for example. Even though the Raptor is much heavier, it is much more powerful, and it can still carry heavy loads or more than 2 people, making it much better for many people. Even though the car was built without practicality in mind, these circumstances led to the 1992 model year being the last one that saw Cyclone production.
My thoughts on the GMC Cyclone
Despite its impracticality, the Cyclone is well-known for showcasing GMC’s engineering skills, and it remains a legend in the hearts of many GMC fans. In my opinion, this is also the best car to ever come out of GMC, from its lineup of commercial trucks and vans. It doesn’t fit to be a good pickup truck for heavy loads, but no other GMC car can do what the Cyclone can on the drag strip.
The car itself is also revolutionary. It proved to the Europeans once again that America is not to be underestimated in the automotive world, and they can not only create sports cars faster than the ones made in Europe but also pickup trucks faster than their sports cars. This car came out way before Ford made the Lightning and the SVT Raptor, and it helped started the American truck trend and made it even more popular. From that point on, pickup trucks made in the USA have only become better, either becoming more practical and comfortable or having more power or brutality.
The GMC Cyclone is one of those cars that is extremely underrated, and there isn’t any other GMC truck quite like the Cyclone in the future. To me, the Cyclone is the ultimate definition of a sleeper truck.
Conclusion
That is it for today’s episode of Automotive Shotime. The bad news here: Due to my exams coming up, articles will come to a halt until late June or early July. I wish you a good time during the absence of Automotive Shotime. Take care, stay safe, and I’ll see you next time!
