Pick of the Day: 1993 GMC Typhoon, performance SUV that started it all – The ClassicCars.com Journal

Sometimes extraordinary vehicles come from the least likely of places. Take, for instance, GMC. We can thank GMC for starting the high-performance SUV craze that was followed by the likes of BMW with the X5M, Porsche for the Cayenne and Macan, and Jeep with the astounding Track Hawk. General Motors started it all with the 1991-1993 GMC Typhoon.

The Pick of the Day is one of these groundbreaking vehicles, a 1993 GMC Typhoon, a two-owner truck that has covered just 37,300 miles from new and is a 100 percent garage-kept original, according to the Milford, Michigan, dealer advertising the Typhoon on ClassicCars.com.

The Typhoon was an offshoot of the GMC Syclone, a one-year version of the compact S10 pickup with serious high-performance additions. In an effort to expand the audience for this limited-production vehicle, the engineers and marketers decided to apply the same treatment to their S10 Jimmy SUV. The Typhoon was in production from 1991-1993.

Powered by a turbocharged 4.3-liter V6 that put out 280 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque, the Typhoon covered 0-60 in a fast 5.3 seconds and the quarter mile in an equally rapid 14.1 seconds, according to testers at the time. Top speed was also impressive for the era at 124 mph.

Keep in mind that this was for an SUV that weighed 3,822 pounds. In comparison, a 1991 Ferrari 348 took 6 seconds to get to 60 and had a quarter-mile ET of 14.5 seconds.

Combine that with the fact that the Typhoon could seat four people comfortably and cost less that a quarter of the price of a Ferrari 348, and you have something quite interesting.

The Typhoon is being rediscovered in the collector car hobby, part of the appeal being the origin for all other high-performance SUVs that followed. They are also quite rare with only 4,687 built during the three years of production.

This Typhoon includes all books and manuals and is fully loaded with options, according to the seller. It is finished in solid Apple Red paint, one of only 77 produced in that color, the seller adds.

This collector-quality example is being offered for $25,995, which is right in line with current values for these fascinating SUVs.

I would expect that Typhoons as nice as this one are bound to continue increasing in value, which could make this is one of those rare opportunities of purchasing a collector vehicle as they are just starting to gain popularity and not after they triple in value.

To view this listing on ClassicCars.com, see Pick of the Day.

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Pick of the Day: 1993 GMC Typhoon, performance SUV that started it all - The ClassicCars.com Journal