The Black Sheep Of The Black Pickups: One Of Ten Marlboro Syclones Hits The Web Community At A Fat Price

All image credit: Desert Autosport

About 20 years in retrospect, there are several pop icons from the late 1980s and early '90s that we have taken for granted. For anyone who grew-up in the "Smog Era," Grand Nationals and 20th-Anniversary Trans Ams were probably among the very last on your list of sport and muscle car favorites.

But for anyone who's ever owned a GM from that era, where the General was most involved in turbo motor experimentation, you understand the "sex" that goes behind the small, but powerful 6-cylinder lineup.

Many have described the turbo-6's wastegate opening as something of a "horse sneeze," but it's a sound and feel that have become a General Motors signature nonetheless. Besides being compact and relatively economical, GM's turbocharged 3.8 and 4.3-liter V-6s offered an overall performance package for the automaker that was far less rough and tumble than your traditional small or big-block.

In the "SyTy" world, the Typhoon SUV that lasted from 1992-93 was far more practical and varied in option than its Syclone predecessor that only lasted in '91. The Syclone pickup was lighter and more uniform than the Typhoon, and in comparison to its SUV sibling, the tuxedo black Syclone carried an attitude of no-joke street race, while offering a visual upgrade consisting of stealth cosmetics.

  

The Syclone and Typhoon's dignified breed of acceleration, backed by a feathery-soft exhaust note, is a thing to be celebrated in the realm of all things GM performance, but this is especially true of the General's high-tech department. A boost gauge rises, RPM builds and with barely a sound, the turbo trucks move with speed that's as graceful as it is turbulent.

Statistically, less than 3,000 Syclones were built in '91, with about 2 or 3 trickling out for 1992. For the '92 production year, there was a white truck, and other color options were allegedly in mind, but to this day, it's the black-on-black scheme that's ingrained into the minds of SyTy buffs.

The exception to this being the Marlboro Syclone, a limited-edition variant of which only 10 were ever built. Modified with a removable back glass and T-tops by the American Sunroof Corporation, the Marlboro Syclones were given away as prizes in a 1992 contest sanctioned by Marlboro Racing. Featuring "Hot Licks" red paint, Recaro seats and a Momo wheel, this rare, turbo truck specimen was cranked-up using a "PROMPaq" chip and Borla exhaust.

It's one of GM's first apexes in high-tech motoring, and our featured example from Jalopnik and Supercar Sunday regular, Jon Betancourt hits the collector's market at a somewhat controversial price tag of $79,995.

Again, it is one of 10 Marlboro editions made, so whether $79k is justifiable depends on what kind of enthusiast you are. If you're a Barrett-Jackson romantic who cares about originality, than our featured Marlboro Syclone could be a rather smart buy. But if the 4.3 turbo motor is too outdated for your contemporary senses, then maybe not so much.

In either case, it's a GMC truck of historical importance, and if you're looking to add to your garage, then it's something to look into!