Actually, it’s just another Wheeler in Tha Hood . . . But the company wants us to come up with catchy blog titles for the benefit of search engines, whatever the heck those are---and hey, we're good soldiers, so expect more cyber-irrelevance from us in the future. But we digress. Today’s wheeler, spied outside our palatial L.A. offices, is a genuine bonafide GMC Typhoon, which was only built in 1992 and ’93. A companion to the much-beloved Syclone pickup truck, the 100.5-inch-wheelbase, S-15 Jimmy-based ‘Phoon was a pocket-rocket SUV running an intercooled Mitsu-turbocharged 4.3L V-6 engine (a.k.a. LB4) along with a 48mm twin-bore throttle body sourced from the 350 small-block. The 280hp-rated block was mated to a 700R4 tranny and Borg-Warner 44-72 full-time case, and drive mode was all-wheel (no low-range).
The Typhoon also had an air-actuated rear suspension that the driver could adjust to level out the ride. This specimen rolls on the stock 16x8 alloy wheels, though the 35-series Kumho SPTs seen here were not OE rubber, and mods have been kept at a minimum, with some interior upgrades (Pioneer stereo, Auto Meter gauges) complementing an already rockin’ ride. This ‘Phoon definitely qualifies as a Rare Rig---GM built fewer than 5,000 of these in total, so if you can score one, you’ve got yourself one heck of a collector’s item. And, in this case, a tempting target for every seagull in the 310.
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