Evoking a truck seemingly made specifically for Lord Vader, the gearheads at Jersey-based Specialty Vehicle Engineering (SVE) are once again applying the “Syclone” nameplate to a GMC pickup truck with world-destroying amounts of horsepower. This time around, there are 750 horsepower and 600 lb-ft of torque under the hood of this black-and-red compact pickup.
Only 50 of these Canyon-based machines will be built. It uses the short-box extended cab platform as its base, yanking the stock powertrain in favour of a 5.3L V8 engine topped with an OEM-quality centrifugal supercharger. Its 8L90E automatic transmission has been appropriately fortified for this duty and fitted with a custom high-stall torque converter.
Just like the original Syclone, this truck is fitted with a full-time all-wheel-drive system, one whose transfer case sends 62 per cent of power to the rear wheels; and 38 per cent to the fronts. High-performance six-piston calipers rein in forward motion, while a two-inch drop up front and five-inch drop in the rear give this thing a mean stance.
Any reader blessed with the gift of sight will have noticed the trademark colour scheme, dipping the whole truck in a pot of inky black paint before adding all manner of bright red addenda meant to evoke the original Syclone. That rocker panel cladding is specific to this truck, as are the branded 20-inch wheels and 3D-style composite door badges.
Also in the SVE stable, and more up your author’s alley, is the 2022 Xtreme Off-Road package. This effort also stuffs a 750-hp V8 up the nose of a mid-size GM pickup truck, but selects the nifty ZR2 as its base instead of the street-focused model used for the Syclone. That means the trick off-road DSSV dampers are on-board, ready to absorb the inevitable desert dune jumps made capable by those 750 horses. Long-suffering GM fans will note the “Xtreme” name is also a callback to an older factory trim from the late ‘90s/early ‘00s, though that one was not an off-road beast.
We’ll take this opportunity to note the crew at SVE are also hawking a Yenko-branded 850-horsepower Silverado; and a 1,100-horse Camaro with a hood scoop big enough to inhale a flock of sheep.
Keyword: Specialty Vehicle Engineering jams 750 hp into a GMC Canyon