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Doug DeMuro Drools Over Classic GMC Typhoon, The Original Performance SUV

Less than 5,000 GMC Typhoon performance SUVs ever left the production line back in the early 1990s. The turbo V6 powered muscle truck was a curiosity in its day, never selling enough to be fully appreciated until many years later. Now, it's getting the full showcase from automotive YouTube superstar Doug DeMuro.
Doug DeMuro 10 photos
Photo: Doug DeMuro
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Doug is quick to point out all of the " quirks and features" of this Apple Red Typhoon and how it was based on the lowly GMC Jimmy medium-sized SUV, but given the full suite of performance upgrades, to make a package never before seen on the road.

With 280 horsepower under the hood at brand new, the Typhoon gave full-on sports cars of their day like the C4 Chevy Corvette, Nissan 300 ZX, and the Ferrari 348 runs for their money in ways that must have infuriated GM and Ferrari owners to no end in those days. Knowing your top-of-the-line sports car was not all that much faster than the Typhoon must have been a crippling blow to the ego.

On the inside of the vehicle, DeMuro is not afraid to pull some punches and jabs at the pathetically cheap and plastic-filled interior. Apart from a single Typhoon badge on the passenger side glove compartment, there wasn't anything inside to specify what a special and unique vehicle the Typhoon was. Apart from the boost pressure gauge, obviously. That surely wasn't standard on the stock Jimmy.

While not all that special compared to the slew of performance SUVs on the market today, DeMuro does recognize that apart from perhaps the Lamborghini LM002, the Typhoon may have been the very first of its kind. Considering how much money automakers invest in high-performance SUVs today.

It's an achievement that merits the Typhoons' very special place in history. It's all the more astonishing when you remember some of the garbage the rest of the GM lineup was cranking out at that time.

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