GM Performance Trucks

Podcast Episode: 0234
How many Performance Trucks did GM Make?

    What if a single truck could ignite a lifelong passion for performance vehicles?  Unlock the secrets of General Motors’ legendary performance trucks and take a nostalgic cruise through automotive history with us.

​           Well, it was an early love affair for me. I saw one out on the street and I thought, oh, that is nice. And I always thought, when I get older, this is something I'm going to want to get. It was a 1992 GMC 454 SS and the person who owned it dropped it right to the ground. They added the rear fiberglass roll bar with the KC lights on top, full ground effects kit and aftermarket wheels Literally just not completely slammed to the ground, but pretty low. This thing was cool. Being a person who loves cars and loves the aftermarket industry of people who make vehicles look better, this appealed to me. Well, for the next two years, this was my dream vehicle that I was going to get. When I graduated high school, I was able to afford to get my own vehicle. Well, eventually that would change as I slowly moved on to other vehicles and my love affair constantly changed with what I was going to get and it never wound up happening. But that early date, that 454 SS from General Motors in the early 90s, showed me aftermarket modifications coming straight from the factory and how it piqued my interest in aftermarket pickup trucks. Today, AutoLooks is going to take a look at the aftermarket special editions from General Motors or, as we like to call them, the GM performance trucks.
 
           Welcome back to the AutoLooks Podcast. I am your host, as always, the doctor to the automotive industry, Mr. Everett Jay, coming to you from our host website at AutoLooks.net. If you haven't been there, stop by check it out. Read some of the reviews. Check out some of the ratings. Go to the corporate links website page hell, even the help pages, and you can build yourself your own 454 SS on 3Dtuningcom. If you haven't stopped by, check it out. Build your own garage. Make some amazing vehicles. Hell. Just over the past week, I've actually created the layout I'm going to be using to build my new toy, my 2022 Toyota Tacoma. Yes, I'm finally moving into the aftermarket four-wheel drive pickup truck industry Not GM like we're going to be talking about in this podcast, but it is something and I have created it. So, if you find Everett J's personal garage on 3D Tuning, stop by, check it out. See some of the cool vehicles in the hell. Go, build your own. And then, after that, like I said, stop by the website. Read some of the views. Check out some of the ratings. Go to cover links website page. Find all the information. Find this podcast on the AutoLooks.net website and see all the trucks that we're going to be talking about in today's podcast. The AutoLooks podcast is brought to you by Ecomm Entertainment Group, distributed by Podbean.com. If you'd like to get in touch with us, send us an email over at email at AutoLooks.net. 

       So, like I said in the beginning, GM Performance trucks coming from GMC, Chevrolet and even Holden Because, yes, Holden existed and still created aftermarket pickup trucks built off their General Motors platforms and their own dedicated platforms. We're going to be talking about all those on today's podcast in one little performance truck at the end that everybody has forgotten about from the early 2000s. Now we're going to start the episode off taking a look at the aftermarket modifications to the GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado’s of the past. They've all had them.
 
        If you want to get early entry into what they consider a sport appeal, look as we call it on the Z71 and Trail Boss sport packages. They're essentially just off-road chassis packages come with skid plates for the bottom of your front engine and heavy-duty shock absorbers for the Z71s. On the Trail Boss, you basically get just a standard sport looking package. It looks like it goes off-road but it doesn't, because all it is are black accents and a sport appeal. It gives you the appeal that you're going to go off-road but not actually have the ability of going off-road. It's not much more than your standard Silverado and, as we talked about in a previous podcast outlined in the podcast Special Editions, there's a reason why car companies do this Listen to the podcast after this one. 

​        From there we move up to the ZR2 and the ZR2 Bison of today, a full off-road package with a 4-inch lift, 3 inches higher than the standard Z71. So, the Z71 is only increased by 1 inch over a standard 4-wheel drive product from GMC and Chevrolet. Where the ZR2 and the ZR2 Bison are made for off-road applications, they have a full boxed ladder frame, they use larger wheels and axle bearings to ensure longevity of off-road applications and having standard 31 inch all-terrain tires, these things are meant to go off-road straight from the factory floor and to do this they add in side fender flares, aluminum wheels and on the bison models you get a full heavy duty off-road model, like the bison is essentially just drive off the lot and go mudding. This thing is equivalent of a base model ford raptor, where the ZR2 be the equivalent of ram rebel when you move back into the Z71, which would be the FX4 from ford, or the trail boss, which would be just the Tremor from Ford. They all look like they go off-road but they don't. But the ZR2s and the ZR2 Bison's are made factory made to go off-road. These are vehicles you buy and literally drive out into the bush in. Now, if you don't know how to maintain these things and don't know how to keep them clean so you don't destroy your heavy-duty bearings and full off-road ability suspension systems, you're literally going to blow them apart.
 
          Key to keeping vehicles in good shape is regular maintenance and keeping your vehicle clean. I stress this a lot and in my own household my vehicle is always a lot cleaner than my wives on the outside. Why? Because I live in Canada. We get salt and sand all over my vehicles. Especially now with my truck, with more exposure for my suspension systems and my undercarriage. I need to keep it clean so that salt and sand doesn't get in and start destroying it. My previous Borrego I had this issue and every winter if I went too long without cleaning it, I would start to feel like my suspension system was starting to get you feel kind of like a crunching in it, almost like there's something getting jammed in it. And this is something I stress with people who buy something like a ZR2 and a ZR2 Bison Keep it clean, because that mud will get inside of there, it'll work its way right in, it'll destroy your suspension system. So, trust me, keep it clean. And if you can't take it to a car wash because they have those signs up that say no mudders, invest in a pressure washer. Just be cautious when you're doing your undercarriage because the pressure can damage your lines. Just a little extra from the doctor of the automotive industry, Mr. Everett J, keep them clean. 

            From there we move into the vehicle that made me fall in love with the GMC performance trucks, the 454 SS. From 1990 to 1993, this half ton C1500 pickup truck from Chevrolet came with a 7.4-liter V8 pumping out 230 horsepower in the early 90s. Now it doesn't seem a lot by today's standards, but in the early 90s 230 horsepower is pretty good. They only came as black trim with black grille as well. So that's how you could tell the 454 SS from a standard Silverado. They had an upgraded suspension with blistered gas-filled absorbers and a front stabilizer bar to ensure that the ratio was set for going fast in 1992, they saw the red and white exterior colors with blue, beige and gray interiors.
 
          So, in all you can get a black one, a red one and a white one. But they came as straight colors with the grills, all body moldings, even the door handles, blending in with the standard color Solid. We're not talking solid like those Pontiac Bonneville’s from back in the 90s that had the hubcaps the exact same color as the exterior of the car no, that was still different, but all solid color. These were made to be their sport appeal Street cruisers with over 16,953 sold and with over 13,000 of them sold just within the year 1990. So, we're talking about making nearly 77 percent of all the sales being.
 
           In 1990 the 454 SS became one of the top performance street trucks out there, competing against the likes of the lightning. Let's already say back in the 90s they had the dodge Dakota with the Shelby, but the ram didn't have a sport model until we got the SRT later on. Back in the early days of the original SVT Lightnings, the 454 SS was its only main competition and actually I had a cousin that had one of these and, like I say, it was a cool truck. Today you are hard pressed to find these, considering the fact that, throughout their entire production of three years, little less than 17,000 of them made them out the door, were, by today's standards, there'd be less than 10,000 of them in existence still Not as less as my old Berego, but still a lot less. 

​         The 454 SS actually had a future counterpart. Ford released the second generation of the SVT Lightning, and Dodge went after the Speed Truck Championship for the Guinness Book of World Records with their SRT Viper-powered Dodge Ram 1500. Chevrolet decided to go after this market as well, figuring that people still wanted a performance truck, and to do that. From 2003 to 2005, they released the Silverado SS, essentially the rebirth of the 454 SS. Now, unlike the original, this one was a lot more powerful. It had an upgraded drivetrain, with exterior and interior all completely redone for a sport appeal. Now inclusive was 6-liter Vortec high-output V8 pumping out 345 horsepower and 380 pounds-feet of torque. Oh yeah, the Vortec's are fun.
 
        My first full-time job outside of college. I worked for a door company in town and my delivery truck. Because I was the warehouse manager, I had to go out and drop stuff off. My delivery truck was a GMC 1500 with this same six-liter Vortex V8 underneath the hood and, trust me, I had a lot of fun in that truck when the boss wasn't around, when I got to bring it home, even to move into my new house, it was fun and I kind of missed that truck. I always wish I could have gotten it from them, but, uh, it was cool for the time.
 
        The z60 performance suspension essentially taking the suspension system from a corvette and beefing it up for the weight of a full-size pickup truck now, now these things came with 20-inch aluminum wheels. We're not talking about the tires; we're talking about the wheels. At 21-inch, their exterior colors came in black, victory red, blue metallic and silver birch metallic. Now, the blue metallic is the one you saw the most. It was originally introduced in the blue metallic to go up against the SRT Ram and SVT Lightning, both vehicles utilizing red as their standard color. Now, we do know that the SS did come in Chevrolet's Victory Red, the same red that they used on their stock cars. But why was the blue metallic one pushed more so?
 
      Well, Chevrolet’s main color is blue and they like to showcase that this thing is blue as well. Hell, everybody thinks about Corvettes. Blue is one of the main colors that always comes to mind when you think of Corvettes as well, with black and red as well, but blue being one that overshadows, same with Camaros. Blue is a General Motors color and they wanted to differentiate themselves from both the SRT Ram and the SVT Lightning. If the Lightning was smart, they would have utilized blue and white as their main colors. They would have utilized blue and white as their main colors because lightning blue, purple, pink and white.
 
        Think about it. I actually do know somebody that has a Chevrolet ss and it's his baby, his little performance trucks, and when we're talking about and he told me about it, he's like, yeah, and that's my truck over there. I'm like, oh, what do you got his Chevrolet ss. It's like, you know, he thought it was cool, but he's like, you know, I'm talking to a car guy, I don't know how he's gonna deal. Like nobody kept the ss's, the SRT rams. The people who bought those kept those, the SVT lightnings if you had a red one, you naturally wanted to add the decal from fast and furious on the back would make it seem like you're delivering parts like Paul Walker. But the ss never had the cult following, even though it was the rebirth of the 454 SS.
 
           Funny thing is that the SS in 2006 came back, but it came back as the Intimidator SS, a special edition Chevrolet SS built in honor of Dale Earnhardt. The late Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet, in its last year of the SS production, made them all Intimidator SSs. They only came in black with the very same similar SS styling as the original ones from 2003 to 2005. But whereas the original SS's sold in high volume, the Intimidator SS, being a limited production truck, only sold 933. Odd number, but it was made to honor Dale Earnhardt. This has become a collectible that people don't think of. Gotta remembers we're all looking at investment vehicles for the future. An SS may not be an investment vehicle that you would think of, but the Intimidator SS, considering the fact it was built in honor of one of the best stock car racers of all time, dale Earnhardt, and that its production was less than a thousand units, this is a truck to look out for if you're looking for something for a collection. 

​          Now, from 1989 to 1997 Chevrolet had the 454 ss and they've also had their Z71s. They did include a sidestep variation called the Silverado sport equipment package, with a six-and-a-half-foot fleet side body style. They came in black, red or white with a pure black grill and sport decals on the side. They were built as their off-road sport counterpart. This is a precursor to what we have now with the Trail Boss editions of their Silverado’s. Now these also came two-wheel drive for the street or four-wheel drive, so you can have them as an entry level to the 454 as a two-wheel drive fleet side, or you can have it as a four-wheel drive Z71.
 
         Now, like the ZR2 and the ZR2 Bison for Chevrolet, GMC also has their own variation. Now see where GM and Chevrolet are the exact same cars. They're built in the same factory. They run with the same equipment. They're built on the same frames. Trust me, I've worked in the factory in St Thomas, Ontario, that builds the General Motors truck frames, and when I worked there, they built all the ones for the GMC Sierras, Chevrolet Silverado’s and at that point in time, the Hummer H2s. And these frames also went to underpin both the Yukon and the Suburban’s. Oh, and the Tahoe’s back in the day, and that's one of those weird ones too. Why does Chevrolet only have the Suburban, while General Motors where GMC? Has both the Tahoe and the Yukon Story for a future time.
 
         GMC's counterpart to the ZR2s is the AT4s. Now, like the ZR2 and the ZR2 Bison, both come in Silverado and now the Colorado counterpart. The AT4 and AT4X also comes as Sierra and Canyon counterparts. Now the Altering X models are the top of the lines, similar to the ZR2 Bisons. They both come with a 5.3-liter V8 with a performance exhaust 365 horsepower but with a little bit smaller rim. They on 18-inch rims, a sport bar, led off-road light package, black accents. Eventually, with the introduction of the x models, the standard at4 was upgraded to have the 6-liter v8, with the at4x getting the 6.6-liter Duramax v8. Their suspension systems are very similar to that of the Z71s. They're not much higher up with the AT4X, being similar to more of the ZR2 Bison.
 
          But the Bison from Chevrolet is built more with heavy duty off-road abilities. So, GMC wants to differentiate themselves from Chevrolet. They want Chevrolet to be the main competitor for the Ford Raptor where they want GM to be the main competitor for the Dodge Rebel. They don't want to go all-in. The GMC is not the all-in products for off-road abilities. They still have the abilities to do it, but they're not all-in. They're not made for going fast off-road. They're just made for going off-road. That's where the AT4 and AT4X come in. If you're one of these people that just want to go off-road in their pickup truck, that's what you should get. The build quality is much better than the Chevrolets and they're built for slow-going fun off-road. Now if you just want to go balls-deep, drive it to the wall off-road, then get yourself a ZR2 Bison Now. 

​          From there we move on to our Sonoma and S10s. Now, before the Colorado's and the Canyons, we had the Sonoma and the S10s Back in the day. They had a lot of different special editions where midsize pickup trucks were the entry level for special editions because they were the cheaper alternative. You have to think about it. The people who are more likely to spend money on aftermarket modifications for vehicles are more people inclined to buy entry level products. They're not the ones that can afford these $60,000 vehicles. No, they're the people that can afford the $20,000 to $30,000 vehicles. They buy them, they keep them and they upgrade them to what they want. That's where the Sonoma and S10 came in and why they had more special editions than the Sierra and Silverado’s.
 
         Now, to start it out, we have the S10. Baja. GMC gave us their off-road variation. Now this Baja also gave us the Blazer Baja's as well. They came as Midnight Black, apple Red and Frost White, where the Blazer Baja's also added in yellow. Now the Baja edition was more of the Z71. It was more of an appearance package Now. They did include a top roll bar with off-road lights, a tube grille and an underbody shield. These are all made to enhance your off-road applications, but they weren't built with full off-road suspension systems. They were essentially just a lift kit and a sport appearance package. So, in all in all, the S10 Bajas were not made for full off-road abilities. 

          Now, like the 454 SS from the Silverado, GMC also gave us one of the fastest and most capable midsize pickup trucks of all time, the only one faster than it being the Shelby Dakota. But you have to remember that's a partnership between both Dodge and Shelby General Motors on their own. After the rise of the Buick GNX, they gave us the GMC Syclone pickup truck with its sibling, the Typhoon, only available in 1991. This was an all-wheel drive, high-performance mid-size pickup truck with a 4.3-liter LB4 turbo V6 engine. These things were fast. The unfortunate thing with them is that they only came in automatic transmission and all-wheel drive. There was no two-wheel, melt your tires off. Rear-wheel drive applications, only all-wheel drive. And if you're wondering where that turbo came from, that turbo was not from General Motors. It was from a company that knows turbochargers better than anyone else. It was a Mitsubishi TD0617C turbocharger that they added to the Sonoma. Yes, the turbo wasn't even American made, it was from Japan. But you have to remember this is at a time where the American pickup truck market was also inclusive of Japanese products. Now, from 1991, they built 2,995 of them and the funny thing is they were only ever badged as 1991 models. But they did build three of them in 1992 before they cut production. So, with an overall of 2,998 produced, less than 3,000 ever made.
 
        These were insane pickup trucks. They included upgraded head gaskets, intake manifolds, exhaust manifolds and a throttle body from a 5.7-liter small block V8 jammed in this little V6. Four-wheel anti-lock brakes would keep you glued to the road and this was the very first truck to ever include a four-wheel anti-lock brake system. The very first truck to ever include a four-wheel anti-lock brake system. They pulled the gauges from a Pontiac Sunbird Turbo, an overall production of the Syclone, the Typhoon and its other sibling from General Motors, which we'll get to after this.
 
        113 Cyclones were shipped to Saudi Arabia, called the Saudi Syclones. They included a metric dash cluster, leaded fuel chip and a resonator in place of the catalytic converter. 31 of the trucks were never sold and brought home to be sold off in a lottery to General Motors employees at a reduced price of $12,500. So, you can actually find a Saudi Syclone in North America. 31 of them exist and, like I said, we like to talk about collector vehicles you may look at. There are 31 Saudi Syclones in existence in north America. We get it. The Syclone is already limited, with less than 3 000 of them out there, but these are 31 special edition ones that were made for Saudi Arabia in full metric, a resonator and a leaded fuel chip. Next to this, they also had the Marlboro Syclone.
 
       Yes, back in the day General Motors teamed up with Marlboro Cigarettes because back in the 90s we were allowed to do things like this. This was for the Marlboro Racing 92. They wanted to make it a special edition pickup truck and because Ford had decided not to make a convertible Ranger and Dodge only had the Shelby convertible pickup trucks, General Motors wanted to take their ultimate sport pickup truck and give them away. The Marlboro Syclones 10 of them ever being made were given away. It was a grand prize by Marlboro Racing. These ones were essentially standard Syclones shipped to American Sunroof Company, who turned it into a Targa roof with a tonneau cover, PPG Hotlix, red paint, a Momo Evolution steering wheel, complete Sony sound system, an SS exhaust Beltec, suspension, which dropped the overall appearance of the vehicle by three inches. This was dropped right down. 10 of them in existence, one of the most sought after and highest collectible variations of the Syclones out there. The Marlboro Syclones only came in red, with 10 in existence, no other modifications, except for appearance packages made to them only because it was made for Marlboro Racing as a grand prize.
 
        Added to this, in 1992, which is kind of funny because it was the year that the Syclones disappeared from the market they gave us the Indy Syclones. It was used in the 1992 Indy 500 and essentially was just a sticker package. On top of that, in 1992, they also had the PPG Syclone, a multicolored silver, magenta and aqua paint scheme with a modified light bar. This was a safety truck for the Indy 500 as well in 1992. So, they had the Indy cyclone and the PPG Syclone, specially made Syclones for only those.  Now, if you want to find these ones, you're only going to be able to find them in General Motors museums, but not for sale at all.

          Now, like we said in the beginning, the Syclones had a follow up for GM. The GMC Sonoma GT came out after the end of the Syclones In 1992, GMC got their chance, but the variation that General Motors had with the Sonoma GT wasn't as powerful as the Cyclone because they didn't want to saturate the waters of the Syclone sales. So, the GMC Sonoma GT came as a non-turbo, 4.3-liter L35 V6, a full sports performance package with a lower price option than the Syclones. The GMC Sonoma GT was essentially the entry-level Syclones 806 of them were produced in all and they also came as black, red, white, aspen, blue, teal and the most famous one you can find of the GMC Sonoma GT Forest Green. Yeah, they had it. It was an amazing little truck, really cool and something that you can look for. Everybody goes out and tries to find the Syclone, but a GMC Sonoma GT may not be as powerful and as fun as the Syclone, but essentially, it's a GMC counterpart to it.
 
          Next to that, Chevrolet also had the S10 Cameo in 1990, essentially just a standard appearance package for people who didn't want to pay the full amount to get themselves a Syclone essentially just a sport appearance package. Later on, from 1994 to 1997, they had the ZR5 Sport Packager, both the S10 and the Sonoma LS and SLS crew cabs. This was again just a sport appearance package. The ZR5s for the street, again, Chevrolet would give us because we had the 454 SS. The S10 would have to come with its own SS model. As 1992 was the end of the Syclone production, they waited a year before they finally gave us the SS S10, a high-performance package Utilizing a 4.3-liter V6, essentially the rebirth engine of the Syclone, from 180 to 200 horsepower.
 
             This thing included a limited slip differential and lowered suspension. 16-inch wheels similar to that of the Camaros came on it and these little bad boys SS S10s came as single cab, only with a step side, from 96 to 1998. This was GM attempting to bring back the Cyclone without going full in. Now, from 1994 to 1997, we had the ZR2 package. Now we already talked about the Baja package, but the ZR2, as we have now the ZR2 and the ZR2 Bison, the original ZR2 package was essentially a step up from the Baja. It was a full-scale off-road package with a 4-inch lift. So again, it was 3 inches higher than the Z71 product. A full-box ladder frame, larger wheel and axle bearings, 31-inch all-terrain tires and side fender flares with aluminum wheels gave you that full off-road ability. These things were fun.
 
           But near the end of the S10 production from 1999 to 2003, General Motors gave us the ZQ8 Sport package. Essentially it was the S10, SS or Extreme models that we all saw. The ZQ8 was essentially a sport package that was added on top of buying an S10SS, or, as most of them would be called, the Extreme Package from 1999 to 2003. This could be added to the Sonoma as well, but without badging. It dropped the height by two inches, gave you a thicker front sway bar and upgraded cast aluminum wheels and trim kit. Give you a thicker front sway bar and upgraded cast aluminum wheels and trim kit. They came in both single or club cab with the third door option to make rear access a lot better, and they could both be had with either a regular box or sidestep option, making this sport package even more fun. 

           But after we lost the S10 and the Sonoma’s, General Motors by 2003 replaced them with brand new vehicles called the Canyons and Colorado's. These would include the same special editions as their larger brothers the Z71 off-road package, the Trail Boss appearance package, the ZR2 and AT4s package. Now, the ZR2 and the AT4s for the Canyons in Colorado would be a little bit different than their larger brethren, with a three-and-a-half-inch wider track and two-inch lift compared to the four-inch lift that the Silverado’s would get. It had dynamic suspension, a more aggressive look, rock sliders, cowl hood and a 3.6-liter V6 or 2.8-liter Duramax diesel engine. One thing that only GMC has gotten into with the AT4Xs is diesels. Chevrolet doesn't involve them. With the ZR2 Bison's, only the Canyon models can be had with the Duramax diesels, because we all know when you go off-road you want the torque that comes with diesel. 

         Now, similar to the previous package with the S10s and Sonoma’s, the ZQ8 and Extreme packages were still available. Now, with the SS gone, it was now just the ZQ8 package or the top-of-the-line Extreme Performance package. These were only two-wheel drive models with the lowered suspension sub two-inch lower, but they came with 17-inch wheels instead of the original 18s. Extended cabs with a third door or a regular standard box, as fleet side or step side boxes were no longer available by 2003. They were gone. Added to this, the other side of the pond, holden would also have the Colorado LSX Sport Appearance Package for 2008 and the HSV Colorado for all performance packets. This would come becoming both street and off-road abilities. Yes, HSV gave us the only Colorado that North American was want. 

          But on the other side of the pond, now from the Canyons and Colorados, we go back in time to our original crossover utility truck market. From 1969 to 1977, we had the El Camino, sprint and Caballero models. Now the El Camino SS or Sprint SP models came with an L48350 4-barrel or an LS3400 big block or even the LS5454 big block models to give the standard El Camino a little bit more grunt to its growth. The Caballero Diablo and El Camino Black Knight counterparts from 1978 to 1981 were essentially more of a performance package for the standard crossover utility truck market, either coming with a two-barrel V6 or four-barrel V8, these made it seem like they were more powerful than the standard El Camino or Caballero models, but all in all they were just appearance package. It was like sticking the flaming chicken on the hood of an El Camino. That's all it really was.
 
        Now, if you wanted to go all in, you wanted to get something really fun and really fast. The old Ford Rancheros with Torino styling from the 1970s were really cool. And to fight these bad boys in the 1980s we got the El Camino SS Sport decor From 1983 to 87, they were essentially a Monte Carlo SS front clip added onto the standard El Camino. They moved the exhaust from the rear to the side, gave us full ground effects kit and aluminum wheels. But these weren't made by General Motors, they were made by Choo Choo Customs. I'm not talking about Valentine's Day with you know I Choo Choo choose you, but that was the actual name of the company, choo Choo Customs.
 
        The El Camino SS Sport decor, these things were essentially the Monte Carlo SS with a box on it. They were fun, they were fast, they looked cool and you can haul shit around. So why not? But unfortunately, by 1987, the crossover utility truck market in the United States would come to an end. This would be reborn in the early 2000s for a short period of time. 

​           But in its place, on the other side of the pond, Holden was still holding on to the Ute models and with it the Ute had tons of amazing products, not just the HSV, but the Ute itself had fun, fast models. You get the Ute SV6 with the 3.6-liter high output V6 pumping out 261 horsepower. Or you can move up from that and get the Ute SS or the SSV with the 6-liter Gen 3 V8, essentially utilizing the same appearance package as the Commodore SS modified for a truck box. From that you hit the top of the line before you jump into the HSV stable, with the USSV Redline with upgraded Brembo brakes, 19-inch alloy wheels and an FE3 Super Sport suspension system. This was made for fun. This wasn't a pickup truck made to go out and just do grocery grab. No, this was made to have fun and with nearly all of them, including ton of box covers, it would even stick to the road. If you want an amazing drift vehicle and if you've ever seen the Silvias added with truck boxes and how much fun they are to go drifting in, get a Ute SSV Redline. But if you live on my side of the pond, go out and find the El Camino SS's. You could do the same thing with them if you drop a more powerful engine in them.
 
           Now from here we move up into HSV territory with the HSV Maloo, which included a full body kit. Now the Maloo came from 1990 to 2020. 30 years of production, it was essentially the fastest production pickup truck with its R8 package at 168 miles per hour. This wouldn't be the fastest overall pickup truck that's still held by the SRT Ram but the fastest crossover utility pickup truck of all time the R8 Maloo at 168 miles per hour never been beaten to this day. It came only with a V8, with either an LS1, ls2, or an LS9 supercharged V8, essentially just stripped from a Corvette and thrown into a truck body.

            The R8, the R8SV, the GTS, the GTS-R and the GTS-RW were all variations of the Maloo, each one having more power and alternate features. Only four of the GTS-R W1s exist and were essentially made from leftover GTS-R bodies. They didn't sell the last four of them. So, what General Motors did? They enhanced it, gave it a W1 nomenclature and resold them. Now makes them the most valuable crossover utility pickup truck in existence in the world. They are worth over $1 million each now. So, if you've ever seen a GTS-R W1, HSV Maloo for sale, expect to spend big bucks and they only increase in value every single year. And the funny thing is there's only four of them ever made and each one of them is a different color. There's an orange, a yellow, a gray and a green one, so yours won't even be the same as the next one. You see Now with the Holden Ute, there's one amazing thing about it is that when Holden started selling the Commodores into North America and selling them as the Pontiac G8 and the Chevrolet Caprice again, the Pontiac G8, just before General Motors pulled the plug on it released the G8 Ute concept.
 
        It was greenlit for production but unfortunately the financial fallout in 2008 killed the project. It came with V8 power and, had it arrived, the G8 Ute would be the rebirth of the El Camino SS from the North American marketplace. Unfortunately, we never got that marketplace. Unfortunately, we never got that, and this would take the part of the last GM performance truck and the only dedicated built performance truck ever made by General Motors. ​

           You see where Plymouth had created the Prowler and Chrysler gave us the PT Cruiser, Chevrolet gave us the HHR to go after the PT Cruiser, but they gave us something else.  Since the fall of the Plymouth Prowler, General Motors saw that people like retro-inspired vehicles, but they didn't want to create a Prowler counterpart because they knew the trunk space was limited. Instead, they gave us the Chevrolet SSR, built from 2003 to 2006, it was the only vehicle to ever use the old 54 design formula. And if you're ever wondering what SSR means, it's a super sport roadster. It was a pickup truck. General Motors cracked the code of what failed the Prowler Trunk space. Because when you drop the top on a Plymouth Prowler you couldn't put anything but a suit bag in the back. That's why they created that Plymouth Prowler trailer to go along with it.
 
          General Motors created the SSR to give us the performance pickup truck. This was similar to what the original Dakota Shelby convertibles were, but more powerful. From 2003 to 2004, the SSR came with a 5.3-liter LM4 V8. But from 2005 to 2006, you'll want to go after these ones because these ones came with Corvette inspired 6-liter LS2 V8s with more power. 2005-2006, you'll want to go after these ones because these ones came with Corvette-inspired 6-liter LS2 V8s with more power. The same LS2 used for the Chevrolet Corvette, the Trailblazer SS and the Pontiac GTO, unlike the Cyclones of the past, could be had with a manual transmission.
 
          So, if you're looking for a fun stick shift from the past, the SSR is it A full convertible top that when it was dropped you still had trunk space. It reignited the feeling of the El Camino SS with Camaro looks and Corvette power all into one simple package, hell. In 2003, when they released it into the market, they even made it the Indy 500 pace vehicle, becoming one of the few pace trucks the Indy 500 has ever had. It ran on the GM the GMT 368 platform, which underpinned the trail blazer, envoy, Bravada, rainier, ascender and even the 97x. So, they could build these, even in limited amounts, and still make money at it, because the platform that underpinned it was underpinning so many other vehicles. General Motors loves platform building and they did this with the SSR to ensure that, even if they weren't selling like hotcakes, they could still make their money off of.
 
            Now, unlike the Cyclones of pass, which only had 3,000 of them ever made, the SSR went on to produce 24, end of the 2000s and the rise of the teen years retro was being pushed aside for new designs of the future, and for that GM would say goodbye to the SSR, the last one being produced in March 17, 2006, being a black and silver SSR. They were essentially killed off due to weak sales, where General Motors, by the end of 2005, had over 300 days worth of inventory. They were an amazing little package A retro design, Camaro appeal, truck versatility and Corvette power jammed into a package. But unfortunately, sports car market was dying in a North American climate and this little SR would not make it. So, GM's last mainstay into street performance trucks was gone and with the G8 Ute never arriving, it would become GM's last performance truck for the streets. 

           Today we have lots of off-road variations with the ZR2, zr2 Bison's, AT4, AT4x, the Trail Bosses, the Z71s. They're all built for off-road abilities, but for street there's nothing. In the GMC performance race Now, companies like Lingenfelter have looked at creating brand new variations of the Cyclone Hell. They've even created a bandit-inspired Silverado. But unfortunately, in today's marketplace going fast on the streets is a big no-no. No matter where you go in the world, places are clamping down on street racing. So, the only place where you can have the ability to go as fast as we want is off-road. And for that the big three know this and hell, even the Japanese pickup truck market knows this that off-road performance trucks are the only way to go. So today GM's performance trucks are built for the back roads, not for the city streets.
 
            And throughout its history General Motors had a lot of great performance pickup trucks, starting out in the 1970s with the original El Camino and Caballero’s and moving all the way up to the SSRs, the Silverado’s, the Sierras, the Canyons and the Colorado's of today. General Motors has created a lot of amazing performance pickup trucks, a lot more than the competition has ever made. When you take a look at the Ranger, the F-150, the Dakota and the Ram, you don't find as many sport variations of them Maybe sport packages or rebel packages, tremors, FX4 Sports but it's not to the scale that General Motors did. Gm was the performance truck king. Even though they don't hold the title for the fastest pickup truck in the world, they still hold the title for the fastest crossover utility pickup truck or truck in the entire world with the Maloo R8.
 
           Maybe sometime in the future we'll see a rebirth of either the El Camino or even the SSR, but for today, like we've said on this podcast, there's a multitude of vehicles we have talked about that you should put on your collector list. These are vehicles you should be buying to save, to make money for your future. The SSR could actually be one of them, especially if you get a hold of the original 2003 Indy 500 pace truck. So, GMC performance trucks they're good they're. They were an inspiration of myself back in my early days and they're something I look forward to seeing more of in the future. 

          So, if you yourself ever owned one of these vehicles or known anybody that has owned these vehicles, send us a message. Click the bottom at the bottom. Send us a message. Tell us about the performance trucks or General Motors that you have owned or you have seen or you have been in contact with in some form. If you've got great stories, send it to us. We're going to talk about it, how. We'll even put it up on the website and tell everybody else about it.
 
         We love hearing stories from the people that listen to our podcast, and if you can think of any of the GMC performance trucks that we haven't talked about, please send us an email and we'll pop them up in future episodes. And after you've done that, click the like button at the bottom to like, follow and keep in touch with the AutoLooks Podcast and the AutoLooks.net website for all our future endeavors and all of our great future podcasts that are coming to us this year and in the future. And after that, stop by the website, read some of the reviews, check out some of the ratings. Go to the Corporate Links website page. Check out the help pages for cool pages, clothing accessories, anything you could think of.
 
          AutoLooks likes to keep you in touch with the automotive world that surrounds us, from kids' products all the way up to just having fun and creating 3D parts. It's all available on the AutoLooks.net website. The AutoLooks Podcast is brought to you by Ecomm Entertainment Group and distributed by Podbean.co. If you'd like to get in touch with us, send us an email over at email at AutoLooks.net. So, from myself, Everett Jay, the AutoLooks.net podcast and Podbean.com, strap yourself in for this one fun wild ride that both myself, Everett Jay and General Motors is going to take us on in the performance truck future that we all look forward to. Thank you.
 
Everett J.
#autolooks