Nostalgia tends to be a pervasive problem for car enthusiasts. It’s one thing to appreciate the classics for how cool they were. It’s another thing entirely to imagine them as something they never were.
We have a tendency to think of all older cars — particularly performance cars — as these phenomenal machines when in reality some of them were just not that great. That’s why I love hearing from people who actually owned them, like Prophet of hoon weighing in on Tavarish’s story about a cheap 1993 GMC Typhoon for sale:
I love the idea of these things - but I drove one back when they were new, and they weren’t that impressive. For all the gee-whiz electronic dash (which is a nightmare to get fixed), turbos (way undersized), and the not-a-hotrod 4.3... I’m sorry, I’ll have to give it a meh. With that said, the bolt-pattern and motor mounts are 350 chevrolet - thus a LS swap (with appropriate spacers) and you’ll be a full-hero in no time (which many have done with great success). One of my favorite of that upgrade (there is a Typhoon website, really) on the web is a turbo 5.3 Typhoon... all for less money then a new Hyundai.
The benefit of starting with this one is all the other go-fast goodies are already attached.
And just a note about the color - they came in any color you wanted, as long as you wanted black.
Meh. I’d still rock one, but the prophet has a good point.
Congrats on your COTD win! May your future be filled with turbocharged, engine swapped beast-trucks!
Contact the author at patrick@jalopnik.com.