We like the turbocharged GMC Syclone pickup so much that we helped you put it in a video game. We were also saddened to discover one that Syclone became a Cash For Clunkers victim. Save the Syclones! Update!
Nathan B. Adlen, the proprietor of Aadlen Bros. Auto Wrecking, is one of the most experienced auto wreckers on the West Coast. When the Syclone showed up at his shop, he instantly knew what it was.
"It's a Cash for Clunkers [car] that came in, and it's still totally as I [received] it," says Adlen. "It's missing some of the ground effects and a radio, but otherwise, it's a nice, complete Syclone."
Sort of. Because the Syclone is a Cash for Clunkers car, there's one other problem with it: The dealer that took it in trade performed the old legally required liquid glass trick and killed the engine. Adlen is hoping that Syclone owners out there in need of parts will reach out to him, and he's taking advantage of the 90-day extension to postpone destroying it.
Considering that fewer than 3,000 Syclones were built, this is a sad hit to an endangered species. (Remember, too, that many examples of the GMC Typhoon, the Syclone's sister truck, were clunkered.) The Adler Bros. car doesn't appear on the master list of Cash For Clunkers trade-ins, but it's possible that it was one of the forty-eight versions of the 1991 GMC Sonoma 4WD that the program took in.
We hope this is the only Syclone to be clunkered. Help what's left end up in the right hands.
UPDATE According to Bobsmop in the comments:
That's my buddy's Syclone. It had 226k on the clock when he let it go. The rod was basically pushing through the block, it leaked oil and PS fluid from various places like a sieve. He put it on craigs for $500 and couldn't even find a buyer. Oh, and he traded it for something with four seats, since his wife was expecting. Don't judge.
Even if it's true it still hurts, what a great LeMons car.