A six-figure GMC Syclone and Typhoon might not be as ridiculous as it sounds

Thirty years on from Car and Driver’s immortal GMC Syclone v. Ferrari 348 comparison test, it seems the wonderful-‘n-whacky overboosted minitruck still kicks Maranello’s rosso rump. Well, it does so long as we’re keeping to the original parameters of that test; in 2022, GMC’s blocky, steroidal interpretation of a Buick Grand National ‘ute still scoots down the quarter-mile and cracks 0-to-60 mph quicker than a Ferrari 348—all for a price that’s more Port Aransas than it is Portofino.

At least it did, right up until this week, when a Syclone and a Typhoon—the truck’s closed-cabin SUV sibling—claimed $113,000 and $180,000 respectively on Bring a Trailer. Compare this to Hagerty Price Guide’s $116,000 value for a condition #1 (concours) Ferrari 348 from the same year. Ferrari money for two early 1990s GMC trucks with delivery miles? In this market, you betcha.

Our gut instinct tells us both BaT sales of this Sy-Ty duo are outliers, and despite the redlined rise in collector car prices, we think this isn’t the new norm going forward. Still, there’s something happening here; back in September, BaT sold a 1,400-mile Syclone for $78,750, a moonshot away from Hagerty Price Guide’s $44,000 value for a truck in condition #1 (concours). Go further down the chain, and RM Sotheby’s nabbed $62,920 for a 2,228-mile Syclone at its 2020 Auburn auction.

So, $113,000 for a 250-mile Syclone might not be as bananas as you think. Alright, it’s still an outrageous sum paid for a compact GMC truck, but it’s not quite as far out of line as that six-figure number might suggest. For now, recent sales of Syclones wearing medium-to-high miles remain in-step with the price guide, and usually don’t crest past the $40,000 mark. Even if the miles are on the lower end, keep an eye on the bidding room temperature; Mecum sold a 9,600-mile example for $34,650 at last year’s Tulsa sale.

This record-setting Typhoon is a different story. Strong bidding on this 272-mile SUV settled at $111,000, before the sledgehammer $175,000 winning bid landed with two minutes left on the bid clock. As many of the sale comments note, this bombshell was immediately suspect; aside from the obvious $64,000 bazooka-blast bid, the winning bidder was a freshly created account with no bidding, selling, or commenting activity whatsoever. At the moment, the sale remains marked as “Sold,” with no further comment or clarification from the BaT team. We’ll keep an eye on it.

Even reverting to the Typhoon’s second-highest bid of $111,000, these are both landmark sales for the Sy-Ty twins. Records for the models, but not the marque; as of this writing, the most expensive GMC sold at auction is the $2.5 million paid last March for the first production example of the 2022 GMC Hummer EV at Barrett-Jackson’s 2021 Scottsdale sale. Eliminate this outlier charity sale, and the hypothetical $116,000 winning bid for the Typhoon (including buyer’s fee) isn’t even the most expensive GMC on Bring a Trailer; during the same month that saw that GMC Hummer sale, a pristine restomod 1975 GMC Jimmy High Sierra tapped out at a $132,000 winning bid.