38. GMC Syclone
Back in the 1980s, GM experimented with turbocharged engines, which was in sync with industry trends at that time. And the most famous of them was the Buick Grand National or Buick GNX. It featured the 3.8-liter turbocharged V6 engine with under five-second 0 to 60 mph times. With that kind of firepower, those black Buicks were terrorizing the drag strips and stop lights. But by the early 1990s, the Buicks were gone, so the GM engineers were looking for a place to install that turbo hardware. They decided to make a crazy sports truck out of a plebian Chevrolet S10, a compact pickup with diminutive, four-cylinder power. This is how the GMC Syclone was born. GM took an ordinary S10 bodyshell and installed a 4.3-liter V6 with a turbocharger. It was good for 280 HP and included a special four-speed automatic from a Corvette and performance-based all-wheel drive.

The power figures don’t sound much these days, but the Syclone was able to sprint to 60 mph in just 5.3 seconds which made it faster than contemporary Ferraris. The key was the lightweight, small dimensions and lots of torque from that turbocharged engine. Of course, the price was significantly higher than the regular model so they built less than 3,000 of them, mostly in the signature black color. Today, the GMC Syclone is a collector vehicle and a highly sought-after model. And it is still quite fast and can hold its own against much younger and more powerful cars, too.