Specialty Vehicle Engineering was founded in 1986 (originally under the SLP name) by Ed Hamburger and his son David. Ed, a drag racing legend with a history of developing unique performance parts, decided to offer upgrades for GM muscle cars that would be legal in all 50 states.
This takes time and patience, especially to pass California’s Air Resources Board’s stringent requirements. After engineering the industries first emission legal performance package for GM’s Tuned Port Injection engine in the 1988 Camaro and Firebird, this parts manufacturing company evolved into a full-scale one-stop shop for late model GM muscle cars, trucks and SUVs.
Their first limited production specialty vehicle was the 1992 Pontiac Firehawk, the most potent Firebird at that time. Their performance modifications were so popular that GM awarded them an RPO (regular production option) code, allowing them to provide all of the production upgrades to the 1996 to 2002 model year Z28, turning them into the Camaro SS and Trans-Am WS6 production vehicles. Pontiac and Chevrolet customers, who wanted the meanest muscle cars they could order, had their choice of the Firehawk, Comp TA and Camaro SS specialty vehicles. They were available from any Chevrolet or Pontiac dealer throughout the USA and Canada. After building over 55,000 vehicles in that time period, GM ended its fourth-generation Camaro and Firebird production and closed their Canadian assembly plant.
Having built thousands of production-based cars for GM and its dealers until that program ended, Ed and David decided to develop a complete line of supercharged late-model muscle cars, full-size trucks and SUVs. In 2015 they were named the exclusive licensee and builder for the current generation of YENKO performance vehicle. For those of you not familiar with the YENKO name, Don YENKO was a Chevrolet dealer based out of Canonsburg, PA. He was responsible for hot-rodding everything from the Corvair to Camaro, the Nova to Chevelle – all performance vehicles in the late 1960s through the early 1970s, that in some cases are now valued at close to $1 Million.
Since YENKO was such a high-profile performance brand, the Hamburgers jumped at the opportunity to resurrect the brand with their current generation of YENKO vehicles. Their 2019 1,000 HP YENKO Camaro was unveiled at duPont Registry’s Cars & Coffee show in late 2018, followed by their 1,000HP supercharged YENKO Corvette and Silverado.
History repeats itself, and now Specialty Vehicle Engineering has more to offer than just the YENKO performance vehicles. As a former Tier 1 supplier to GM and its dealers, they were able to develop a comprehensive lineup of OEM-quality late model specialty vehicles including the Silverado/Sierra, Yukon/Tahoe/Suburban, and Denali/Escalade. With all of GM’s full-size truck and SUV models covered, they started looking at GM’s current mid-size trucks.
Their new GMC Syclone, based off the 2019 mid-size Canyon, follows the same formula used by Ed and David for over three decades. Starting with the GMC Canyon, they added power by supercharging the engine with their own unique supercharger, lowered the suspension and delivered 455 HP. Traction bars and a stainless steel cat-back exhaust are standard equipment, and the 4.10 gears front and rear offer neck-snapping 4WD launches. It has massive 6 piston brakes and rotors, 20”x 9” wheels, and Michelin 275/45R20 Pilot Sport 2S tires at each corner.
A midsize Sport Truck with this level of performance is unprecedented, so visit specialtyvehicleengineering.com, or contact your local Buick/GMC dealer for all the info.
