Nine-point-nine liters of engine, normally sourced for a marine application, plopped into the most typically 1990s Chevrolet Suburban you’ve ever seen in your life. You know how there are miracle machines that escaped out of the back door from the factories in the 1960s…the four-speed Hemi-powered police Plymouth Belvedere, the 1972 440-6 Mopars, and so on? Yeah…this Suburban qualifies in the same vein as those vehicles, and needs just as much respect as those cars get in tight-lipped inner circles. It ain’t no Hemi under the hood, and it’s not the 230 horsepower 454 that the 3/4 ton GMT400 trucks got as an option, either. That is 605 cubic inches directly from the insane asylum of John Lingenfelter, straight from General Motors’ marine engine catalog, complete with an intake system cribbed from Mercury Marine, a 4L80E that was prepared for the onslaught of torque that it was about to receive, and the result was nothing short of hilarious. 4.7 seconds 0-60 in two-wheel-drive. Drop a tenth off of that time if you run it in four-wheel-drive. That would spank a Ferrari 512TR and piss off Camaro and Mustang enthusiasts to no end. Car and Driver got to test a prototype GMC-based example in 1994 and had plenty to say, including, “A family hauler like this would make Tipper Gore naughty.” That’s an image if there ever was one…ugh.
Reportedly, the deal was that the Saudi Arabian government was looking to up-armor these trucks before sending them on to deal with drug runners. Anybody shocked that a vehicle that might get 8 MPG on a good day was going to the Middle East? This thing is an oil shiek’s wet dream, but somehow this silver Chevy is sitting in Monroe, Washington for sale to the tune of $18 grand or so. This is a street racer’s payday come to life, a grudge racer’s ace in the hole when money starts flying. Forget the race car…I’ll race you in the tow vehicle if you’ll give me half a length. Watch what happens next when 550 horsepower and 705 ft/lbs of torque send all four tires digging into the asphalt as the almost uncorked exhaust blows your cover wide open.
Somebody needs to pick this thing up. And they need to let us have a shot behind the wheel, even just once.
Dealership Link: 1999 Lingenfelter-modified Chevrolet Suburban K2500
I remember Lingenfelter doing a square-body suburban way back that actually lifted a tire and ran a 12 while looking basically stock. John had more going on than most.
Used to have tow car races at Fremont back in the day, a friends Buick Wildcat Convt. ruled until a guy put a spare race engine (from an A/D)in his Carryall (Suburban Van) and ran 11s, fun was had by all.
Right down the road from me. Talk about sleeper!