The GMC Sierra 3500 is a big truck for big jobs. This particular example demands respect, both because of what’s under the hood and what’s been slapped on the outside. Let’s dive into the background of this hilarious creation. And yes, it’s for sale in Florida, but you already knew that.
This 1990 GMC Sierra 3500 is not a stock example by any means. Up for sale at Cars and Bids, it caught our eye for one main reason—it’s wearing a hilarious Tridon STT body kit. It’s a pointy, angular kit from a company known as Knudsen Automotive. The company described its work as “Mad Max meets James Bond.” It’s like if you took a whole bunch of Ferrari and Lamborghini styling tropes from 1987 and slapped them on the truck with a ton of fiberglass and bog.
If you dig the styling, the kit is a surefire winner. It’s also in remarkably good condition for old fiberglass, with the truck being recently refinished in Pearl Black. It would certainly draw a few eyes at your local Cars and Coffee event, to say the least.
The window sticker indicates the “Tridon Conversion” kit was $12,820, or more than half the price of the truck itself. With striping, markup, and everything included, the dealer was asking $34,780 back in 1990 (about $85k in today’s dollars). Style like this didn’t come cheap.
But back to the truck. It sits with just 61,300 miles on the clock. Under the hood lies a hulking 7.4-liter V8, good for 230 horsepower and a useful 385 pound-feet of torque. The gasser is backed by a three-speed automatic transmission with a column shifter. Joy of j0ys!
Tell me you can’t smell the Florida wafting out of this image.
Hilariously, this truck was actually up for sale just a few years ago. Classic Cars had it up for sale in 2021, with the California seller then asking for $19,995. It was in rougher condition, wearing fading paint with brown stripes down the side. It also lacked the hood adornment visible in the current Cars and Bids listing.
How do we know it’s the same truck? The VIN listed on Cars and Bids matches the ID sticker posted on the Classic Cars listing from 2021. It appears the truck was sold, and since then, it’s been repainted and given a nice new hood bulge to boot.
The truck has gained precious few miles in the last few years; it had just 60,010 miles on the odometer back in 2021. The current owner says they bought it in May 2022 and added “about 3,000 miles.” That doesn’t quite add up to the current reading of 61,300 miles, but it’s fairly close. Ultimately, the condition of the interior suggests the odometer reading is legit.
Today, the truck is sitting at $7,900 with one day left on the auction. That’s a bargain by comparison, and it looks a darn sight prettier to boot. To be honest, it’s hard to imagine finding a more eye-catching truck for less than $10,000, let alone one that will crack up your buddies nearly half as much. Of course, that price could still break five figures before the auction closes.
Share your thoughts on the Tridon kit below, and tell us whether or not you’d take a punt on this Sierra. Really, I’m just trying to understand why massive bedside intakes never caught on in the pickup scene.
Image credits: Cars and Bids, ClassicCars.com
Holy cow. That truck is both hideous and awes at the same time. It looks better with that hood bulge that without I reckon as well. I think I actually could buy that as long as I’m not paying extra for the body kit.
Who pooped in the commentariat’s coffee today? Geez… Can’t y’all see this body kit exists for no other purpose than simple silly fun? There’s nothing serious about it and that’s the point. It exists to look fun and interesting, and it’s an amazing 90s time capsule. It’s not overly aggressive like angry Jeeps or brodozers try to be, it’s just a blend of retro supercar styling with the sport truck trend that was becoming a thing at the time.
All this hate is so unnecessary for something that was never supposed to be taken seriously. It’s like hating on a parody because you don’t get the joke.
Yeah, I don’t really understand the hate; it’s silly fun, and it’s not even like it makes it worse at doing truck stuff, unlike most of the brodozer mods you see (I guess the sail panels limit side access to the bed a little, but I can’t imagine that’s particularly easy on a dually anyhow). I’d rock it happily as a tow vehicle or something, if I needed one.
This would make an epic tow rig for sure, especially for towing a race car with similar styling.
I actually like the single piece headlights, as opposed to the split reflector ones that a ’91 Sierra would’ve originally come with.
Get rid of the knee cappers and the LED tailgate strip, put the stripes back on it, and it’d be hero (or villain) car worthy.
It has the Mad Max V end of mankind appearance package. Leave it alone, it’s sexy in a gross mis figured kind of way. I’d drive it
I remember seeing one or two of these out in the wild when they were relatively new, and they looked just as frigging stupid as this one does now.
Respect? Nah.
As others have said, it needs the stripes or at least an approximation of them, like maybe in a different retro color, like turquoise, teal, hot pink or something or all of those. If it goes for under $10k, that seems like a good deal for someone. Not me, but . . . someone.
yeah those stripes made it..
Buy it right then convert it back to a stock Sierra.
Ghastly. Looks like a roided and bulked up Rampage.
That front end wants to be a four-eye Foxbody Mustang so bad.
I heard Knudsen was based on a farm outside of Moorhead, Minnesota.
Hard to keep them down on the farm once they’ve seen Karl Hungus.
I actually like it. The lights and lug caps are easy enough to swap, and there are plenty of vinyl places that could make me even more ridiculous stripes than the originals.
All that custom work and they couldn’t give it seats with proper headrests???
Unfortunately, GM didn’t offer headrests on the bench seats until 1992, and it seems like the current owner is trying to keep the truck relatively original (aside from the silly hood bulge) to how it was when new.
Once again we are reminded that when it comes to doing stupid shit there are no limits to what Florida Man can come up with. Seriously? You could not give me this piece of crapola. I would vote for one of DT’s pieces of fecal matter over this everyday. I vote CP. YMMV.
I appreciate the new paint job, but bring back the stripes!
Yes. The respray was needed, and I am glad it got some love, but the stripes really brought it all together!
Yeah, if you’re going ridiculously stupid, really own it and at least with the stripes it has that retro label to hide behind when people question your taste. I would probably do the stripes a little different though as I don’t like the split, unaligned spear, so I’d move the front stripe up to run into the upper rear fender. Of course, I wouldn’t own this thing at all, so it probably just isn’t for me.
This thing looks like a cornfed Dodge Rampage, and that’s no compliment.
This is all I’m here for.
It’s a kit for those disappointed in the lack of a 1 ton styled like a Rampage/Scamp.
That or a Mirada. Either way this thing is bad. Not good-bad, but actually just bad.
For when you absolutely, positively need to transport a ton of weed while looking like a total baller, right?
In Florida, you gotta have something to tow that single-wide to the next trailer park after you miss rent two months in a row. Might as well do it in something that matches your mullet.
I liked it better before Florida man. It needed respray but that hood doesn’t make it look any better. Plus they went all pep boys and replaced the lights with some (probably crappy and blinding) units along with updating the mirrors about 10-15 years. Different wheels and those cliche lug spikes. It just looks like a hodge podge of crap.
Take it back to the original 90s glory and own the retro.
“Cocaine is a helluva drug”
-Whoever designed this monstrosity.