1996 Suburban Sle 4x4, 148k Miles, Once Owned By Pop Evil Band's Matt Dirito on 2040-cars

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GMC Safari GT, a rad-era hauler with custom-van swagger

The GMC Safari van, along with its Chevy Astro sibling, performed yeoman service ferrying passengers and hauling cargo for two decades starting in 1985. But one special variant, the Safari GT — and, at Chevrolet, the Astro RS — added an unexpected dollop of swagger. Those vans had a custom look that was straight out of the '70s "sin bin" era. One of those Safari GTs is up for grabs right now, fittingly, on the RADforsale auction site. The option package at both GMC and Chevrolet was coded BYP, the GT Sport Package, and it appears to have been offered from 1990 to 1994. Its defining element was the two-tone paint treatment shown here, with black on the lower body and the greenhouse, and your choice of white, silver, blue, gold, or red as the main body color. Blanked out rear quarter windows and "simulated air exhaust louvers" behind the middle side windows added a further bit of style (long-wheelbase XT versions skipped that flourish). Also included were a front air dam, blacked-out grille, aluminum rally wheels, and a sport suspension. This 1991 Safari GT appears to have been further sportified with a lower-body aero kit, a rooftop spoiler, and aftermarket wheels. This rear-wheel-drive, standard-wheelbase model is powered by a 4.3-liter V6 hooked to a four-speed automatic transmission. It has traveled a relatively low 126,000 miles and looks to be in exceptionally good shape — particularly given that most of these vans lived a hard life. At this writing, bidding stands at $5,100 with bidding to end May 21. That suggests this Astro GT will bring a strong price — but if you want one, you may be hard-pressed to find another.

Overland Expo's GMC Sierra AT4X is an Aussie-style ultimate overlander

Overland Expo is a caravan of companies producing everything one could need or want for overlanding. So what better what to showcase the kind of hardcore overlander possible by dipping into that parts caravan than to build just such an overlander? That's what the Expo did in creating its second Ultimate Build, based on a 2022 GMC Sierra AT4X. Overland Expo said it chose the Sierra for the 6.2-liter V8 with 420 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque because it wanted to "go bigger and more extreme" than its first build last year, which was based on a Toyota 4Runner TRD Off-Road. This Sierra trim was chosen over its AT4 sibling due to the extra dose of rugged, like the Multimatic spool dampers that provide about an inch more suspension travel front and rear, and the front and rear locking differentials. The Denali-like luxury isn't a bad thing to have, either. The only performance mods are a MagnaFlow cat-back exhaust, Firestone Ride-Rite air springs at the bag and 17-inch Icon Dynamics wheels on 33-inch 33 Firestone Destination Mud Terrains replacing the stock 18-inchers on Goodyear Wranglers.   Rig builder Mule Expedition Outfitters tapped more than 21 exhibitors for components, and spent "hundreds of hours" putting them all together seamlessly. The most eye-catching swap comes from the MITS Alloy three-foot canopy and tray that replaces the pickup bed. MITS is an Australian company, hailing from the land that also gives us overlanding powerhouses like ARB and Old Man Emu, and this is a popular outback-style rig. In addition to the storage areas on the sides and underneath, the canopy holds a Dometic refrigerator, Green Goat Outdoors camp kitchen and an eight-gallon water can that feeds a Geyser Systems shower. A solar panel on the roof routes power to a pair of lithium-ion batteries in the canopy as well, their output controlled by a Redarc RedVision Manager30.  There are plenty of Rigid lights for avoiding trouble, and a Forrest Tool Max Tool Kit plus GoTreads for when trouble inevitably appears anyway. The crew cab should hold plenty of gear, but anything else that needs to be stored outside will go in a set of 3D dry bags.

Volkswagen's latest ad is not subtle | Autoblog Podcast #509

On this week's podcast, Mike Austin and David Gluckman are joined by special guest James Riswick, who has been driving a lot of new cars lately. All of them are discussed, plus a few more from Mike and David, and Mike rants a bit about a new VW Atlas commercial. The episode wraps up with the traditional doling out of Spend My Money buying advice, during which David briefly goes out into left field. (He's back now, don't worry.) The rundown is below. Remember, if you have a car-related question you'd like us to answer or you want buying advice of your very own, send a message or a voice memo to podcast at autoblog dot com. (If you record audio of a question with your phone and get it to us, you could hear your very own voice on the podcast. Neat, right?) And if you have other questions or comments, please send those too. Autoblog Podcast #509 Topics and stories we mention GMC Sierra HD Mazda MX-5 Miata RF Mazda CX-5 Honda CR-V vs. Mazda CX-5 Mini Countryman Honda Clarity Fuel Cell Ford F-150 Raptor Lexus RC 200t VW Atlas "Luv Bug" commercial Used cars! Rundown Intro - 00:00 What we're driving - 02:43 Ad of the week - 41:40 Spend My Money - 49:14 Total Duration: 56:27 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Feedback Email – Podcast at Autoblog dot com Review the show on iTunes Marketing/Advertising Podcasts Ford GMC Honda Lexus Mazda MINI Volkswagen mazda cx-5 ford f-150 raptor gmc sierra hd volkswagen atlas mazda mx-5 rf lexus rc 200t