A Japanese Tuner Reshaped The Suzuki Jimny To Look Like A GMC Typhoon, One Of America’s Rarest ’90s Performance SUVs
Hiroshima-based tuner C.L. Link just put the Suzuki Jimny in a GMC Typhoon costume, and the resemblance is uncanny for a small 4×4 that shares nothing mechanically with GMC’s turbocharged 4WD icon that could smoke a Ferrari. The build, revealed October 6 and set for a full unveiling at Tokyo Auto Salon 2027, swaps the Jimny Nomad’s round headlights for square units, adds flared bodywork and a lowered stance, and chases the exact visual language of the 1992-1993 Typhoon down to the background and lighting of its own press photo.
The Typhoon only existed for two model years, and GMC built it in numbers small enough that clean examples now command serious money among collectors who remember what a turbocharged S-15 Jimmy with full-time AWD could do to a sports car in 1992. C.L. Link didn’t pick a generic retro SUV look to chase. It picked one of the rarest American performance SUVs of the era and recreated its face on a vehicle that couldn’t be more different underneath.
The Details Behind The Jimny’s New Face
C.L. Link’s kit centers on a square-headlight conversion paired with a dedicated grille and a purpose-built front bumper, erasing the five-door Jimny Nomade’s rounded factory face. Out back, a body-color panel smooths over the spare-tire mount, joined by smoked taillight lenses, red reflectors, and a dedicated emblem. A C.L. Link Type 1 rear muffler handles the exhaust note.
The stance comes from a 1-inch suspension drop built on Eibach springs and Bilstein dampers, aimed at firming up the ride without gutting the Jimny’s trail manners. The 16-inch C.L. Link UnionRim TX wheels, wrapped in 215/70R16 Toyo Open Country H/T II tires, look oversized against the small frame, though that’s really just the Jimny’s tiny proportions playing tricks on the eye. Inside, Recaro front buckets and color-matched rear seat covers round out the theme.
A Tuner Built On Off-Road Credibility, Not Retro Gimmicks
C.L. Link isn’t a novelty shop. The Hiroshima outfit built its reputation on off-road prep for the Jimny and Toyota Land Cruiser, with lift kits engineered to clear Japan’s strict shaken inspection standards. Its flagship CL20-II build leans overlander, not showpiece, which makes the Typhoon tribute something of a departure, even if it reuses parts from the company’s existing catalog rather than introducing a new line.
The design work comes from Ryo Ishikawa, the Japanese fashion-brand founder of #FR2 who partnered with C.L. Link on the project. The build doesn’t name the Typhoon outright in official materials, but the callbacks (the squared-off front end, the blacked-out trim, the low stance) leave little room for doubt about the inspiration.
Why The Mismatch Is The Whole Point
The Jimny isn’t sold in the United States, though American buyers willing to cross the border can find one in Mexico. That absence only sharpens the irony here: a tiny, 1.5-liter, roughly 100 hp compact off-roader wearing the face of a turbocharged, all-wheel-drive American SUV that could run 0-60 in about 5.3 seconds and embarrass sports cars when new.
C.L. Link isn’t adding power or chasing performance parity with the Typhoon’s underlying mechanicals. This is a pure styling exercise, and that’s exactly why it lands. JDM tuning culture has spent years reworking small Japanese trucks and vans into cosplay versions of cars built an ocean away, and this build treats ’90s American performance SUV nostalgia with the same reverence usually reserved for Group B rally cars or European hot hatches. The Jimny debuts its new face at Tokyo Auto Salon 2027, running January 15-17 in Chiba, with orders opening alongside the show.
Whatever C.L. Link charges for the kit, the real story is what a Japanese tuner chose to honor in the first place. The Typhoon never got anywhere near this kind of attention stateside after GMC killed it in 1993, and it took a small 4×4 half a world away to remind everyone why it should have.
Source: C.L. Link
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