---
title: "This 800-Horsepower Yenko/SC Silverado Is the Performance Pickup Chevy Is Scared to Make"
description: "This supercharged Silverado is seriously fast—and it comes with a warranty."
date: "2018-02-23"
modified: "2018-02-27"
authors:
  - name: "Kyle Cheromcha"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kyle-cheromcha"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/18737/800-horsepower-yenko-sc-silverado-is-the-performance-pickup-truck-chevy-is-scared-to-make"
categories:
  - "Chevrolet News"
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
  - "Trucks"
tags:
  - "Chevrolet"
  - "performance"
  - "pickup"
  - "pickup trucks"
  - "silverado"
  - "Supercharged"
  - "Yenko"
---

# This 800-Horsepower Yenko/SC Silverado Is the Performance Pickup Chevy Is Scared to Make

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2018/02/yenko-silverado.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Pop quiz, hotshot: What's the quickest way to haul a few thousand pounds? Let's review the options, because against all odds, on the eve of the electric car revolution, the limited-edition performance pickup truck market [is somehow expanding](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/14347/this-heroic-dealer-will-sell-you-a-new-ford-f-150-lightning-with-650-hp-and-a-warranty>). And the 800-horsepower [Chevrolet Yenko/SC Silverado](<https://specialtyvehicleengineering.com/2018-yenkosc-supercharged-800hp-silverado/>) just might be the ultimate expression of unbridled excess as of early 2018.

Brought to us by the fine people at Specialty Vehicle Engineering, the same company behind the bonkers [1,000-horsepower Yenko Stage II Camaro](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/18465/yenko-sc-stage-ii-camaro-claims-1000-horsepower>) we covered earlier in the week, the Yenko/SC Silverado is the street performance truck that General Motors never had the guts to make. It's also an homage to legendary racer and Chevy dealer Don Yenko, who's revered for creating his own line of monster Camaros when GM refused to build them at the factory in the Sixties.

![message-editor%2F1519420275947-2018-chevrolet-yenkosc-silverado-1500-exterior-front-quarter.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1519420275947-2018-chevrolet-yenkosc-silverado-1500-exterior-front-quarter.jpg>)
**Specialty Vehicle Engineering**

The formula is simple: SVE takes a 2018 Chevrolet [Silverado](<https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/17661/chevrolet-reveals-2019-silverado-1500-at-north-american-international-auto-show>) Z71 4x4 in its basic short bed-standard cab configuration and tosses a supercharged 6.8-liter V8 engine under the hood. The engine itself packs a host of mechanical upgrades that help boost its output to an eye-popping 800 horsepower and 750 pound-feet of torque, along with a custom-built stainless steel exhaust system to really let it sing. Easy (and American) as apple pie, right?

![message-editor%2F1519420399100-2018-chevrolet-yenkosc-silverado-1500-exterior-front-view.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1519420399100-2018-chevrolet-yenkosc-silverado-1500-exterior-front-view.jpg>)
**Specialty Vehicle Engineering**

SVE makes a few other enhancements, though. The company lowers the ride height by a few inches and adds a custom front sway bar to keep the Yenko/SC Silverado from bouncing off the road. Six-piston Brembo brakes are there to help when things get hairy. And there are a ton of custom cosmetic upgrades available, including the stripe graphics, Yenko badging, and leather seats with houndstooth inserts.

![message-editor%2F1519420528057-2018-chevrolet-yenkosc-silverado-1500-exterior-rear-view.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1519420528057-2018-chevrolet-yenkosc-silverado-1500-exterior-rear-view.jpg>)
**Specialty Vehicle Engineering**

You can get the truck in any factory color...though we think black looks the best and serves as a fitting tribute [to the 454SS,](<https://www.thedrive.com/category/buy-sell>) the last full-size performance pickup offered directly by GM.

![message-editor%2F1519420569445-2018-chevrolet-yenkosc-silverado-1500-exterior-hood.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1519420569445-2018-chevrolet-yenkosc-silverado-1500-exterior-hood.jpg>)
**Specialty Vehicle Engineering**

All this fun has a price, of course. You have to first purchase the base truck [through a Chevrolet dealer,](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/16762/chevrolet-dealer-keeping-the-classic-pickup-look-alive-with-this-cheyenne-super-10-build>) which costs around $46,000 with the required Performance Parts brake upgrade kit. On top of that, the Yenko/SC upgrades will run you *another* $46,995, meaning this rig is awfully close to crossing [the magic $100,000 mark that's proven a tough pill to swallow for pickup trucks until recently](<https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/14779/why-are-people-so-against-the-100000-ford-f-450-super-duty-limited-4x4>). It's also a hair more expensive than some of the other dealer-built performance trucks that we've featured recently.

But the Yenko name doesn't come cheap, and at least it comes with a 3-year/36,000 mile warranty. Plus, we think that houndstooth interior looks the business. And then there's the exclusivity—SVE will only be making 25 of these trucks, and with the current generation of Silverados set to exit stage left later this year, there won't be another run that looks quite like this one.

![message-editor%2F1519420703069-2018-chevrolet-yenkosc-silverado-1500-interior.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1519420703069-2018-chevrolet-yenkosc-silverado-1500-interior.jpg>)
**Specialty Vehicle Engineering**

## Author
Overseeing an expert staff of writers and editors from his lair in Los Angeles, Kyle shapes The Drive’s singular approach to covering the automotive industry and car culture. He’s been with the site as a writer since 2017, taking over as editor in 2019. On a daily basis, Kyle is responsible for directing The Drive's editorial news and car review content strategies, setting special coverage priorities, managing complex reporting projects, and ensuring what you read on the page meets our high internal standards for quality and trustworthiness. He is also the executive producer of The Drive's YouTube channel, which was relaunched in February 2024 to great acclaim and has accumulated over 14M new views in its first year back on the scene. He hosts a biweekly series on the channel where he breaks down fascinating and complicated stories from the automotive world.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/kylecheromcha.bsky.social>)  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/kylecheromcha>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-cheromcha-1550248a/>)