The Banks 502 concept was built to answer a simple question: how fast can a full-size pickup go when you give it real engine, aero, and chassis attention? We started with a 502 cubic-inch Chevrolet marine engine, added twin turbos and our tuned-port fuel injection, and pushed the concept to about 1,300 horsepower. The big rear wing wasn’t for looks. It was there to keep the truck on the ground at the kind of speed this program was aimed at—well past 200 mph. Just as important, this truck was a rolling laboratory. The extreme build let us test ideas at the top of the pyramid, then apply what worked to the truck power business we were already serving—RVs, tow rigs, and working trucks. The point wasn’t just shock value. It was using an all-out concept to develop hardware and engine-efficiency thinking that could matter in the real world, including a planned lower-output version aimed at street and emissions legality.
The KTLA Morning News segment introduced Gale Banks through a broader point about how pickup trucks had evolved from basic work vehicles into expensive, highly customized, high-performance machines. Banks appeared with the Car Guys, Mike and Steve Parker, in the studio parking lot alongside one of his most extreme development vehicles: a pickup truck described as a 1,300-pound, 1,300-horsepower rolling laboratory. The discussion framed the truck not as a conventional production vehicle, but as a showcase for advanced engineering and as a dramatic example of how far truck performance had progressed.
Banks explained that the truck was being developed with Bonneville Salt Flats competition in mind. The rear wing, which the hosts examined first, was intended to keep the vehicle planted at speeds above 200 mph. The stated goal was 225 mph, although Banks said the truck was probably capable of roughly 250 mph in its ultimate form. At the time of the segment, the truck was configured as a two-wheel-drive vehicle, but it was expected to be converted to four-wheel drive for Bonneville use.
The speed target was presented in the context of Banks' prior record-setting work. His company had already built the world's fastest pickup for GMC, the Syclone, which had run 210 mph at Bonneville. That earlier achievement established the credibility of the new truck as part of an ongoing high-speed truck development program rather than a one-off stunt.
The visual walkaround highlighted several race-oriented features. The wing was the most obvious aerodynamic device, designed specifically for high-speed stability on the salt. The tires also drew attention because they had no tread. Banks acknowledged that this truck was supposed to represent a street-truck concept, but the example shown on television was fitted with racing tires. He added that the company hoped Goodyear would produce a street version of that tire for future use.
That distinction reinforced the truck's dual identity. In its current form, it was a competition-oriented engineering demonstrator, not a street-legal vehicle. Even so, the project was clearly being used to explore what a more practical high-performance pickup might eventually become.
When the conversation moved to the powertrain, Banks identified the engine as a 502-cubic-inch Chevrolet marine engine from his company's marine engine line. The engine was twin-turbocharged and equipped with Banks tuned-port fuel injection. Nearly everything visible under the hood, according to the segment, reflected the company's own engineering work.
The truck shown on KTLA was said to produce about 1,300 horsepower. That output placed it far beyond the limits of a normal street vehicle and explained why it had to be transported to the studio on a trailer rather than driven legally on public roads. The on-air demonstration emphasized that this was an extreme development platform intended to explore the upper limits of truck power and speed.
Although the featured truck was not street legal, Banks said the company intended to build a version producing about 600 horsepower that would be emissions legal. Later in the segment, the hosts added that the planned street version would also be safety legal. Banks described the 1,300-horsepower truck as a calling card rather than the final consumer product.
He also discussed pricing. The target price for a customer version was said to be about $38,000. In context, that figure referred to the more practical 600-horsepower version rather than the full race-oriented truck shown on television. The segment presented this as an ambitious but plausible attempt to translate race-derived engineering into a purchasable high-performance pickup.
Banks described the truck as a test bed for new ideas and hardware. His company was primarily in the truck power business, especially for RVs, motorhomes, trailering vehicles, and other heavy-duty applications. In that context, the extreme pickup served as the top of the development pyramid: a rolling laboratory where the company could push components and concepts far beyond normal operating levels.
The value of that approach, Banks explained, was that lessons learned at the highest performance levels could be applied to mainstream products. If the company could extract hundreds of additional horsepower in an experimental vehicle, it could more easily deliver smaller but useful gains-such as 80 or 100 extra horsepower-for customers towing with everyday trucks. The segment therefore positioned the truck not as an isolated showpiece, but as part of a broader engineering process tied to practical vehicle performance.
The hosts connected Banks' work to a larger cultural and commercial trend. They noted that pickup-truck customization had effectively started in Southern California and had spread nationwide. For many buyers, the modern pickup had become an alternative to a sports car. One host described the concept bluntly: a two-seat sports car with a large trunk. That observation helped explain why a high-performance pickup could attract serious attention beyond traditional work-truck buyers.
The segment also referenced the GMC Syclone, the earlier Banks-developed truck sold by General Motors, as proof that manufacturers were willing to commercialize this kind of performance concept. More broadly, the hosts characterized vehicle performance improvement as a substantial market, estimating it at about $6 billion. Within that market, Banks' company occupied a niche focused on extracting more capability from trucks and related vehicles.
A notable technical point in the discussion was Banks' insistence that increasing horsepower did not necessarily mean wasting fuel. He said the company's central focus was engine efficiency, and the hosts echoed the idea that improving horsepower could also improve fuel economy. Even in a segment built around a 1,300-horsepower spectacle, Banks framed performance as a byproduct of better engine efficiency rather than simple excess.
The live demonstration underscored the truck's capability. After Banks climbed back into the vehicle, the audience was given a brief display of what the hosts called 1,300 horsepower from a 502-cubic-inch, twin-turbocharged engine. The demonstration served as the segment's visual payoff, but the surrounding explanation made clear that the truck's real significance lay in its role as an engineering platform for future products.
The segment closed by broadening the picture of Gale Banks himself. Although one anchor joked that he looked more like a banker than a builder of extreme trucks, the hosts emphasized that he had been doing this work for about 30 years and held degrees in mechanical engineering and electrical engineering. They described his operation as a major powertrain business with a 50,000-square-foot facility.
They also clarified that while the specific truck shown that morning was illegal to operate on the street, a legal 600-horsepower version was expected in the near future. The hosts noted that the featured truck would appear in magazines over the following months and described the KTLA appearance as an exclusive. In that sense, the segment captured Banks at the intersection of racing, engineering development, and the emerging high-performance truck market.