It takes a special talent to infantilize the brute strength of a Hummer H1, but someone's gone and done it with an oddly swoopy redesign. One of only two made (yes, there is another), this unique Hummer features a custom hood and front bumper, as well as a multi-section removable roof should the driver and occupants actually wish to be seen tooling around the neighborhood in this beast.

Inside, it's been all tricked out with a trifecta of television screens, ostrich leather interior, iPod-compatible entertainment system, sat-nav, back-up cameras...the works. Even the turbodiesel V8 has been tweaked and mounted with a polished aluminum snorkel, complimented by a chrome Mack truck bulldog hood ornament. Oh, and it has a $2,000 train horn, just in case someone can't see this behemoth coming from a mile away. All this can be yours for the low price of $89,900 or best offer.



[Source: eBay Motors via Carscoop]

It is well known that California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has had a very public change of heart when it comes to seeking out a greener lifestyle. Heck, he's gone from owning the very first civilian AM General HMMWV to talking up green environmental initiatives and start-ups like Tesla. He's even taken delivery of one of the company's Roadsters.

Fitting in the car, however, is apparently proving to be a bit of a challenge for the bodybuilder/actor formerly known as Conan, so word is that he's trying to return it to Tesla. What he might have slotted in the garage in the space of that Tesla? If TMZ's paparazzi video footage at the link is to be believed, the answer is a TorRed Dodge Challenger with all the trimmings. A little lighter on the green credentials, sure, but it's not black, it's not hard to get into, and it makes all the right noises for the man character who said the best things in life are "to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women."

[Source: TMZ]

Rejoice GM, somebody wants HUMMER! In fact, AM General, the company that created the original mil-spec HMMWV for American troops back in 1983 is rumored to be in the mix of bidders, joining forces with China's Hunan Changfeng Motor Co. Despite earlier reports, Changfeng has remained interested in the brand since GM first put HUMMER up on the auction block, but had desired a bidding partner. It appears that it found one shortly after touring the automaker's facilities a few months back.

This is an intriguing move, especially since it was AM General that first launched the HUMMER marque in America before selling marketing rights for the brand to General Motors in 1999. Despite the presence of a Chinese partner, rumors indicate that HUMMER would remain an American brand that's marketed predominately towards the United States. It's an interesting footnote, though possibly completely unrelated, that news of HUMMER's impending sale rise and fall in unison with global fuel prices. In any case, this announcement seems to reaffirm GM's stated goal of selling the off-road brand by 2009.

[Source: Gasgoo via Hummer Guy]

While General Motors looks over a stack of offers for its HUMMER brand, the fate of AM General hangs in the balance. The military contractor developed and built the original Humvee until the rights to the HUMMER name were bought by GM, who then contracted AM General to continue building the H1 (until it was discontinued) and then the Chevy Tahoe-based H2. (The Chevy Colorado-based H3, meanwhile, is built entirely by GM at its Shreveport, Louisiana plant.) With the future of its General Motors contracts uncertain, AM General has announced a new deal of another kind.

Starting in 2010, the Indiana-based company will begin producing a new series of wheelchair-accessible transit vehicles for the Vehicle Production Group, LLC. Although, as VPG points out, the usual development gestation period for such vehicles is two to three years, VPG and AM General intend to get the ramp-equipped para-transit vehicle to market in less than 24 months. Over 3,500 units have already been ordered, leading VPG to project that annual production will well exceed that number, while AM General intends to use the same workforce it currently employs for the new project. As for what the para-transit vehicle will look like, no one knows, but there was word of AM General developing a new version of the Standard Taxi (see above) with a low ride height and large doors that appears as if it could easily accommodate wheel chairs.

[Source: Detroit News]

It's been called HMMWV, the High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, Humvee for short, or HUMMER for civilian use, but it's been twenty years since DoD chassis M998 was put into service, and the Pentagon wants something new.

The Humvee slowly found its way into the civilian market when celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger began purchasing them for personal use, and the brand was bought from AM General by General Motors in 1999. GM recently took the Hummer H1 off the civilian market, replaced by the more modern and (comparatively speaking) more efficient and roadworthy H2. Now the Pentagon wants part of the action again with a new Humvee 30-40% lighter, more fuel efficient and with better armor to protect our troops.

AM General and GM are not currently competing for the DoD tender, but Navistar International (with the CXT) and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin are in the running.

The Humvee originally gained its fame on CNN during the first Iraq war, several years after it was put into service. Since then, new technologies – including vitals like drivetrain and lightweight/high-strength construction materials – have been developed that could prove useful on the battlefield.

[Source: Edmunds Straightline]