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AM General to offer civilian HMMWV "kit car"

GoldComet6

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FYI........just passing along this interesting info!

AM General to offer civilian Humvee kit car

By George KennedyRSS feed Posted Aug 2nd 2012 6:51PM



AM General to offer civilian Humvee kit car

For anyone feeling nostalgic about the passing of the Hummer brand, or the actual wartime vehicle that inspired it, now is your chance to own a version of the original HMMWV, albeit without an engine.

After a 12-year hiatus from the civilian vehicle market, AM General is reportedly set to offer a kit-car of the C-Series Humvee. The kit will conform to U.S. government regulations and has been made possible by a deal with General Motors.

The kit costs $59,000 – and you still need an engine. A likely favorite would be a Duramax Diesel V8 and Allison transmission combination, as was found on the H1 Alpha. AM General estimates that an owner could buy the kit Humvee and outfit a powerplant and transmission for $75,000. Not bad, considering that H1 Alpha has an MSRP of $140,000 in 2005.

How is this possible? If you recall, GM was trying to unload the Hummer brand to Chinese-based Sichuan-Tengzhong, among other suitors. As we all know, a deal never happened and the brand rumbled off into the sunset. The deal with AM General worked so that the military Humvee producer could offer a vehicle to the public as long as it was fundamentally different from the H1. By offering a kit car, they apparently end-around much of the legal confines.

But that also means are other setbacks. The final product will not look like the civilian Hummer H1, and it will not have niceties like interior trim, power locks, door mounted mirrors, or even hard doors. It will simply be a four-seat, soft-top, soft door vehicle. AM General will offer 'add-on' factory options such as the Central Tire Inflation System, rocker protection, and potentially two-piece beadlock wheels.

As the story over at Hummer Guy puts it, "just remember – its a Humvee, not a Hummer."
 

Haasino

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The biggest variable I see with these kits is going to be the title/registration process. As incomplete vehicles without a drivetrain, these kits are not going to have VIN #s, since the VIN identifies specific features on a vehicle that these won't ship with. Actual HMMWVs built to .gov contract have a national security exemption under federal law that exempts them from safety and emissions regulations, and those exemptions are carried over when they enter civilian hands... so when the DMV tried to do a safety inspection on my HMMWV, the California Highway Patrol told them to pound salt.

These Humvee kits aren't going to carry that national security exemption... so by releasing them as kits to bypass emissions regulations, AM General is just going to be passing the nightmarish level of paperwork on to the end-user. I wonder if, two years from now, we're gonna see completed kits going up on eBay without titles because the owners built them and then couldn't register them?
 

glcaines

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A friend of mine bought a low-mileage H1 several years back with a diesel engine. He had major mechanical problems with the engine and other parts of the vehicle. The crankshaft even broke in half. After spending a lot of money on repairs, he sold it.
 

GoldComet6

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The biggest variable I see with these kits is going to be the title/registration process. As incomplete vehicles without a drivetrain, these kits are not going to have VIN #s, since the VIN identifies specific features on a vehicle that these won't ship with. Actual HMMWVs built to .gov contract have a national security exemption under federal law that exempts them from safety and emissions regulations, and those exemptions are carried over when they enter civilian hands... so when the DMV tried to do a safety inspection on my HMMWV, the California Highway Patrol told them to pound salt.
These Humvee kits aren't going to carry that national security exemption... so by releasing them as kits to bypass emissions regulations, AM General is just going to be passing the nightmarish level of paperwork on to the end-user. I wonder if, two years from now, we're gonna see completed kits going up on eBay without titles because the owners built them and then couldn't register them?
I figured the title process would be similar to all of the homebulit AC Cobra or similiar "kit cars" that are already sold now. Regardless of size or style - it seems these kits might fall under the same guidleines.2cents
 

swiss

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It would be a kit car and most every state has provisions for registering kit cars,
 

EdMontana

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Here from FOX NEWS


http://soc.li/0kjKpbg


I just wonder if those kits will come from the Military excess surplus and all the HMMWV's that are out there seating and waiting something to happen?

That may be one way GM can dump those parts and still out of liability, instead releasing not DOT approved full vehicles for road use.
 

Haasino

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I'll be very interested to see what type of frame and body they're going to use... the H1 assembly line has been shut down for several years, and GM isn't letting AMG use any parts unique to the H1 anyway... I'd be very interested if they end up using the REV frame and body. $60k for an M1165 w/o drivetrain or armor would be far more appealing than $60k for an M998 w/o drivetrain.
 

flighht2k5

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I'll be very interested to see what type of frame and body they're going to use... the H1 assembly line has been shut down for several years, and GM isn't letting AMG use any parts unique to the H1 anyway... I'd be very interested if they end up using the REV frame and body. $60k for an M1165 w/o drivetrain or armor would be far more appealing than $60k for an M998 w/o drivetrain.
Non of this is true. Gm only had the rights to the name hummer. That's it. They still make hmmwvs to this day.

http://www.amgeneral.com/vehicles/hummer/
 
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Haasino

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Non of this is true. Gm only had the rights to the name hummer. That's it. They still make hmmwvs to this day.
The Hummer H1 and the current HMMWV differ in frame and body... AMG stopped making the civilian H1 several years ago... the article cited said:

The deal with AM General worked so that the military Humvee producer could offer a vehicle to the public as long as it was fundamentally different from the H1.
The final product will not look like the civilian Hummer H1, and it will not have niceties like interior trim, power locks, door mounted mirrors, or even hard doors.
This, to me, seems to imply they can release a HMMWV kit just fine... but not a H1 kit. Everything is speculation until a sample truck is rolled out, but I'm interested in seeing if it's an REV model truck with the 3-piece frame rails, heavy duty cross members, etc.
 

flighht2k5

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The Hummer H1 and the current HMMWV differ in frame and body... AMG stopped making the civilian H1 several years ago... the article cited said:





This, to me, seems to imply they can release a HMMWV kit just fine... but not a H1 kit. Everything is speculation until a sample truck is rolled out, but I'm interested in seeing if it's an REV model truck with the 3-piece frame rails, heavy duty cross members, etc.
The frame and the body are the same between the two. The article stats it will be a hmmwv.
 

Haasino

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The frame and the body are the same between the two. The article stats it will be a hmmwv.
The frame and body of an H1 is not the same as the frame and body of an REV HMMWV... the current HMMWVs have 3-piece framerails so they can be replaced and repaired in sections... as well as heavier-duty airlift towers. The bodies also have sections cut out in the rear to accommodate the military air conditioning system, as well as an extended grill to accommodate a larger radiator. Early H1s were the same as the A0/A1 HMMWV, but neither of those are produced anymore...
 
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