How civilians got to drive the Hummer

GIs drive in a jeep at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center. The hummer would emerge out of the military jeep. U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center via Digital Commonwealth

By Megan Turchi @meganturchi

May 21, 2015

1 minute to read

The last civilian Hummer, long plagued by a reputation as a gas-guzzler, rolled off the assembly line in 2010 after General Motors’s attempts to sell the brand to a Chinese company failed.

It was the end of a unique history stretching back to World War II.

The evolution of the Hummer:

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The Hummer’s earliest roots were in a military Jeep used in World War II. The Jeeps were used through the 1970s, when the U.S. military realized the vehicles were old and unsatisfactory. Many no longer met military mission requirements.

AM General Corporation began to develop the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) in 1981.

By 1983, the Pentagon, seeking a replacement vehicle for the outdated Jeep, granted AM General Corporation $1 billion to develop 55,000 Humvees, as they were nicknamed. (Their nickname would later morph into just Hummer.)

The Hummers ended up playing a large role during the Persian Gulf War. Around the same time, the vehicles attracted the eye of California’s future governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Rumor has it Schwarzenegger was driving on the freeway when he saw a convoy of Hummers driving the other way. He turned around, went and talked to the drivers and then soon after flew to AM General’s plant to suggest they start making a civilian version.

The first model was introduced in 1992.

Although the Hummer is no more, you can slate your thirst with other military-inspired cars here.