# The short, disgusting life of the Hummer



## forza_milan (10 Dec 2008)

Source: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/12/05/hummer/index.html



> *The short, disgusting life of the Hummer*
> As General Motors tells Congress it is weighing the fate of the gas guzzler, Salon compiles a scrapbook. Enjoy these proud moments in Hummer history.
> 
> By Katharine Mieszkowski
> ...


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## dapaterson (10 Dec 2008)

How could they ignore the Broadway musical "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"?  One of the leads sings a song about excess called "Great Big Stuff":



> The Islands in the winter
> The Hamptons in the summer,
> The fashion plate I date'll give me
> Hummers in my Hummer.
> ...


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## George Wallace (10 Dec 2008)

I think someone is mistaking the Civilian (Gas) versions of the Hummer with the Military (Multi-fuel) versions.


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## forza_milan (10 Dec 2008)

They also forgot to mention Vincent Chase, who gets chauffeured in an H2 in _Entourage_


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## AideMemoire (12 Jan 2009)

George Wallace said:
			
		

> I think someone is mistaking the Civilian (Gas) versions of the Hummer with the Military (Multi-fuel) versions.



When the first civvy-side H1 hit the streets here in Vancouver, the first thing the dealership found it had to stock up on was passenger-side mirrors.  What was happening was that new H1 drivers, unused to the additional width, were wiping the mirrors off on the backs of buses, poles, commercial vehicles and the odd pedestrian.  In reality the add'l width isn't that significant - 6-8" wider than the average Ford F150 - it's just that when you sit fairly low down in them and see nothing but hood, you get a distorted perception of the width.  

I've never seen what might be considered a multifueler in an HMMWV, as all the military ones I've seen had either the 6.2 or 6.5 GM diesel coupled to a couple of different species of Allison automatic transmission.  They weren't a bad design for what they were originally intended for (command/control, cargo/troop transport up to 5/4 ton, comms pallet, comms shelter, light weapon systems etc.) but started having big problems when the loads started going up thanks to applique armour, heavy weapons systems, and a host of other things 1983's drawing-board didn't foresee.   They upgraded axle halfshafts, transfer cases, engines, springs, geared hubs, parking-brakes (the original HMMWV had no 'Park' in the transmission, so if you had no parking brake - you watched your vehicle roll away on you) and discovered the hard way thanks to the USMC that steel and aluminum don't like each other -- something the maritime community has known for a couple of hundred years or more.  I've seen HMMWVs where you could put your fist through what was left of the steel frame, and tracked tons of what would've been mission-ending electrical failures thanks to a plague of bad grounds caused by steel/aluminum electrolysis.  The early ones even had glow plug controllers and wiper motors which would quite literally start fires all by themselves, leaving the HMMWV dissolving before your eyes in its very own Viking funeral pyre.  

Also, you can win a free beer or two in the Mess with this one: ask someone whether or not Canada uses Humvees.  They'll typically answer No, but they're wrong!  Canada actually has two which came as part of an electronics suite I last saw used up in Cold Lake during ex Maple Flag a few years ago.


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## geo (12 Jan 2009)

Aidememoire... we have more than 2
JTF2 uses em as well.  How many? couldn't tell you.


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## 2 Cdo (12 Jan 2009)

geo said:
			
		

> Aidememoire... we have more than 2
> JTF2 uses em as well.  How many? couldn't tell you.



Well we could tell him but then we'd have to kill him!


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## AideMemoire (12 Jan 2009)

2 Cdo said:
			
		

> Well we could tell him but then we'd have to kill him!



How about you just give some really good hints and leave me lightly wounded??  Life's all about compromise... 

Seriously, I did not know that JTF uses HMMWVs.  Cool.


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## Old Sweat (12 Jan 2009)

Go on their website and check the photos.


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