Meet your heroes: why the Humvee would make a great family car

What you see here is a genuine AM General High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, or HMMWV for short. Although because that’s hardly a catchy abbreviation, it’s colloquially known as the Humvee. And no, it’s not a Hummer – that was the brand name used for civilian versions and was eventually sold to General Motors in the late 1990s. Got it?

In the late 1970s the US army wanted a single vehicle that could replace the 1950s M151 and a number of other larger trucks. It set out draft specifications and three companies – AM General, Chrysler and Teledyne Continental – were invited to build prototypes for testing. In March 1983, AM General was awarded a five year contract to produce 55,000 examples.

The Humvee first saw active service in Panama in 1989, and yet it’s still in use across the globe today. A total of 281,000 were eventually built and there were at least 17 different variants.

Photography: Huckleberry Mountain

This particular Humvee is owned by Don Wickstrum. Otherwise known as the Fastest Pastor. He bought this car directly from the military. It served in Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq, was recommissioned as part of the ‘HMMWV Recapitalization’ programme in the early 2000s and was then used back on US soil as a training vehicle. Quite the life.

At its heart is a Detroit Diesel V8 that would have been making around 160bhp when it was new. It weighs around 2.5 tonnes, is 1.8m tall, over 2m wide and 4.6m long and seats erm... four people. It also has a theoretical top speed of 70mph, but I stuck my foot flat to the floor and only just managed to break 60mph.

Still, there’s all wheel drive, independent suspension and portal axles to allow for 410mm of ground clearance and mighty off-road ability. Humvees also got lockable central differentials and inboard disc brakes, while the body was mounted on a steel frame with the powertrain raised up above into the cabin area for maximum protection of the oily bits. Inside, that means each passenger sits in a different state. Don has fitted actual doors too, although the fabric roof remains. The driving position is perfectly acceptable, there are working seatbelts, and we can’t imagine you’ll be victim of any road rage.

At idle it’s as though someone has parked a dump truck underneath your feet

Here’s a shock too – the Humvee is actually very easy to drive. With a three-speed automatic gearbox and extremely light steering it doesn’t take much effort to pilot. Although saying that, the big diesel engine sounds like it’s making a whole lot of effort. At idle it’s as though someone has parked a dump truck underneath your feet, and once you’re on the move the gear ratios are so long it’ll be screaming away long before you get the sweet relief of an upshift. Not a lot of sound insulation in play here.

With its huge weight, ability to only seat four people and a few reliability issues, it’s debatable whether the Humvee was a success for the US military, but as a retro roadgoing family car... you know how some modern SUVs look tough? The Humvee actually is tough. This thing was dangled from Sikorsky CH-53 helicopters and thrown into some of the harshest terrains, so I’m pretty sure it could handle the school run. 

The US government has been auctioning off demilitarised Humvees for around a decade, and prices generally kick off at around $10,000 for those in ahem well used condition. You’ll likely need a new title and registration, but this is a proper piece of history for a third of the price of a Kia Carnival MPV. Probably prudent to leave enough cash to buy the kids some ear protectors, though.