In many minds (mine included), the only real Hummer is the original, the large-by-huge and unapologetically American version, the one that was sold to civilians as the Hummer H1 and the military got as any of a number of versions of HMMWV. A civilian H1 is viewed as a luxury off-roader, and is built and priced accordingly. While I’m not here to crap on those who have bought one, I will say that anything north of $60,000 is just too damn expensive to be off-roading. But it’s not like you could get your hands on a surplus HMMWV…after a couple early ones managed to find their way out of the system and into private hands, the government quickly put a lid on the program.

Except now, with a surplus of M998-series and M1038-series HMMWVs clogging up lots, there’s been a change of plans and the restrictions were lifted by the US State and Commerce departments. Both of these versions are early-build light trucks, one for troop transport and one for cargo transport, and are now only used for basic taskings in garrison operations, with most of these light-duty HMMWVs having been replaced by heavier-armored versions since the beginning of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars. AM General, the company that designed and built the HMMWV for the military, will not sell parts or service information any customer outside of military or previously approved official buyers, and certainly not for vehicles that “wind up in civilian hands”, with a statement on their website saying that the company “opposes any use of these military vehicles by individuals or entities outside of the military context for which the vehicles are designed.” This might have something to do with the fact that AM General is selling a military-like version of the H1 that they call the C-Series, which starts at $137,000 for a vehicle.

So how do you go about getting your own ex-military Humvee? You check out GovPlanet.com and expect bidding to begin at about $10K for a truck. The first batch of trucks all had bids on them, but there is one hitch to this: all of these vehicles are being sold for off-road-use only…that’s a swift kick right in the kiddies, ain’t it? So, unless you’re ready to do the dance with your local DMV, you might want to think twice. But if you want one of the best off-road vehicles you can get your hands on with little-to-no modification, take a look at the auction and see for yourself.

(Courtesy: Army Times)