Have you been searching for a new Hummer H1? Do you have a quarter-million dollars burning a hole in your pocket? Then Kansas-based Mil-Spec Automotive has the machine for you.
The company, founded in 2015 with a mission to reinvent the Hummer H1, isn’t affiliated with AM General or General Motors. It is, however, taking donor H1s and stuffing them with Duramax diesel engines and a level of luxury unseen in any Hummer that ever crawled out of a GM factory.
By the way – the Launch Edition’s 6.6L Duramax diesel V8 is rated at 500 horsepower and an even 1000ft-lb of torque. Yes, you read that correctly.
Mil-Spec will gladly sell you a Launch Edition machine one of five bodystyles: the 4-door hardtop pickup that Arnold Schwarzenegger made popular in the ‘90s, a hardtop slantback we all saw being deployed during Desert Storm, a wagon version that looks like the world’s most aggressive hearse, a three-row SUV style, and – this author’s favorite – a two-door pickup truck with a 6.5-foot bed.
Also See: This Classic 1965 Jeep Wagoneer Is Perfection
Whatever configuration is chosen, the Mil-Spec H1 retains the legendary off-road specs of the original machine on which it is based. An approach angle topping fifty-seven degrees ensures drivers can climb just about any obstacle (and probably a few concrete walls), assuming they haven’t simply run over the obstacle with their 18-inches of ground clearance. Breakover and departure angles are 29- and 47-degrees, respectively. To put that in perspective, a new Ford Raptor measures 30-, 22-, and 24-degree angles in approach, breakover, and departure.
Wide-open deserts will be this machine’s forte, as it is a shocking 104.5-inches wide with its elephant-ear side mirrors folded out. That’s only a two-and-a-half feet less than the entire length of a Suzuki Samurai. Curb weight borders on 7500lbs, about two grand less than its maximum tow rating.
No matter, as the Mil-Spec Launch Edition H1 will simply vanquish obstacles by intimidating them into submission with its aggressive style. “We spent two years researching, designing, and developing prototypes in our quest to build the perfect truck and we have achieved our goal with our Launch Edition,” said Adam Mitchell, MSA CEO. The re-crafted body is made from aircraft-grade aluminum and gets an in-house textured body coating. Its exterior is festooned with all manner of LED lights and off-road bars but is still immediately identifiable as an H1.
Inside, Mil-Spec takes a page or two from the ICON playbook, crafting an interior out of the finest leathers and blocks of aluminium. Everything is built in-house at the Kansas plant, integrating high quality materials that follow the customer’s build sheet.
Interested? Bring your checkbook, as the Mil-Spec H1 starts at $218,499 before adding even a single option. A sample truck, built by the company using a 1997 H1 as its base, is listed on the duPont Registry for $249,000.