Nice RV

[Rainen]

Saw this parked in aspen this morning. Stopped and took a few pictures. Pretty sweet rig.
Anyone know the owner or seen a build up anywhere?

[Elwenil]

Ugh, what a waste of a HEMTT.

[apeters89]

Originally Posted by Elwenil

Ugh, what a waste of a HEMTT.

fuck, that thing is BAD ASS!

[Elwenil]

The HEMTT? Yes. The horse trailer on the back? Not even close.

[Caswell]

A lot of the bling builds around here would look retarded if you just looked at a mid-build picture.

If that is actually the final product...it's pretty horrible. Poor execution of an awesome idea.

[DJ404564X4]

Originally Posted by apeters89

fuck, that thing is bad ass!

this!!!

[blakeape]

Pretty bad-ass if you ask me. I would love to see what the inside looks like and a little olive drab on the camper would make it all blend nicely.

[Elwenil]

That's not Olive Drab. It's 383 Green CARC.

[blakeape]

Okay, okay a little 383 Green CARC and it will blend nicely, Sir!

[Machinos]

Hope they're being careful to not overload it

[PAToyota]

I don't know, it is growing on me. Not quite so hacked together as it looked at first. But I'm still wondering what the heck that "duct" is from the cab back to the camper? Super secret wonder twins escape tunnel?

[89breaker]

Originally Posted by PAToyota

I don't know, it is growing on me. Not quite so hacked together as it looked at first. But I'm still wondering what the heck that "duct" is from the cab back to the camper? Super secret wonder twins escape tunnel?

Probably sucking off the cab heater.

[Elwenil]

Pretty sure it's for A/C. I think all the HEMTTs have heaters unlike the older miltary trucks.

[85blue4runner]

waste of a HEMTT for sure. Terrible platform for an RV, IMO and they will likely never go anywhere near the capabilities of that truck. Fuel mileage is probably 2-3 MPG and IIRC the engine is a monster 8V92 Detroit, so you have that screaming in your ears at 55 mph down the highway all day, which is your top speed BTW..... no thanks...

[JESSE_at_TLT]

Damn, why are you guys hating on that thing so hard? We've seen one picture. Of the outside. Most people that see my motorhome from the outside probably assume that I'm cooking meth in it.

[Elwenil]

It's like taking a Ferrari F40 and putting a ladder rack on it. A HEMTT is still very rare in civilian hands and with the rebuild program, it's likely to stay that way. To put some halfassed looking body on it with whatever that ridiculous looking diamond plate mess is on the cab is just a waste of a nice HEMTT. The stupid thing is there are much better platforms for this sort of thing and even if someone just wanted to use a HEMMT, they could have easily used one of the many modular comm shelters or even dirt cheap ISO shipping containers that would lock down to the stock HEMTT bed to build a RV and still keep it military looking and easily restored to stock appearance in the future.

And yeah, with the paint on the side of your M109, I would sort of assume some sort of drugs are involved, lol.

[JESSE_at_TLT]

Not hurting anybody and I'm not much of a purist, so I could give a shit about the rarity or molestation of any military vehicle. Who know what's going on inside that thing, or what plans the owner may have in store for it.

[Elwenil]

That's kind of my point though. Whatever plans he has, they aren't well thought out looking at the end product.

[Ford Prefect]

Jesse, you may be spinning your wheels for no good.

That truck is clearly an excellent example of a beautiful overland rig. Granted the paint could come along, but other than that it looks to be clearly an idea driven vehicle. It is functional, and that is the most important.

It is just that Americans are not familiar with this concept. They are very common in the European countries.

I have seen trucks like this on the White Rim trail, does that count as following the potential of these vehicles?

Anyhow, not at all trying to be hating on people, just saying that this, in my eyes, is a beautiful vehicle.

Take it easy.

[JESSE_at_TLT]

I'm just saying that obviously none of us know what's going on with that thing: how it's built, what's inside, how it's being used, future plans, etc. This F-800 is a good example of what I'm talking about. The owner put a throwaway camper on the back of it to use temporarily.

[Elwenil]

Yes but it looks like hell and obviously compromises were made. My point is that anyone who can afford a HEMTT in civilian hands and can afford to drive it any distance should have enough money to make a body that sits right on the frame and not run some ridiculous looking duct across the engine housing to the cab. Why not use one of the easily available Red Dot A/C units for the cab? Or at the very least a roof mount A/C unit on the cab? Why mount a body that is out of proportion and most likely not laid out very well when something better could have been done. One could hope that it's only temporary but the fact that he butchered the cab with that duct sort of seems like he's comfortable with it. I'm a big fan of "use whatever works" but if one is going to halfass something, they could do it on a much smaller vehicle that is not so rare. I imagine that body would fit very well on a M814 and look much more proportioned and not be a waste of such a rare HEMTT in civilian hands. As it sits it looks like a fine example of some jackass with too much money and not enough brains in my opinion.

[Ford Prefect]

I'll give you that the duct is curious. I suspect there are likely wires running through it as well. Still, very curious.

As I said, if you look at the older MAN KAT overlanders, you will see tons that look just like this one.

Heck I would take that thing for a spin for sure.

I just wonder what the vehicle cost in the first place! yikes.

[Elwenil]

Pretty much every HEMTT in private hands I have seen for sale was well over $100k.

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by Elwenil

Pretty much every HEMTT in private hands I have seen for sale was well over $100k.

OH,

Well, I have to tell you, that is REALLY not very much money for a truck.

I realize that the average joe thinks that a lot of money, but look at ANY bus style RV brand new, you are going to be at least 150K for the crummy ones, and a cool million if you want to go all out. Then look at your Unicats, a good 600K to start. (new) So spending 100K on the donor truck.

While I certainly can not afford that, when you look at places like mobile.de you can see how much the overland/expo trucks sell for, most of the totally beaten down trucks are 45-80 Euro.

Still, I LOVE that truck, and would take it in a heartbeat. Now, Me, I would reconfigure things so that I could put a seat behind the driver and another behind the passenger. (Need room for my kids) but if I had the cash, yeah I would buy that thing! haha

[Elwenil]

You realize that is the engine behind the cab don't you? Not much you can do to reconfigure that, lol. And yes, I am well aware of the various vehicles used for Dakar support and similar stuff but for an MV needing a lot of special parts and maintenance, $100k is pretty steep and usually that level of expense is reserved for armor. Most surplus US military trucks can be had for under $20k easy.