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00:00Hi everybody, Jeff Dunham and Walter. It's a beautiful day at Dunham Family Motors.
00:04I think it's so-so. Do you have something sad and tired sitting in your driveway?
00:08Yeah, my idiot son-in-law. Most vehicles are designed to get you from point A to point B.
00:13This vehicle was designed with a mission to be the ultimate light tactical
00:19military vehicle. It just looks wild. It did its job so well somebody said hey
00:25let's add cup holders, air conditioning, and a stereo because nothing says daily
00:29driver like full combat readiness. This is the story of two vehicles with the same
00:34DNA, twins. But when they came down the production line one got shipped off to
00:39war while the other got all the cushy stuff. How about this? Look at the
00:43behemoth in our collection here. The 2600 alpha zero down. Yeah, and it's extra
00:49clean. You know what that means? Yeah, we finally washed one. Nope. Throughout time
00:56humanity has been obsessed with getting places using anything but their own two
01:00feet. We've tried all kinds of things. Until finally the greatest invention of all
01:07time. The automobile. Moron! These are the cars that drove us. In the history of the U.S.
01:18military only two vehicles have marched from the battlefield to the driveway. The
01:23Jeep and the Humvee. They really capture the imagination of the American people. As
01:30it turns out, we needed one to pave the way for the other. The Humvee was half the
01:34new Jeep. Except upgraded. You know, bigger, stronger. But to understand how we ended up
01:39lucky enough to squeeze a military machine into a two-car garage, we have to go all
01:44the way back to 1939. As the threat of impending conflict approached. There was a
01:50realization from our army that they needed a vehicle that was capable of operating in
01:57the off-road environment. And so the U.S. Army put out a call. U.S. automakers
02:02American Bantam. Yes, sir. Wheelies. Affirmative. And Ford. Right away. Answered. They came out with the
02:08GPW. The pronunciation of it would eventually morph into Jeep.
02:15Jeeps were deployed to every corner of the globe, ready to spring into action. The American Jeep was
02:23absolutely revolutionary. The Jeep became famous during the Second and after the Second World War. The
02:30Jeep symbolized victory. And soon the symbol of grit and determination became an image of pop culture
02:36from movies and television. That packs an awful wallop. To comics and toys. A recoilless rifle that
02:43really shoots. But before long, playtime was over. And the Jeep returned to combat. In the jungles of
02:50Vietnam, with all of the rivers, with the swamps, it had limitations.
03:01They needed something better. And so it was determined that success could be achieved by
03:06harnessing the mighty military power of a checklist. The military went out to a variety of
03:12manufacturers and said, here are the specs we want. Something that can climb at a certain angle,
03:16certain level of ground clearance, carry a certain payload, it goes certain speed. All these specs.
03:21And like they'd done with the Jeep, in February of 79, the Army put out a call to companies who
03:26were
03:26willing to take on this extensive checklist. Teledyne, Chrysler Defense, and AM General would pit their
03:32prototypes against each other at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground. But one company had a small
03:38disadvantage. We weren't a huge organization. We were not a General Motors. But what they did have was
03:43a real energized, hardworking core team. The sole focus of AM General Engineering was the Humvee. We were
03:53looking at it as a must-win contract. No pressure. Now, about that checklist. The Humvee specification
04:02required low-altitude parachute extraction. I'm going to need you to explain. A military cargo plane
04:11would open up their cargo door, deploy a chute, and drop it on the ground from like 20 feet going
04:17100
04:18miles an hour. So, how'd you do? We broke our frames. We actually, we had to strengthen the chassis of
04:29the
04:29Humvee to be able to withstand that. Check one. But the chassis didn't just need to survive being shoved out
04:35of an
04:35airplane. It also had to politely endure the constant pounding from mounted weapon systems. That strength of the
04:42chassis went up and held a weapons ring so that they could operate a machine gun 360 degrees,
04:49a tow missile, or other weapons. We've actually mounted a 105 Howitzer on a Humvee.
05:01Check two. The government's specification required 16 inches of ground clearance. 16 inches? So,
05:09how'd they do it? We took a seating position of a soldier and put his feet right at the bottom
05:17of
05:17the frame rail. So, that means the tunnel comes up considerably high, about hip height. That's because
05:23that's where the drivetrain goes through, which gives it this unique additional clearance. Check.
05:28You combine that with the wheel hub, it gives the Humvee tremendous off-road capability. The vehicle has
05:35to be able to enter five feet of salt water. As if that weren't enough, it also had to be
05:41shut off
05:42underwater. Sit there for an entire hour, then restart and drive out without having any detrimental effect
05:52on the vehicle. Wait, does General Motors make an engine that can go fully underwater?
05:58We had to add a snorkel to the engine so that it could breathe. Check, check, check.
06:05After years of development, countless tweaks, and more than a few chassis later, the three prototypes
06:11rolled into Aberdeen Proving Grounds to go head-to-head in testing.
06:16The year was 1982. Olivia Newton-John was single-handedly making the FCC sweat with her cheeky double entendres.
06:24Let's get physical, physical.
06:27And testing of the top three prototypes of the U.S. military's newest high-mobility,
06:32multi-purpose wheeled vehicle was about to begin. While AM General was busy cracking chassis and
06:38flooding engines, Chrysler Defense and Teledyne were hard at work on their prototypes as well.
06:43Teledyne Continental, they were basing their prototype off of that Lamborghini Cheetah design.
06:50While Chrysler Defense's design was based on their existing expanded mobility truck. The Army took
06:55those prototypes to Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. The test and evaluation commands most
07:00comprehensive facility. The vehicles were put through over 600,000 miles of abuse in every miserable
07:07condition imaginable. Just 24 hours a day through all kinds of terrain and various environments. With each
07:14team nobly battling it out. Competing for a billion-dollar-plus contract to provide the
07:20Humvee for the Army, Marines, and Air Force. Ultimately, one was chosen. And that was the one
07:26that was designed by AM General. It was the ultimate military vehicle. Selected for production by the U.S.
07:33Armed Forces in March of 1983. When we won the contract, it was like, wow, we actually had a party.
07:41And rumor has it, AM General partied into the PM that night. Because Dave and the gang now had over
07:49a billion reasons to party. It was one of the largest defense contracts ever. This was kind of
07:54the beginning of the Hummer phenomenon. The work became, oh my god, now we gotta do this. When AM
08:02General began cranking out its battle wagon for the military, it answered to two names. Hummer or Humvee.
08:09Ultimately, Humvee became the name that stuck, standard issue and mission ready. And the Humvee's
08:15mission? Do everything. We've created over 15 different variants. The Humvee was a huge step
08:21forward from the Jeep. It's more powerful. It's got greater ground clearance. It could go through 60
08:27inches of water. It could go up a grade of 60%. The Humvee absolutely took it to the next level.
08:32For the next decade, the Humvee would exist exclusively during peace times. But that would
08:38all change. On December 20th of 1989. And for the first time, the Humvee was heading into combat.
08:46When we invaded Panama to get rid of Manuel Noriega. Drug agents arrested him on the spot.
08:51The Humvee, it performed exactly how they had hoped it would. And whether it was in an urban
08:57environment or in a jungle environment. It became the second Jeep, so to speak,
09:02except upgraded. You know, bigger, stronger and everything. Let's hope so, because its next task
09:09was a doozy. The car all of a sudden became really world famous because of the Iraqi war.
09:18This was a war that was being televised in the United States. You could see these Humvees going
09:24across the desert. Big machine guns on top and on the left and on the right. You know,
09:29armored windows, armored this, armored that. Soon, the course of the Humvee's fate would be forever
09:34changed. Not on the battlefields of Iraq, but rather... In the executive conference room.
09:40He had a fella from marketing came in and said, we just got a phone call from a celebrity.
09:49By 1990, the Humvee was a critical part of the armed services operations. It could be seen
09:55transporting service members down the streets of many American cities from Maine to Oregon,
10:00specifically Astoria, Oregon. Welcome to Astoria. Astoria had become a popular filming location.
10:06And on one fateful day... This is your new kindergarten teacher.
10:12Those two worlds collided. So we were filming Kindergarten Cop and we were driving on a freeway
10:19to get to the location. It was early in the morning. And then all of a sudden I looked over
10:22to the other
10:23side and there I saw a bunch of Humvees. It was like a lot of them. One after the next
10:29coming.
10:30And I looked at that and I said, this cars look so cool. I mean, it was unbelievable.
10:36The Austrian in Astoria was in awe. Hey, snap out of it. He immediately fell in love with it and
10:43then
10:43contacted AM General directly. I was so impressed by the cars. I got to look into if those cars are
10:49available.
10:50But there was one small hitch. It's not legal. They said, no, you cannot really own one because
10:55for that we would need permission from the Pentagon and from the list was going on and on and on.
11:00Apparently, civilians can't just buy military equipment. He can't drive it on the road. It's
11:06illegal. But Schwarzenegger was never one to shy away from aggressive negotiations.
11:12And so... I was the chairman of the president's council of physical fitness. I said, you know,
11:17I know Dick Cheney. I know Colin Powell. I said, let me just get into it. And I got the
11:23permission.
11:23They felt kind of like there's no secret military stuff there that we should be concerned about. So
11:29I basically bought one. The Pentagon may have rubber stamped the sale,
11:34but that doesn't mean the Department of Transportation would let the rubber hit the road.
11:39Of course, it wasn't street legal. We had to build the vehicle for him to meet
11:44better motor vehicle safety standards. It was completely new electrical system. All new lighting,
11:49all new sensors, adding ABS. You need to have the interior done in a padded way because if you
11:56have an accident, you hurt yourself. So it's safe. So it is legal. We had to develop doors because the
12:03Humvee doors were cloth and there's a requirement for side impact. What I like about the Humvee is you
12:09don't have to do a thing about building it up and making it ballsier because it has the biggest wheels
12:17on it. It has the interior that's tough. It has the windshield wipers that are tough. Everything is
12:23rugged about this car. The military version is very stark inside. Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn't want it
12:29stark inside. He wants a nice car. So they made it a little bit nicer inside, a little bit more
12:34usable,
12:35including putting an air conditioning in there, which was not in there and the heater and stuff
12:39like that. Of course, it needs power windows and powered door locks and heated seats, a whole new
12:44interior. I then took it back to Humvee, the AM general. And I said, now here's what the civilian
12:51Humvee could look like. So it is street legal. So it became kind of like a concept car. One day
12:58at work,
12:58our CEO comes on and said, one year from today, we're going into production on a commercial Hummer.
13:06It's going to be available to the public. The plan was for AM general to make the military Humvee,
13:13as well as the civilian H1 Hummer. I will regularly visit the factory, test drive the various trucks
13:21that they built. He will bring them to Aspen. I would drive them without snow chains. Up the mountains,
13:27there was deep snow and it just climbed up to the top of that mountain. On the shoulders of the
13:34collaboration with AM general and Arnold, they made a few changes. Then they built the first Hummer.
13:40And I got not only the first Hummer, the concept car, but they also now built the first Hummer
13:47of the assembly line. All the workers were there and they gave me the key to the Hummer. It was
13:53a day
13:53of celebration. Everyone was very happy. And I was very happy. And so what do you call the first
14:01civilian Humvee built specifically for the biggest action star in the world? Oh, he's the terminator,
14:07the tough guy. And this is a tough vehicle.
14:13It was love at first drive. And Arnold wanted to share that feeling with the world. He helped convince
14:18AM general that millions of people will buy a real off-road car. The biggest movie star in the world
14:24had just launched a free ad campaign. I would use this car to drive up to a movie premiere. And
14:30then
14:30all of a sudden people saw this car and paparazzis will be photographing it. And it all of a sudden
14:35the picture was out there in the media. Oh, and speaking of ad campaigns. When you've got a real thirst,
14:41nothing can keep you from the ice cold citrus taste of Mellow Yellow. Mellow Yellow bought 10 vehicles.
14:48And that was the first vehicles we ever built commercially. And they were rough. Me and the
14:54Hummer took a little shortcut. When I first heard that AM general was planning a civilian Hummer,
14:59my thought about it was it was ridiculous. Until I actually saw it. The H1 very much looked like the
15:06military version. A wolf in a field of sheep. And it very much operated like the military version.
15:13Climb the steepest hills and conquer the toughest terrain. The Hummer is a military truck. You can get
15:18out of any situation with the Hummer in the desert or in the snow. Especially with unique features like
15:25the central tire inflation system. You have automatically inflating or deflating of the tires
15:31from inside to have more grip to get out of any kind of a situation. Go through 30 inches of
15:37water.
15:38Blast in snow. Just like with the big deltoids, with the calves, the abs sticking out and all of
15:45this stuff. And it just, you turn on the engine. You know, it was ballsy sounding. It was just perfect.
15:52Thanks to Arnold's backing, the H1 had no problem drawing attention. Just not the kind that ends in a
15:58sale, which left AM General's marketing team asking the question, who is the H1 Hummer customer?
16:05A Hummer is not for everyone. In one word, rich people. Okay, two words. Add options and the price
16:12climbs to an eye-popping $91,218. Which adjusts to $176,000 today. But even if you were sold on
16:21the
16:21price, good luck finding one at your local dealership. In fact, there were only two ways to buy a Hummer.
16:26Fly to South Bend, Indiana and take their driving course. Or order one from the Neiman Marcus
16:32Christmas catalog and fly to South Bend, Indiana and take their driving course. Either way,
16:37two Hummers made the perfect his and her holiday gifts. And it was successful enough. I mean,
16:43at the end, they didn't sell, you know, a million of these cars. It was what you really want.
16:46To do that, the Hummer needed to court a new customer. And in 1998, that slightly tamed beast
16:53took center stage at the Detroit Auto Show. The buzz was loud enough to reach the ears of a high
16:58ranking executive who made a phone call. I got a call from Jack Smith, who was the CEO of GM
17:04at
17:04that time. And he says, Mike, you've been to the Detroit Auto Show and seen the reaction to the
17:09Hummer? And I go, yeah, I have. It's pretty amazing, Jack. I think there's something to this brand.
17:13We came up with this idea that we wanted to buy the brand from AIM General. General Motors was all
17:18in on the Hummer. We would design and provide all the parts and engineering. And in return,
17:24we would pay AIM General a manufacturing fee. General Motors came out with the age two.
17:30The Hummer was going to be a daddy. Make it smaller, more user friendly with a nice interior,
17:38but authentic Hummer. And we could sell a lot of them. As for the man who had already sold lots
17:43of
17:43Hummers, Arnold agreed to make about six appearances for Hummer to launch the H2. Good to see you.
17:49It became just a huge hit. I like very much to buy these Hummers. And with the H2 hogging the
17:57spotlight,
17:58it was time for the civilian H1 to take a bow. They thought, if this car is going to come
18:03to an end,
18:03let's go out with a blaze of glory. They decided to come up with something called the Hummer Alpha.
18:11They put in the bigger 6.6 liter Duramax engine, stronger transmission. It was just bigger and badder.
18:17The beginning of the end and the last of its kind. The H2 is now all alone in the product
18:23line,
18:24which didn't sit right with Mike. I sold GM on the idea that we had to do an H3.
18:29And then someone sold someone on the H3 marketing campaign where a robot impregnates a monster.
18:36Genius. Well, be it Mike or the robot, the H3 was conceived and then in 2006 was delivered right on
18:44time.
18:45The H3 was an even smaller version. With H1, H2 and H3, we got a franchise. A franchise that would
18:55prove short-lived, undone by a sudden spike in gas prices and the minor inconvenience of a global
19:01financial meltdown. And eventually, General Motors just decided to sunset it. The sun didn't rise again
19:06for the Hummer brand until 2021, when... It's been resurrected. New all-electric Humvee.
19:16Who would have thought? The electric Hummer, it was fantastic.
19:19Because before H1 Hummer birthed the H2, H3, or the EV, the Hummer sprang forth from the military
19:30might of the United States Army's most trusted workhorse. It could do things like no other
19:35vehicle. And there's still nothing better than the Humvee when it comes to the light tactical
19:39vehicle for military requirement. It was, like, absolutely phenomenal.
19:43But the Humvee had another role, to inspire millions of Americans.
19:49I love this thing for all the right reasons. Rugged, battle-proven, versatile, mission-ready,
19:56and reliable. Just like the proud men and women who've served our country while driving it.
20:02Let's see what's up here.
20:07That's right there. That's how you do it.
20:12Wow. So thank you, Hummer, for the adventure.
20:19Thank you, Humvee, for your service.
20:24And God bless the USA.
20:27Oh, and I almost forgot. Thanks, Arnold.
20:31Let's have some fun now.
20:39I kill you!
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