Hey, first off, let me say I am a 17 year old kid, and the closest I will probably ever get to driving an H1 (or HMMWV) is when I enlist in the Marine Corps a year from now. I was, however, wondering who buys H1s, and what they are used for. I have seen a total of 3 on the road, only one in my state, MA. I'm sorry if I seem nosey.

The H1 is an amazing vehicle in terms of it's ability off road. I'd love to have one to take to the trails some day, but if (when hopefully) I ever made that kind of money I have a long list of cars I'd get first. Owning a truck(96 K1500 Z71) and driving my fathers TL whenever I get the chance I can say cars are much more fun on road, and retrospectivly if I had known I wasn't going to be able to get much offroading in in MA I probably would have purchased some old sports car. So I guess I was wondering, do you guys use H1s for off roading, or just as a daily driver, or both? Again, not to seem nosey, but did you purchase it as a "toy" or was it something you had to have and saved for ages for?

One last thing, do you guys feel the same way I do about buying SUVs, Trucks, etc, and cutting the springs and adding 24s? (I see it as the moral equivalent of lifting a sports car and putting on some big mud tires.

Thanks for your time,

Mike

 

Congrats on your choice for enlisting in the Corps. It will teach you a lot of things and help you later on in life. I spent a little over 9 years in the green machine and I see its influance in my life everyday.
While I cant speak for the H1 owners, I bought my H3 as a toy for off roading and just playing around. What I have seen from the H1 owners I have talked to at Hummer Happenings and in general talking to owners is the reasons all vary. Some buy them as a toy for off roading, and some because they look cool although never have the intent of going off road. Some own them as an extension of thier personality or as part of thier image. Very few people I have talked to have one as thier regular daily driver, but there are a few out there who do use them like that.

SEMPER FI!

 

Mike what part of Mass you from
there is tons of them in Mass

 

I know 3 guys that own an H1, one guy owns a pizzaria by my house, he has a black one and it's frikken SWEETTTTTTT. He hardly ever drives it and I don't think it has ever seen dirt.

Another guy has a light tan colored one and it has been his daily driver for about 8 years now...it's in great shape and he isn't afraid to get it dirty.

One of the Doctors in the company my brothers works for has a black wagon and he doesn't even know how to put it into four wheel drive. Off-roading to him is going through a parking deck wit the lights off

As far as my opinion of dropped trucks with 24's....to each his own. I wouldn't do it personally as I do off-road. Actually there is one inparticular that I would love to own.....Check out hummbobs h2 on this forum...he has dubs (I believe) and he is the bling master....not going to make it through the rubicon but it'll look damn purrrty sitting in the parking lot where the chicks are

 

Thanks guys. Linus, I can't wait, I've been waiting for as long as I can remember and am now midway through my Junior year, so a year until I enlist and another 6 months in DEP after that. What was your MOS if you don't mind my asking?

I'm in Newton Mass, suburb just outside of Boston where the parents curse Hummers for their gas mileage yet happily hop into their import SUVs to have a nice lengthy cell phone conversation. I see a couple of H2s and H3s, but no H1s.

The H1 I figured is a unique vehicle in the sense that it costs a small fortune, and people who spend that much on a vehicle, at least where I live, don't really seem to be the off roading type, even the fast cars they buy they will never actually take to a track. However, only a handful of high profile celebrities claim ownership of H1s, while many have Benz AMGs, Porches, Bentleys, etc, so I wasn't sure if it was used by a lot of the general population as a status symbol or a toy. I figured the best place to get an answer would be a car forum, since car forums tend to attract those who have a somewhat in depth interest in their vehicles.

Mike

 

I actually had two MOS's. The first, when I was active duty, was 0311, Infantry. The second, whenI was a reservist, was a 1361, Technical Engineer (drafting/surveying). I never did either MOS because I was always with the wrong type of unit, or attached to the wrong units. My grunt days were spent with 4th Marine Regiment in Okinawa, Japan. I was with regimental headquarters so I spent my days in an office. My drilling reserve time was short lived, and mostly in Iraq where I did more truck driving (my regular civilian occupation) than anything else. That unit never bothered to get me the equipment I needed to do my job, and wouldn't have known what to do with me if they did. Because of this, I didn't get everything out of the Marine Corps that I wanted, or that the tax payers paid for with my training, but looking back, I wouldn't change a second of it and would sign up again tomorrow if I could.
Take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way, volunteer for every job that comes along, even if it is a crap job, and do your MCI's as early as you can. The Marines you need to impress the most are your squad leaders, platoon sergeant, and company commander. Make them believe the Marine Corps cant exist without you and you will go far.

 

Mike we are next door neighbors I live in Waltham

 

I live just North of you in Southern NH. My H1 has seen thousands and thousands of off-road miles, including many of the trails in Massachusetts:http://www.serious4x4.com/trailsgallery.html

 

I live in Ontario Canada. I bought my H1 for many of reasons... One of which is offroading, another is attention(yea sometimes Im an attention *****... but honestly kinda get sick of it in this vehicle cant even go anywhere without someone trying to talk to you about it...) and another reason is just I love the vehicle itself the look, ruggedness etc etc plus I can have a SUV/Offroading Toy/Convertible/Pickup truck all in 1 package....
As for what I use my rig for its first and formost a daily driver then probably an offroading go out just about every weekend and then I use it as a workhorse as well making some money here and there with it etc etc...

 

Great, I wasn't aware there were many good trails here in MA. I would like to take my truck off roading, but I don't really feel like investing a ton of money into it, as I still need it as a realistic daily driver. Maybe some day I will come down to one of trail runs I assume you guys have just to take a look at some of the trucks there, but I don't think I could do anything other than really light stuff... But maybe I could tag along.

Linus, I plan to go in as a reservist as I will be attending school a year after I graduate assuming I'm not deployed, and of course, survive Boot. I of course believe I will make it, I'm pretty healthy and have been told I have the proper mindset, but I don't want to speak too soon. Fortunatly MA offers infantry as a reserve MOS, In fact Charlie Company 1/25 just came home as you probably know.

Thanks for all the responses guys,

Mike