A year after the Skyranger, a very different kind of convertible truck appeared on the US market. The AM General Hummer was a barely toned-down civilian version of the military’s High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV, commonly known as the Humvee), made famous in popular culture by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Operation Desert Storm.
With most of its features carried over from its active-duty sibling, the Hummer was a completely different beast from the quirky, carefree Dakota, and even the four-door soft-top version was more utilitarian than fun. Five engine options were available, with the only gas model being a 5.7-liter V8 with a four-speed auto, while the remaining 6.2-, 6.5-, turbo 6.5-, and turbo 6.6-liter V8 engines were diesel.
Despite becoming a pop-culture icon, the Hummer struggled to carve itself a place in the market, and sales began declining in 1995. The 2001 rebadge, initiated by General Motors acquiring the rights to the Hummer name and officially launching it as a brand, provided a slight boost, but eventually, the Hummer left the market for good in 2010, only to be rebooted as an electric sub-brand under GMC…
