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History of the Hummer. 
The history Of the HUMMER begins in 1979 with competition
for the development of a vehicle to meet the Army's highest standards
in a High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV). As that
development race began, Teledyne and Chrysler Defense (later sold
to General Dynamics) already had designs on their drawing boards.
The proposed Chrysler vehicle was an adapted version of the Saluki
desert design. while its Teledyne counterpart sprang from the
design of a vehicle known as the Cheetah. Though AM General appeared
to be well behind the others, the company moved into this competition
with no preconceived design notions, rolled up its sleeves, and
soon created an original -- the HUMMER.
AM General's prototype HUMMER went to test in the Nevada
desert in July 1980 -- only eleven months from its design board
beginnings. This was the first of many breakthroughs that demonstrated
the company's know-how and leadership. The Army now had three
serious competitors with vehicles under test.
The Army's formal procurement of test vehicles began in
February 1981. Six proposals came in from industry and were evaluated
against the Army's HMMWV specifications. The three most responsive
designs were selected, and in June 1981 contracts were awarded
to General Dynamics, Teledyne and AM General. The test vehicles
to be acquired from each company included TOW Carriers, Cargo
Troop Carriers and Mini and Maxi Ambulance variant.
Army specs were extremely stringent with demands for light
armor, deep water fording capability, and Arctic and desert operational
ability to name just a few, as well as absolute reliability, durability
and maintainability, Vehicle weight constraints called for material
application breakthroughs. All of this and just ten months to
do it --still another set of challenges for AM General.
Once again AM General proved its mettle when it became the
first company to complete its test vehicles. Prototype HUMMERs
were delivered to Army proving grounds at Aberdeen and Yuma, and
to a test site at Fort Hunter-Liggett in April 1982.
The Army's test phase was scheduled over a five month period
after which a call for production proposals would be made from
the competing contractors. AM General took that in stride as its
HUMMERS were the first vehicles to complete durability testing.
The company also came through the rigorous testing with the lightest
vehicles and high performance ratings. Clearly, the HUMMER HAD
scored as the superior technical offering.
Following AM General's production proposal, these "superior'
vehicles were finally awarded the initial HUMMER production contract
in March 1983, calling for 55,000 vehicles to be delivered over
a five year period.
From tooling up time at AM General's Mishawaka plant to
delivery of the first production test vehicles took just six months
-- another remarkable achievement for AM General.
Land Rover Timeline
