I know as a little boy, I drooled over Hummers. Besides the fact that they were used by the military, the trucks were downright cool. Blocky, rugged, and all-terrain ready, the Hummer and by extension the military Humvee’s were a truck-fantasizing boy’s dream.

However, as an adult, you realize that dreams often are not rooted in reality. In all practicality, driving a Humvee stinks. Having been stuck in a thin-skinned truck doing convoy ops in the winter, one learns the environmental sealing is at best “mil-spec”. The “seats” (if they can be called that) are a chiropractor’s nightmare.  From there, the poor acceleration, even worse braking, and poor gas milage add up to what might be the worst daily driver in the history of mankind.

But, for those who have the need for the niche vehicle, there is potentially nothing better (outside a very expensive souped-up Wranger). The all-terrain capabilities of the trucks, bone stock, is remarkable. The poor acceleration is made up with solid gearing and fantastic differentials for rock-crawling and general, get-out-of-nearly-anything tires.

Various auctions for individual trucks are ongoing through GovPlanet, a surplus government property website. Prices on the trucks start as low as $4,000 and bids for last week’s auctions were astoundingly low.