“It’s wide but quite nimble, and I can parallel park it in London in one hit,” says Samuel. “But it has several blindspots, in particular the front pillar. I’m very careful when I approach junctions. The spare wheel at the back can be a problem, too; I’ve hit many a wall when reversing. Otherwise, it’s easy enough to drive.”
Samuel bought his Humvee 18 months ago from a friend who imports them. It cost him £40,000, but he’s confident that when he sells it, he’ll get his money back. He says: “It will make a great promotional car. Everyone wants to ride in it.” This is Samuel’s second Humvee.
His first was a first-generation model built in 1984 and which he bought five years ago before replacing it with this current one – a car he describes as being, in a good way, “night and day” different. “It means I’ve been driving Humvees for six years now,’ he says.
“I’d love it to be my daily driver, but it’s just too impractical as well as thirst – around 6mpg.” Because it’s so wide and therefore won’t fit on a conventional garage ramp, he takes it to a coachworks for servicing.
A pit is the only safe way to work under it, although its generous, 16in ground clearance means some simpler jobs are possible by crawling underneath. Not this, nor its thirst for fuel, nor its sheer size can dent Samuel’s enthusiasm for his Humvee.
“When they see it, people of a certain age have a flashback of when they were playing with their Action Man figures,” he says, beaming.
