THE BADDEST HUMMER ON THE PLANET

STEVE ORTNER’S CUMMINSSWAPPED, 1,500HP H1

- MIKE MCGLOTHLIN

There is no denying the allure of a Hummer. They might’ve come with the undesirable 6.2L and 6.5L IDI’s back in the day, but the looks, capability and wow-factor of the military-derived H1 make it infinitely desirable. And for Steve Ortner, a longtime fan of the H1 who has amassed a small collection of them, replacing the original underpowered oil-burner isn’t a problem. In addition to his vertical wall-scaling, Cummins-powered 2-door and LSX 454-equipped versions, he just finished reworking this ’94—and the diesel industry is rightfully on fire about it. The menacing Hummer sports a 12-valve Cummins with a 6.7L block, a 14mm P-pump, big compounds, and makes somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,500 hp. The 36-inch paddles say it’s a regular at the dunes, too. Trust us, this Hummer is king of the sandbox.

THE SNOWBALL EFFECT

A ragged-out, beat up Hummer when he obtained it for just $12,000 from its 20-something previous owner, Steve’s ’94 has been a work in progress for many years, and he’ll be the first to tell you that one thing led to another until the build snowballed out of control (in a good way). Now, his work-of-art not only serves as a means of scaring any passenger brave enough to climb aboard it, but it’s also the ultimate advertising tool for his company, Mountain Machine. “It’s a rolling business card,” he told us. “You can see what we did here with the Hummer, which means we can do your custom fab and machine work, too.”

6.7L BLOCK, 12-VALVE HEAD