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Maniac intentionally crashes Hummer into Virginia diner

A Virginia man is in police custody today after ramming his SUV into a restaurant and causing a massive fire. Employees at the Silver Diner in McLean, VA were in the middle of the lunch rush when around 12:30 p.m., according to NBC Washington, a gray Hummer crashed into the restaurant's front door. The SUV driver backed the vehicle up and rammed the building again, striking a patron and trapping him between the SUV and the door. The driver rammed the restaurant a third time and his Hummer burst into flames. "There was total pandemonium in the restaurant," Will Yeatman, a witness who was having coffee at the diner at the time of the incident, told NBC. A chaotic video shot by Yeatman shows people in a state of panic, screaming, or dragging the wounded away from the burning vehicle. Some witnesses tried to save the Hummer driver from his burning vehicle, but he tried to fight them off. "He was fighting," witness Janie Watkins told NBC. "He said, 'Get away from me. Leave me alone, leave me alone." He was eventually extracted from the vehicle after witnesses cut his seat belt and pulling him out. The driver, whose name has not been released, was identified as an employee of the restaurant who had taken bereavement leave on April 5. He had been an employee of the restaurant for two years, and in an official statement the Silver Diner stated that the company had "no indication that the employee would harm himself or others." The unnamed employee was fired in the wake of the incident. Three people were taken to a local hospital, and one victim was treated at the scene. Police have not indicated yet whether the driver will be charged with a crime. Related Video: News Source: NBC Washington Weird Car News Hummer Driving Safety SUV Videos car fire

Mil-Spec built a one-off, track-ready Hummer H1

Mil-Spec is one of the latest companies looking for success with restored and modified versions of iconic vehicles. Rather than Porsche 911s or '60s trucks and SUVs, its canvases are Hummer H1s. The customer vehicles are big, brash off-road machines, but that's not all the company is capable of. We recently learned that the crew over there built a Hummer H1 meant for race track use, and it is amazing. The base vehicle is a four-door convertible pickup truck, and Mil-Spec thoroughly changed the suspension. It has custom coilovers with stiff springs, and the entire suspension geometry has been revised. Overall, it was lowered a stunning seven inches compared with a stock H1. The H1's in-board brakes now feature six-piston brake calipers, and the wheels are wrapped in low-profile Pirelli P-Zero tires. Also impressive is the fact that the truck still has a part-time four-wheel-drive system. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Under the hood is a 6.6-liter Duramax diesel V8 similar to that in the customer models. But this one has been tuned all the way up to 800 horsepower and 1,500 pound-feet of torque. This engine also plays a role in this truck's origins. Apparently the truck was used for final powertrain testing and development. But it was also built to highlight the company's capabilities. If you want one of these, well, you can't have one. At least not yet. We asked a Mil-Spec representative, and he told us that there are no plans for offering track-oriented H1s. That's understandable, since the company is still working through building and selling its initial run of 12 off-road-ready vehicles. He did say the truck has generated a lot of interest, though. So, maybe when the company has time, and if a really wealthy buyer really wanted one, maybe the Mil-Spec could work something out. But at least in the meantime, the company is sticking to tall, chunky-tired H1s. Related Video:

Turn Out the Lights: Final Hummer H3 rolls off the line... for Avis

2010 Hummer H3 - Click above for high-res image gallery
Would the last one out the door please switch off the lights? The long strange trip that has been the Hummer brand is just about over for General Motors. The final ever production H3 rolled out of GM's Shreveport, Louisiana factory on Monday May 24, 2010 on its way to an Avis rental car outlet. As you may recall, GM had actually stopped assembling H3s in mid-2009 as it went through bankruptcy, but it resumed production recently in order to fill an 849 unit special order.
GM tried to sell the Hummer brand to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Co., Ltd but the deal ultimately fell apart last February. A subsequent offer from Raser Technologies also went nowhere. Now that production has ceased, 200 of the 900 remaining employees at Shreveport will be laid off by July and the rest of the Hummer staff back at headquarters in Detroit is either leaving or being reassigned.