Ryan Blaney races to first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the year at Nashville
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LEBANON, Tenn. (AP) — Ryan Blaney and Team Penske have been fast with his No. 12 Ford Mustang this year only to have races slip away when it mattered most.
Not Sunday night.
Blaney ran away down the stretch for his first Cup Series victory of the year Sunday night at Nashville Superspeedway, then he celebrated with a burnout in front of the roaring fans after what he called a rough year.
'I'm ready to go celebrate,' Blaney said.
The 2023 Cup champ had been racing well with five top-five finishes over the first half of this season. He finally got to victory lane for his 14th career victory and first since Martinsville in November after leading a race-high 139 laps.
'I never gave up hope that's for sure,' Blaney said. 'We've had great speed all year. It just hasn't really been the best year for us as far as good fortune. But (No.) 12 boys are awesome. They stick with it no matter how it goes.'
He became the ninth different winner this season and the fifth driver to win in as many races at Nashville. He also gave Team Penske a second straight Cup win at Nashville's 1.33-mile concrete track.
Blaney, who started 15th, quickly drove his way to the front as he won the second stage. He easily held off Carson Hocevar by 2.83 seconds. Hocevar matched his career-best finish at Atlanta in February after complaining during the race that his No. 77 Chevrolet was undriveable.
'Either I'm really dramatic or they're really good on adjustments,' Hocevar said. 'Probably a little bit of both, but, yeah, proud of this group proud of this car. A place that is really, really difficult to pass, we're able to go 26th to second.'
Denny Hamlin finished third in his 700th career Cup Series race, matching the third-place finish by Jeff Gordon at Darlington in 2013 for the best finish in a driver's 700th race. Joey Logano , who won here last year, was fourth and William Byron fifth.
Hamlin was hoping for one more caution that never came after seven cautions for 35 laps.
'Just couldn't run with the 12 (Blaney) there in the super long run,' Hamlin said. 'After 40 laps, I could maintain with him. But then after that, he just pulled away and stretched it on us.'
There was a sprint to the finish under green forcing teams and drivers to pick and choose went to pit. Blaney had led 107 laps when he went to the pits under green flag on lap 248. Hamlin took the lead before going to pit road on lap 256.
Crew chief Jonathan Hassler said they decided on Blaney's fifth and final pit stop trying to make sure he could get back out into the cleanest air possible.
'It was really nice just to finish off a race,' Hassler said.
Brad Keselowski had the lead when he went to the pits on lap 269. Blaney took the lead for the final 31 laps. Waiting on a call
Hamlin raced Sunday night hoping to take advantage of his starting spot spot beside pole-sitter Chase Briscoe. Whether Hamlin would chase his third win this season had been in question with his third child, a boy, due the same day.
Hamlin practiced and qualified well, so he drove his No. 11 Toyota even as Joe Gibbs Racing had Ryan Truex on standby in case Hamlin got the call that his fiancee was in labor. Hamlin won the first stage and survived the final stretch without water or fresh air.
Tyler Reddick beat his boss Hamlin, a co-owner of his 23XI Racing team, to new parent status, which Reddick announced on social media earlier Sunday.
His family welcomed their second son at 2:20 a.m. on May 25, then Reddick followed up hours later by finishing 26th in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte . Early night
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. didn't finish his first race this year. He was the first out when Hocevar tapped his No. 47 Chevrolet, spinning Stenhouse into the wall between Turns 3 and 4 for the second caution of the race on lap 106. Punishment and more penalties possible?
AJ Allmendinger started at the back of the field and served a stop-and-go penalty after the green flag for an unapproved adjustment to the splitter during Saturday's practice. His No. 16 Chevrolet was sent back to the garage and then the scanning station before practice and qualifying.
The No. 66 Ford of Chad Finchum failed inspection twice leading to engineer Austin Webb's ejection. The Garage 66 team also lost pit stall selection. Up next
NASCAR heads to Michigan International Speedway for the Cup Series on June 8.
___
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Motor Trend
9 minutes ago
- Motor Trend
King of the Hill: 1968 Cadillac Eldorado vs. 1969 Lincoln Continental Mark III
[This story first appeared in the July/August 2006 issue of MotorTrend Classic] At the end of the 1960s, the luxury-car market was booming to the tune of about $2.5 billion and Detroit owned it. Audis, BMWs, and Mercedes-Benzes were well-built drivers' cars, but these bland-looking boxes were too small, Spartan, and harsh-riding to suit well-heeled Yanks, and Jaguar was busy earning a reputation for quality lapses. So great was the demand for luxury offerings—especially personal-luxury coupes and close-coupled sedans that lesser divisions of the Big Three were fielding flagships of their own: the Buick Riviera, the Olds Toronado, and even the once sporty Ford Thunderbird was becoming a limo. Cadillac and Lincoln clearly needed new blood to assert dominion over these pretenders to the throne. Cadillac decided to go cutting-edge techno with its offering, capitalizing on more than a decade's worth of research and development in front-drive technology. GM, Chrysler, and Ford all toyed with front-drive in the 1930s, with little to show for it. But by 1958, Cadillac had a running front drive prototype with a longitudinal engine. In 1959, Cadillac launched a program to create a spiritual successor for the opulent Eldorado Brougham, with front drive and the possibility of V-12 or V-16 power (see sidebar). Accommodating such a long engine required longitudinal engine placement, rather than the transverse arrangement Olds was developing for its compact front-driver at the time. Then in 1963, GM group vice president Ed Cole ordered Cadillac and Olds to consolidate their front-drive development and share the Buick Riviera's E-body architecture. The Olds Toronado arrived for 1966; the Cadillac trailed by a year while a new assembly line was built. Lincoln's Continental Mark III wasn't built as a hasty reaction to the Eldorado, but rather it was a Lee Iacocca brainstorm to leverage existing Thunderbird architecture and fill excess capacity in the Wixom, Michigan, plant where it was built, thereby cashing in on the personal luxo-coupe craze. The perimeter frame shares its 117.2-inch wheelbase with the four-door 'Bird, but the body is six inches longer. The passenger compartment rides farther aft on the chassis, making room for the regal six-foot prow that provides such a strong visual link with the proportions of the Mark II and the original Continental. Working with a conventional 460-cubic-inch V-8 and rear-drive architecture afforded Lincoln more time and resources to devote to refining its flagship. Extensive chassis reinforcements, rubber isolation of all engine and suspension mounting points, and 150 pounds of sound-deadening materials made the Mark III one of the quietest and smoothest riding cars available when it launched in April 1968. Now Cadillac and Lincoln each had new flagships, both of which decisively overshadowed the lesser-marque pretenders. In July 1970, Motor Trend arranged a meeting of the Cars That Would Be King. 'If you've got the American Dream, if your goal is to move all the way up from your Biscayne station wagon, then the Lincoln Continental Mark III and the Cadillac Eldorado are the end of Status Street. Top of the Heap. King of the Hill. But which one?' Hence was born a six-year serial road test. That first comparison consisted of just four columns of type on three pages, little of which was devoted to deep analysis of the cars' acceleration, braking, and handling, save for a few zingers like this: 'Now any clown who wants to take one of these cars to a road course and see what kind of violent under or oversteer he can force out of these immense, overly dampened, mushily sprung dinosaurs must be a little ding-a-ling.' That said, the Eldorado's variable-ratio steering proved more responsive, while each car's front-disc/rear-drum brakes performed equally well, with lots of fade. (Rudimentary rear-anti-lock systems on both cars were panned by many reviewers as ineffective.) In an unimaginable drag race, the 500-cubic-inch 1970 Eldorado edged the Mark III out by 0.4 second to 60 mph. (Eldo pink-slip racers note: Our testers brake-torqued a launch in second gear to prevent hellacious wheelspin.) Our comparison dwelled more on the luxury aspects of the two cars, finding the Eldorado's seats to be roomier but more fatiguing on long hauls, its gauges and switches easier to read and use, but less opulent looking, and its ride crisper and less luxurious. We crowned the Mark III King of the Hill owing to its superior plushness and luxury. That original comparison test generated bags of impassioned reader comment, so when Cadillac reskinned the Eldo for 1971, we reprised our King of the Hill comparo. The new styling didn't strike us as an improvement, and in most critical measures the cars shook out similarly. The fit, finish, and build quality of the Lincoln outshone the Cadillac's, and 'the Mark III still comes off like the family that has lived gracefully for years with its money, while the Eldo feels like 'nouveau riche,' trying so hard to tell the world it's wealthy.' Long live King Lincoln! Not. For 1972, the Mark III was replaced by the larger, even cushier Mark IV, and we devised an elaborate tech-heavy four-part analysis. Part one involved a week of in-town driving and an 800-mile road trip, during which the Eldorado offered laudable straight-line stability in contrast with the Mark IV's squirmy yaw on the freeway. Less fatiguing seats cinched the Eldo's lead in this segment. Next we examined resale value (advantage Lincoln), repair records (tie), interior space (Eldo best in front, Mark best in back) and noise levels (tie), and called the round a draw. Part III involved instrumented performance testing, which the Eldorado won decisively. Part IV was a staff straw-poll on styling, which the Lincoln swept almost unanimously. But having won two of the four categories, the Cadillac succeeded in seizing the King's crown from Lincoln. Both cars were largely carried over in 1973 so we devoted the pages to a State-of-the-Luxury-Car-Union address, noting that while the strong-performing Cadillac retained its crown, the posh and stylish Lincoln was winning the sales war. Maybe we were losing interest, but our 1974 installment in the drama was so mired in a painful knights-of-the-round-table thematic device that details are difficult to mine, but while the Eldorado got better gas mileage, the Mark IV was now faster, and it still rode smoother, and so it won back the crown. Our final installment was renamed 'The King's Ransom Road Test' and was expanded to include a Chrysler Imperial coupe. The story also included a parallel test of the top sedans from BMW, Jaguar, and Mercedes-Benz. On the domestic side, the Mark IV was deemed quietest, the Eldorado the quickest, and the Imperial the best in handling and braking. The official winner? 'None of the above.' Our editors had caught a whiff of the svelte new Euro-firm Cadillac Seville, and, even though it wasn't tested, we predicted it would be the new King of Both Hills. How have the original contenders for the crown stood the test of time? To answer the question, Sandy Edelstein and Scott King bought one of each, both built with the rare vinyl-top delete options, and let us take them for a spin. The cars are in exceptional condition, and each has a unique character. The Cadillac's sharp-edged design is by far the most interesting to new-millennium eyes, while the Continental Mark III—especially in steel-topped guise—harks faithfully to the fabulous Mark II. Both cars accelerate effortlessly, with little audible report from the engine room. Neither offers even a modicum of steering feel or feedback, but the Cadillac responds to its helm more quickly and directly, and its brakes seem less vague and remote. The Eldorado's suspension filters out less of the road's rumbles and bumps, leaving a slightly crusty ride quality. By contrast, the Lincoln approximates a wheeled isolation tank as closely as any 1969 car ever did. It wafts over road imperfections without squeaking or rattling, though this may say more about its low mileage (34,000 to the Eldo's 86,000) than about its original assembly quality. The view down each car's immense hood certainly puts one in an imperial frame of mind. The Cadillac's bow is dominated by a coffin-shaped central bulge; the Mark's is bordered by chrome-topped fences. The Eldorado's minimalist interior furnishings, though dressed up with real wood accents, can't compare with the Lincoln's classy neo-Duesenberg cabin. After a day spent swapping back and forth between the cars, the descent from the high desert above Palm Springs in the Mark III with the A/C cranked and Old Blue-Eyes crooning through the ($245.30) StereoSonic AM/8-Track five-speaker Hi-Fi validated our original decision, so we hereby re-crown the Lincoln Continental Mark III, King of the (1969-1970) Hill. Would the edgy Eldorado have been crowned king with a V-12 or V-16 snuggled under that mile-long hood? Sure seems likely, and it almost happened. One idea was to marry two small-block V-8s to form a 530-cube V-16. This concept received little development, but GM engineering staff progressed through several generations of development and durability testing of a 500-cubic-inch 90-degree SOHC 24-valve V-12 with 30-degree offset crankshaft pins. Few details have ever been released about this so-called 'V-future' engine that was intended to proliferate throughout the Cadillac range, starting with the Eldorado. Early versions of the aluminum-block engine had iron cylinder liners, but later iterations employed an innovative die-casting of high-silicon aluminum intended to run without sleeves. On second thought, maybe it's just as well that this technology was tested on the Vega. 1969 Lincoln Continental Mark III: The IV-Door The Mark III was a runaway sales success, outselling the original Continental and Mark II combined before the end of 1968 and besting Eldorado sales by 20 percent. Might Lincoln have moved even more metal with a four-door? Maybe. An early prototype of a reskinned Thunderbird was shot down, but another true Mark III four-door is rumored to have been built, possibly for Henry Ford II. Little is known about that car, but word of its existence may have leaked out to Martin-Marietta boss Grover Hermann—he contacted Ford to request a four-door Mark of his own. Ford farmed the work out to Lehmann-Peterson and Moloney Coachworks, who charged $13,325 to stretch the body and frame 7.3 inches and custom-fit suicide doors, adding over 700 pounds. Current owner Phil G.D. Schaefer reports that the body remains as tight and quiet as a coupe's. Ask the Guys who Own Them Mortgage broker Sandy Edelstein and automotive product specialist Scott King collect coupes large (1958 Caddy) and small (Honda N600), none of which has a vinyl top. Why we like them: 'We both grew up around Cadillacs, and the cutting edge style of the first-gen front-drive Eldorado really imprinted on us. The Lincoln was irresistibly gorgeous, and with the ultra-rare steel top it seemed the perfect match for our Eldorado.' Why they're collectible: Each was the flagship, not only of its marque, but of its parent corporation. The Eldorado pushed the technological and styling envelopes, the Continental Mark III aimed to reprise the opulence and build quality of the 1956-1957 Mark II. Restoring/Maintaining: Production volumes were relatively high, and most parts are readily available from multiple sources. Beware: Rust attacks the rockers, trunk floor, and around the bottom of vinyl tops; check for filler in cars that have been repainted. Expect to pay: (Eldorado) Concours ready: $15,000; solid driver $7500; tired runner: $2500; (Continental Mark III) Concours ready: $15,750; solid driver $7500; tired runner: $4000 Join the Clubs: Cadillac & LaSalle club ( Lincoln & Continental Owners Club ( Our Take Then: So who is the King of the Hill? As long as there are Eldorado and Mark III owners around, cigar sales will continue to go up and no one will ever agree. The Eldorado has a lot of seemingly more advanced technical conveniences, but from a strictly plush, posh, luxury standpoint, the Mark III has the intimacy a car like this should offer.—Bill Sanders, MotorTrend , July 1970 Now: The Lincoln Continental and Cadillac Eldorado were built in a golden age before emissions and safety regs strangled engines and ham-strung car designers, yet after air-conditioning and disc brakes were popularized. So in many ways, no future car can hope to ever achieve the style and panache of these Kings of the Hill.
Motor Trend
9 minutes ago
- Motor Trend
Driven: Bug Out in Ex-Military Style with the Hunter RMV Acela Sherpa X
Military surplus tech is a fantastic foundation to get premiere expedition-truck capability. That's why the folks at Hunter RMV chose the Acela Monterra GL 4x4 platform as the basis for this Sherpa X overlanding rig. While visiting the builder's headquarters in Minden, Nevada, we sampled what the Acela Sherpa X is capable of in its element. As Solid a Platform as You Can Get Hunter RMV uses the Acela Monterra GL 4x4 platform for good reason. These light medium tactical vehicles, or LMTVs for short, are repurposed for extreme-duty commercial-fleet use. Hunter RMV further modifies the trucks, which measure 12 feet, 2 inches to 12 feet, 10 inches tall depending on the size of the habitat affixed to the rear, to serve as the ultimate overlanding rigs. Powertrain specs are as burly as you expect, with a Caterpillar 7.2-liter turbodiesel I-6 engine developing 330 hp and 860 lb-ft of torque. An Allison seven-speed automatic transmission with an integral transfer case sends power to the full-time four-wheel-drive system. Although it's an industrial-feeling setup, the powertrain is about as smooth and refined as an enormous diesel mill can be. The Acela isn't very quick even with so much torque. The Sherpa X package tips the scales at a total of 20,600 pounds as equipped, though its GVWR ensures it can accommodate more than 5,000 additional pounds of cargo. While heavy, the Acela moves with purpose when you push the throttle and is geared for a top speed of up to 74 mph, but the company tests the truck as fast as 80 mph for safety. The dual-circuit four-channel air brakes provide good feedback and allow you to bring what would otherwise be an intimidating vehicle to drive to a stop with little effort. Riding on air springs in the front and rear, the Acela is remarkably comfortable on the road. You never forget how large the truck is, but driving this rig with confidence comes easy due to a slow but deliberate steering rack. The tiller sits in your lap like the frame of a paella pan, allowing you to get a good grip on the rim and maintain control over the expedition truck's every move. You don't have to sit up in the cab alone, either. A three-seat layout allows for a third passenger to sit between and above the driver and whoever rides shotgun. When you get to the end of the pavement and need to go off-road, a button on the console to the right of the steering wheel has four options for varying degrees of tire inflation, including one that's ideal for driving on trails. The central tire inflation system gets the pressure sorted in a matter of minutes and comes with the benefit of allowing you to remain comfortable in the cab. This rig also has a backup camera with predictive lines, which helps you reverse the truck without a spotter. Feasibility as an Overlanding Rig We drove Hunter RMV's Acela back to back with the larger Isuzu FTR 4x4 Predator XLE build, which measures 30 feet stretched over a wheelbase of 188 inches. The Acela feels more manageable on the trail at 26 feet, 3 inches long over a 153.5-inch wheelbase. If you plan to go deep into the wilderness on off-road trails, the Acela's dimensions are a bit more manageable than Hunter RMV's bigger offering. With the Acela's smaller dimensions comes a smaller living space—a 15-foot habitation box with 2.25-inch-thick composite walls. If interior space is a must-have, Hunter RMV's 22-foot Predator box offered with the Isuzu chassis is a better choice, but the Acela's Sherpa X offers much of the same comfort. In either case, a four-point articulating subframe improves stability when Hunter RMV's rigs are off-road. Quality of life inside Hunter RMV's Sherpa X box is as good as it is inside a small apartment. This model comes standard with heating, air conditioning, a skylight, and an exhaust fan. The interior is outfitted with an electronically lifting queen bed over a leather dinette that converts into a second bed. There's a kitchen with a fridge, freezer, induction cooktop, and a microwave oven, as well. A bathroom with a toilet and a sink is situated in one compartment while a separate shower is isolated to help cordon off water into one area of the camper. The Acela Sherpa X's electronics are powered by a Victron Smart Energy system that uses a 1,200-watt rooftop solar panel array, an 800-Ah lithium battery bank, and a 3,000-watt inverter. To help you stay off the grid for extended stints, Hunter RMV outfits a clean water storage tank with a capacity of more than 100 gallons as well as a 35-gallon gray-water tank with a secret dump valve. We got a taste of camping, overlanding style, with the Hunter RMV crew, taking advantage of its vehicles' various exterior features. The slide-out kitchen with a Traeger grill is good for preparing a tasty steak dinner, and the extendable overhead canopy provides shelter from the sun and traps heat from a portable propane fire at night. Should you want to clean off mud and dirt after a day in the wilderness, an outdoor shower is present, as well. As far as mobile basecamps go, the Hunter RMV Acela Sherpa X is the complete package. Sounds Great. How Much? Hunter RMV offers its customers a lot of customization and modulatory, which all allow for a flexible pricing model. Its Sherpa box rigs, like this one, range from $200,000 to $300,000. Hunter RMV hasn't finalized exactly what additional equipment will be included with this Acela Sherpa X, but it's reasonable to expect the final cost to rise to the upper reaches of that ballpark. If you want a fully customized build, pricing will likely climb to the half-million-dollar mark. In a world where expedition trucks can chart deep into the seven-figure realm, the Acela Sherpa X represents something of a bargain, especially when you consider it can be used as a full-time residence for those who are sufficiently adventurous. Its blend of military ruggedness and civilian creature comforts make it a common-sense choice for folks who wade deep into the hardcore overlanding water.
Motor Trend
10 minutes ago
- Motor Trend
How an $800,000 Overlanding RV Rig Gets Made
A good overlanding rig balances hardcore capability with the desired creature comforts without compromising durability. It's a delicate balancing act with which the folks at Hunter RMV are all too familiar, having been in the business of building expedition trucks for more than a decade. We toured the overlanding rig builder's headquarters and took a closer look at several of its products to get a better sense of what it takes to get one of these rugged mobile homes rolling. They definitely go way beyond a typical camper van or RV. Consultation The first step for the creation of any of Hunter RMV's expedition trucks is an initial consultation. During this meeting, a customer chooses whether they want to start with a prebuilt box or a fully customized rig. Hunter RMV works with the customer to determine the desired dimensions of vehicle, its intended purpose, and other individualizations. Procuring a Chassis Hunter RMV works with a variety of platforms including the Chevrolet Kodiak medium duty truck, Mitsubishi Fuso, Isuzu FTR MT3, and Acela Monterra GL LMTV. Isuzu models get a 4x4 conversion from Tulsa Truck Works. Acela-based builds are available in 4x4 and 6x6 guises. Hunter RMV performs last-touch chassis modifications before moving on to the next step. Fabricating the Four-Point Articulating Subframe Before Hunter RMV gets to work on installing a habitat on the back of one of its expedition trucks, a four-point articulating subframe must first be fabricated. This system uses four trunnions to isolate the habitat box from the chassis for better stability on the trail and protects the living space from vibrations. Painting the Cab and Installing the Habitat After the subframe is completed, Hunter RMV moves onto the cosmetics and living space. The rig's cab gets a fresh paint job to the specification of the customer. Then, Hunter RMV's team moves on to installing either a prebuilt production box or a custom-built habitat constructed in-house. A car lift is used to move the habitat into place. Once the box is in place, the Hunter RMV crew begins outfitting the interior of the box with furniture and hardware. The customer continues to have input at this point of the build. In some case, details are straightened out during the stage of assembly as the interior layout, materials, and additional features are finalized. Solar Panels and Electronics Hunter RMV equips its trucks with a variety of creature comforts inside the cabin, powered by a Victron Smart Energy system. Specifications vary from vehicle to vehicle depending on the customer's needs, but a typical setup from Hunter RMV features a 1,200-watt solar array on the roof, an 800-Ah lithium battery bank, a 3,000-watt inverter, and a 30-amp Victron TR Orion charge controller. The electricity is used for the interior LED lighting, Dometic air conditioning unit, television, camera monitoring, and more. Hunter RMV's rigs typically come equipped with a kitchen comparable to that of a small apartment. The builder installs an induction cooktop with two burners, a microwave, one or two fridges, a freezer, and a sink. There's also a hood vent to pull smoke and steam out of the cabin. Plumbing and Washing Hunter RMV commonly outfits its rigs with more than 100 gallons of freshwater storage and a 35-gallon gray water tank so you can stay out in the wilderness for extended stints. Hot water for the sinks and showers comes courtesy of a Truma diesel heat and hot water system. The rigs are generally equipped with a Nature's Head composting toilet, eliminating one complicated plumbing element. A Garage with a World of Possibilities Some of Hunter RMV's rigs are equipped with a garage that can be used to store gun cabinets, hunting game coolers, extra bunks, or a small workshop. Those that want to haul around a second form of transportation for when their overlanding rig is parked can use the space to store bicycles or motorcycles. To further accommodate this type of customer, Hunter RMV has installed a lift to raise bikes up to the level of the garage. Grills Galore Slung underneath the box of many of Hunter RMV's builds are one to two grills from Traeger and Blackstone. The grills are housed in steel cabinets and can be pulled out with sliding rails whenever it's time to cook. Further Individualization Hunter RMV offers several options to tailor its expedition trucks to the needs of its customers. Some buyers want to be able to get into the cab from their habitat, so Hunter RMV can outfit its trucks with a passthrough connecting the two spaces. This feature comes with a door and insulation to help reduce noise penetration. Those who want to stay online while being off the grid can option Starlink satellite internet, powered by the Victron system. A 4-kW generator is also available for backup power. And in the true spirit of overlanding, Hunter RMV will equip off-road lighting to improve visibility at night. Anything else is up to your imagination and how wide you're willing toopen your wallet. How Much Does a Hunter RMV Expedition Truck Cost? Pricing varies dramatically from build to build due to the nature of individualization provided by Hunter RMV. 'Custom is standard' is the ethos of the builder, granting a high degree of flexibility when it comes to exactly what each finished truck looks like. Hunter RMV's Sherpa line of pre-built boxes starts around $200,000 and reaches $300,000 for the top trim. Custom builds using the Isuzu FTR or Acela LMTV platform start anywhere from $450,000 to $500,000 and can extend as high as $800,000 with enough personalization. Some of Hunter RMV's rivals build expedition trucks in the territory of seven figures, so the rigs pictured here are intended to offer the same capability at a (relatively) more attainable price point. Custom builds can take anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 hours of work, which can take from one to two years from initial inquiry to finalizations. Currently, the manufacturer typically builds three to four rigs per year, so know that patience is key if you're in the market for an expedition truck. Fortunately, those that are willing to wait are bound to get exactly what they want when Hunter RMV has finished working its magic on one of these colossal overlanders.
