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Humm DeVille

The Cadillac of Hummers

Swapping body parts from one vehicle to another is nothing new. Remember those VW Beetles fitted with a toothy Rolls Royce grille? A variety of transplant operations have been attempted over the years, with varying degrees of success. Some seem comical (like the Brit-style Beetle), while others look like a formal design concept that might have made it to market.

T&T Rig

Take a look at the Humm DeVille, for instance. (Well, how could you not?) Conceived by two former NBA players, LaSalle Thompson and Henry Turner of T&T Motorsports, this converted H2 is as attention-getting as these two oversized pro basketball stars. Yet it gives the Hummer a whole new persona, transforming it into an uptown, urban-assault rig with enough bling to blind.

What prompted this hybrid of the Hummer and Escalade? "Well, we've always thought the stock H2 looked unfinished, and tried several different treatments," says six-foot seven-inch Thompson, nicknamed "Tank" for obvious reasons. "We thought, 'Well, if we can look anyway we want, we'd go upscale with the Escalade front end.'" T&T also does Escalade nose jobs on Silverado pickups, so the H2 conversion was a natural progression of that concept.

Even though the Escalade grille and headlights are OE components, the rest of the nose is actually a custom-molded piece splashed from the hood of a production vehicle and then widened four inches to fit the Hummer's broader dimensions. The Humm DeVille's hood also has a steeper slope than the Escalade's and the piece surrounding the grille is two inches wider than stock. The fender flares are standard H2 pieces.

$16K Nosejob

Thompson claims the installation is pretty much a bolt-on deal, with only a couple of subframe modifications required. Which is a good thing, considering that the nose treatment alone runs $16K. The Humm DeVille kit includes the hood, bumpers, grille, brackets, headlights and wiring harness for the lights. Painting is extra, which was handled by Mark Marilao and Randy Pratt on this particular vehicle. A rear bumper cap and tailgate skin are options as well, which Thompson estimates will cost less than $1,000 each.

What's also not included in those dollar figures is a set of 26-inch wheels. Yeah, you read right. Those Big Baller 360 rims are two feet, two inches in diameter, almost big enough for John Wayne's stagecoach. Finding big enough rubber bands to wrap those wagon wheels is a job in itself, and currently Kumho is the only company making tires that measure 305/35R26 (that measurement like a typo, doesn't it?). This humongous rolling stock adds another, ahem, $15K to the price.

Adding even more excess, but in a different direction, the airbag suspension drops a full nine inches to tuck the rims and rubber under the fenders. Don't even think about going off-road at that setting, or even clambering over a speed bump for that matter, until you pump those bags back up to stock ride height. Still, the Humm DeVille looks way cool, all hunkered down and ready for a night on the town. Sorta like the Hulk in a tux.

Thick-Skinned

The lowering kit is a combination of an Air Ride pump, hoses and valves, along with air bags from Slam Specialties air bags. Developed expressly for T&T Motorsports by Dave Lewis, the $7,000 system can maintain the stock height or lay the body right down on the tires.

On this particular vehicle, Thompson admits the customer went a bit overboard in glitzing up the interior (well, you were expecting gray flannel, maybe?). In addition to a chromed dash and center console, there's two-tone embroidered leather done by Acme Tops and Tunes. That company also installed a JL sound system with a top-line Pioneer DVD head unit. A pair of JL amps thumps out the beat through a pair of 10-inch W7 subwoofers set in a custom enclosure with neon backlighting, plus mids and tweets in the cabin.

Going back to our initial comments about the potential for success of a body conversion, initial consumer interest seems to be running surprisingly strong. After all, according to industry research, the Hummer is the number-one vehicle for personalization, so T&T just might have a styling explosion on its hands. The firm is already thinking about giving the custom Cadillac treatment to an Avalanche as well. It's yet to be named, though. The Avalade or Escalanche are possibilities, or maybe even the Cadillanche. Whatever you call it doesn't really matter, though, because when you roll up to the curb, you're bound to get a Cadillac reception.

Resource

T&T Motorsports, 6170 Auburn Blvd., Citrus Heights, CA 95621, www.bigballerwheels.com, 916/729-1400