The RUSTY HUMMER is known in the Hummer Community as the first Rat Rod Hummer with the Custom Paint done in 2013. The Rusty Hummer is Kevin Jones’ 4th Hummer H1. He bought a 2001 Ocean Blue Wagon new, it was a great vehicle, Served him well and was used in business and majorly off road.
Kevin Jones is the founding member of the Hummer H1 Psycho Squad. The H1 Psycho Squad was developed for the hardest of the hard off roaders back in 2002. The founding members were Kevin Jones, Rick Roberts, Art Gonzales and Frank Canseco.
After owning the 2001 for about 3 and a half years the family was going on a leisurely off road trip on a level one trail (least difficult) known as the Mohave Trail. They started at Barstow, Ca and were supposed to go straight through to Laughlin, Nv. About half way through the trip the vehicle rolled and was totalled.
Kevin then bought a 1994 H1 red 4 door hardtop with the 6.5L Detroit Diesel and it was outfitted with a Whipple Super Charger and an extra 45 gallon tank in the bed. This truck was a beast, it could be the Fast and Furious cars from signal light to signal light, which Kevin did almost on a daily basis and boy were they surprised! Kevin did a lot of outfitting to the truck but wanted to get back into a Wagon.
Sold the 94 and got a 1992 limited edition wagon. The 92 had the 6.2 and 3 speed transmission which did not fair very well on the Los Angeles freeways system at a max speed of 65 mph. Kevin changed the rims to the 2001 one piece wheels, put a nice roof rack, new springs and Cepek adjustable shocks, ball joints and tie rods were all updated. This truck lasted about a year and a gentleman out of Florida purchased it. The 6.2 was good off road, it seemed to have more lower end torque for crawling, just had no top end whatsoever.
The Kevin found his current truck a 1994 Open Top originally turned Tour truck for Desert Storm Hummer Tours in Scottsdale AZ. When Kevin purchased it there was seating for 11. Kevin immediately restored the truck as a VLCO as it still had the half doors. Kevin rebuilt the roll cage back to factor and added a wagon type portion that went over the bed to the back of the truck with a custom swinging opening to be able to load taller items in the back like a quad.
Kevin and his family began transitioning up to the Pismo Beach area in January of 2010 and moved here full time in June. That Thanks giving they went to Los Angeles to spend time with family and came home late Saturday. Kevin took the Hummer to pick up the dogs from the kennel and parked the truck in the street. It got stolen and was being chased in the dunes by several agencies even through the restricted area. The thief jumped it and crashed it into the lake by the homes near Pier Avenue and Strand Way.
The truck got sent to Tustin Hummer and was gone for almost a year. It had $12k in damage, Kevin found many parts and upgrades for the truck while it was with Mike at Tustin Hummer. After he got it back it just didn’t feel the same, it still felt like it was violated. The decision was going to be to either sell it or reinvent it. Hence the RUSTY HUMMER.
After many months Kevin was able to convince the painter of the Rusty Rat Rods to paint his truck and it was done, this was a multi stage process where we had to get the truck prepped for paint, lay down the base, wait several days and then do the custom paint infusion to give it that RUSTY look. When the truck was painted it was an open top.
A while later the truck went through changes and modifications. The first was to convert it to a Wagon, where a metal wagon top was mounted on the truck to facilitate the transition.
Then the Military X doors were changed from the half doors along with a full snorkel. The painter was out of town and the truck was to appear in a parade and car show so Kevin had to figure out how to do this intense process of blending the colors and paint to make it look similar to the body.
Then another transformation from a wagon to a 4 door hardtop began.
A one off update and upgrade that Kevin Jones loved with his Escalade EXT was the midgate for hauling longer and larger items because it has a small or short bed. The Hummer H1 4 door hardtop is virtually the same, so Kevin hand fabricated a mid-gate so that he can haul 4×8 sheets of plywood or drywall easily when the midgate is down and the truck is secure when it is up.
Another one off fabrication are the 3 inch angle iron fender protection that wraps around the rear fenders and have come in handy many times. It also has the mounts for the rear roll cage for the open top wagon roof.
Kevin Jones has been the organizer and founder of the Hummer Invasion for many years now, a three day event where hummer owners and enthusiasts come out for a weekend, camp or stay in town and enjoy other peoples company and do a little sand duning in the Hummer H1’s.
We have a Military Humvee trailer that used to be used to haul generators around that has been converted to a kitchen and one of the things we do on the Hummer Invasion is feed everyone!
When you have a really cool toy in real life you have to make it into a fun toy that you can play with inside!
The RUSTY HUMMER is a work of art and is always getting new and different things done, worked on, updated and upgraded. The black roof was showing signs of wear, so we decided to stay with the same black theme but also keeping the “Rust” style. The roof was painted in a black rust style paint, it is very faint and really pops in the sunlight but in a darker environment you don’t even notice.
One of the biggest questions asked is “Do you take it off road” Yes, of course, the truck is used in a multitude of work environments. The RUSTY HUMMER is used to show properties that other Real Estate Agents can’t get to, it is used for Search and Rescue as Kevin Jones has been a part of the 4 Wheel drive team for over a decade.
The RUSTY HUMMER is involved in many events like in the picture below being the authorized vehicle on the beach for the South County Turkey Trot
Kevin Jones uses the Rusty Hummer as a promotional and work truck in Real Estate Kevin needs to get to some remote properties here on the Central Coast of California. If you are looking to buy, sell or invest in real estate call Kevin today 805-473-0300