Interpretation ID: nht93-9.19

DATE: December 17, 1993

FROM: Tim Adamson -- PITT Power Systems

TO: Wm. J. (Bill) Lee -- Representative, Georgia House of Representatives

TITLE: None

ATTACHMT: Attached to letter dated 2/8/94 from John Womack to Sam Nunn (A42; Part 571.7), letter dated 1/11/94 from Sam Nunn to Jackie Lowey, and letter dated 12/22/93 from Bill Lee to Sam Nunn

TEXT:

The enclosed literature is some of the notes covering the Military vehicles I spoke to you about at Kiwanis the other night. They are the AM General HMMWV M998's.

The Military sold a few of these and then suddenly put all sales of these vehicles on hold. We Don't Know Why. Certain Military vehicles are sold in good condition, but with the contract provisions that they be scraped before being removed from the Base. One of these vehicles was the M151 jeep. The reason stated for the sale of M151 jeeps to be scraped was they supposedly did not meet Federal Safety regulations and would turn over. Tens of thousands of these jeeps have been sold for nearly nothing per vehicle ($5.00 to $25.00 each) simply because none of the parts were usable on anything else. This has been a tremendous waste of good vehicles that could have been sold for considerably more ($1,000.00 to $1,500.00 each) if they were allowed to be removed from the Base in usable condition.

I am trying to prevent this tremendous waste from happening to the Hum V series. These trucks in anything close to one piece will bring on a sale from $3,500.00 to $12,000.00 each. The sale of these vehicles in usable condition will not only help reduce the Federal Deficit but increase profits by any number of Military truck dealers around the country which will generate the Federal Government more money through income tax, the State more money from sales tax of the complete vehicle and related parts to supply them. It will provide jobs such as mechanics, painters and truckers for the rebuilding and transportation of these vehicles for the end user and the snowball effect of helping the economy.

The bottom line is this vehicle was built especially for the U.S. Military, but is being sold to the civilian market by the manufacturer. It has no safety problems and as stated in one of the articles enclosed - is a vehicle that is built to withstand any type of terrain without handling problems. In other words its no different selling a M1000 series Chevrolet pickup or a Hummer. They are both offered to the civilian market as a pickup by the manufacturer.

The U.S. Department of Transportation claims these vehicles are "unsafe." This cannot possibly be true because anyone with common sense would know the manufacturer is not going to make an entirely different vehicle for the civilian market. The only difference is the electrical system which is 24 volts for the Military and probably 12 for the civilian market. The voltage in the electrical system makes no difference from a safety standpoint.

Apparently quite a few other people are complaining to the Defense Reutilization Market Service in Memphis about this claim. Most likely what has happened is someone at AM General has paid off someone in the U.S. Department of Transportation to declare these vehicles unsafe with the anticipation of selling new ones to the civilian market. The retail price for one of these vehicles is approximately $60,000.00. Anyone who would pay $60,000.00 for one of these vehicles certainly would not buy one from a surplus equipment dealer.

This is the U.S. Government wasting millions of dollars worth of Military trucks just so one corporation can sell a few new vehicles to a select high end clientele. This is unfair to the American Taxpayer and something should be done about it.

The U.S. Government agency responsible for selling Military surplus is the DRMO in Memphis, TN. They can be reached at 1-800-222-3676 or 1-901-775-6821. The person I spoke with name was Evelyn Jones. She is a contracting officer, but someone else may be able to talk to you.

Please contact Senator Nunn with this information to see if he would be willing to help us get the Military to take these vehicles off hold and release them for sale.

Please feel free to contact me at anytime at the numbers above or at my home number (404) 473-0354.