AM General brochuresNot many people are familiar with the company Am General, and for a good reason, they were never really a car-maker. AM General was a producer of heavy-duty and military vehicles with roots that go back to Kaiser-Jeep. Almost no one had heard the AM General name when offering consumer vehicles. Then they took their military-designed Humvee and converted it for sale to the general public. The first AM General vehicle for sale to the masses was the Hummer H1, and the AM General brochures and catalogs are hard to find. The Hummer H1 was like a Jeep on steroids; every man wanted power, size, and attention. It was oversized and quite pricey.

Rich History of AM General

AM General started as a bicycle company in South Bend, Indiana. In 1903, the Standard Wheel Company of Terre Haute, Indiana, merged with the Overland Automobile Division to build motor vehicles. They introduced the Overland Runabout. In 1908 John Willys bought the Overland Company. At that time, it was renamed Willys-Overland Motor, Inc.

In the 1940s, AM General or Willys-Overland at the time made a name for itself when it produced the 4-wheel-drive military Jeep. Jeep was one of the primary vehicles used for years by the military since World War II. Later, the military Jeep was turned into the Kaiser Jeep, which was very popular with civilians and car buyers alike who wanted something different in a vehicle. It would be great to have some of those AM General brochures.

The company has a rich history that includes the old Studebaker facilities in South Bend, which eventually became the home of Am General. The actual company of AM General wasn’t incorporated as a stand-alone business until 1971. In 1967 the Kaiser-Jeep Corporation created a division named AM General. It built military and government vehicles and was awarded a contract to construct the DJ-5 Dispatcher for the U.S. Post Office. It is a rare sight, but, you can still spot them on the road today delivering mail.

AM General brochures and sales literature

Military Vehicles From AM General

AM General builds military vehicles, and in the late 1970s, it was contracted to develop the High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV or “Humvee”). This was the Jeep-like vehicle in the 1990s that we saw all over the TV. Especially when the U.S. was involved in the Mideast problems with Kuwait and Iraq, but very few AM General brochures.

General Motors bought the rights to the Hummer brand name in 1999. Then AM General continued to produce the Humvee for GM as the Hummer H1 until June 2006. That’s when fuel prices drastically reduced the sales of large SUVs and other gas hogs. AM General also built a particular factory to assemble the Hummer H2 (a poor imitation of the H1 in my book) based on a GM pickup truck. The H2 was produced from 2002 until General Motors’ bankruptcy forced the Hummer brand’s end in 2009. Sorry to see it go, but it was fun while it lasted. We don’t have too many AM General brochures, but we have a few. To learn more about the exciting history of AM General, you can visit their website here.

AM General Brochures PDF

AM General Brochures
2003 AM General Hummer H1 Brochure
2003 AM General Hummer H2 Brochure
1999 Hummer Brochure
1999 Hummer Spec Sheet
1994 Hummer Brochure
1992 Hummer Brochure
M998A2 HMWMV Brochure
M1165 Base Brochure