A COUPLE have converted a retired military truck into a purpose-built, one of a kind off-road mobile home. Kourtney and Trevor Smithson of Virginia, USA built their very own home on wheels using an original Stewart and Stevenson M1078 LMTV troop carrier which they picked up at a military auction. The conversion took just six weeks to complete and cost the couple around $37,000, including the purchase of the truck. Its owners named the ex-combat vehicle turned cosy mobile home, ‘Wazimu’, which translates as ‘crazy’.
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MotorTranscript
00:00Everybody's like, oh how many miles to the gallon? How slow is it? Blah blah blah. I'm like, you know what? How fast is your house?
00:24All right, here we go
00:26This might look like a military vehicle, but it's actually so much more
00:36Together we built our own m1078 we named Wazmo
00:43Owners Trevor and Courtney have customized this purpose-built army truck into their very own mobile home
00:56And
01:11What's more the couple did it on a tight budget
01:14We did our entire build for $37,000 that did include the purchase of the truck. We got it at auction out of Daytona
01:21so
01:22$37,000 later
01:24This is what we have instead of taking our time to make the absolute perfect vehicle from the very beginning
01:30We just did it got on the road
01:33So this used to be our where our generator sack which is now back here
01:37Updated our entire solar system with lithium batteries went from good air conditioning good heat for about six hours
01:44Depending on the heat outside to we have it for days
01:48Having a truck built for extreme purposes has some unusual advantages
01:53Now this truck is designed to be able to handle up to four feet of water. We've done about three feet. I had no problems
02:03So that actually is our cross through so while I'm driving
02:07Courtney and the boys can jump on through no big deal and on the other side of that hole the trucks original army features are
02:15Unrecognizable
02:18We have a u-shaped couch which is also used for our clothing storage at the moment
02:27And then on top as you've probably guessed is our bed which is on a crank system that usually people use like in their garages
02:35We just crank it down at night
02:38You
02:41We're gonna live like hippies I didn't want to smell like hippies so I really want a nice bathroom situation
02:47The shower is actually super spacious. It's actually big enough for me to even like sit down and like read a book and take a bath
02:58Originally we had an actual like refrigerator and
03:02one trip off-roading it detached and
03:05Laid itself on our couch and all the groceries are everywhere so that didn't last long
03:13We've always talked about
03:15Living full-time on the road or just traveling a lot
03:18We purchased a vehicle about a year and a half before we actually started working on it. Yes
03:22The build of this truck served an additional purpose for the couple and simply providing a home for them
03:28I wasn't a very good husband at that time
03:32It turns out I was
03:33Quite a bit of an alcoholic while Trevor was going through sobriety is when he was building their truck
03:39It's probably as chaotic as it was. It was the best possible way to get sober
03:44because I wasn't focusing on anything other than
03:47Burning my hands busting my knuckles and getting the thing done
03:56It's a very privileged lifestyle I
03:58Tell people that all the time like we are super super lucky. It is not for the faint of heart
04:03It's not for everybody and it's really not that easy
04:06It's worth it if it's something that you want. We love it
04:10So, how does it feel to drive? It drives like a Cadillac. Hey, you're like a big old boat
04:16We're a slow truck in a fast house
04:20We did save up for three years and
04:23Then we sold everything we had we got quit our jobs, you know all that kind of stuff
04:28It's a gamble and I mean and I definitely like always encourage people like yes, like don't wait until tomorrow
04:33It's not like a dream especially like with your spouse
04:36Definitely do it