A bad economy is not necessarily bad for business, not when you’re in the business of protecting people. "Since the economy has gone into its funk, the disparity between wealth and poverty has grown, and when that disparity grows, criminality grows," says Jeffrey Jankelovits, owner and founder of Manhattan Armor. "There are a lot of threats out there, and if you’re wealthy, what’s an extra 150 grand [the price of armoring an SUV] if it allows you to just drive away from a threat?" Someone concerned less with protection than with comfort, convenience, and power might ask, what’s $400,000 if it lets you travel across the country in a pied-à-terre, one that’s hauled by a Freightliner? Describing the Ikon by Renegade motor coach, Renegade sales manager Danny Lagunas says, "It especially appeals to car enthusiasts, ones who want the look of a bus, the feel of a bus, and the amenities of a bus, but the towing power of a commercial vehicle."
The SUVs from Manhattan Armor and the motor coaches from Renegade show the range of vehicles that can fall under the heading of trucks—and the range of functions they serve. Here are a few other trucks that can address your need for safety, comfort, adventure, or individualism.
EarthRoamer XV-JP
The $110,000 XV-JP is nothing if not versatile. It’s built on the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited 4WD platform and is the same size as that vehicle. The company notes that those dimensions (just over 15 feet long, six feet wide, and seven and a half feet tall) make the vehicle suitable for everyday use.
If so, then this Jeep-cum-camper might be the only daily driver with a queen-size bed, a toilet, a shower, and a solar-powered refrigerator. All of those features are included in the XV-JP’s Loftop, which also provides nine feet of headroom and has a forced-air furnace, an electric fan, and a 25-gallon freshwater supply.
Conquest Vehicle Knight XV
Conquest Vehicle describes the 6.8-liter V-10-, biofuel-powered Knight XV as an ultraluxurious, fully armored, environmentally respectful SUV. The company, which is based in Toronto, notes that the quality of its armoring—transparent (glass) as well as opaque (door panels, roof, etc.)—has been certified by H.P. White, an independent ballistic testing lab in Maryland.
The door panels, roof, and pillars are made from high-strength steel, ballistic aluminum, composites, aramid, and ceramics. Because of the weight of the armored door panels and the bullet-resistant glass, Conquest reinforces the door hinges using a proprietary system. This, it claims, prevents hinge failure and metal fatigue around the hinges. The Knight XV’s starting price is $489,000.
Conquest recently began offering interior upgrades that include a billet-aluminum/leather steering wheel and shifter handle, a retractable flat-screen television, a TracVision satellite system, and suede seats. The new security options include a built-in oxygen survival kit, a system that detects if any magnetic device has been attached to the vehicle’s underside, higher-grade armoring levels, an under-vehicle blast protection system, and a black box system.
Ikon by Renegade
The Ikon is built on a Freightliner Coronado chassis and powered by a 515 hp engine. The interior can include four slide-outs, a walk-through cab, electric pocket doors, leather furniture, quartz countertops, porcelain tile, a 20-cubic-foot Maytag refrigerator, a Whirlpool microwave, a Jenn-Air two-burner electric cooktop, a KitchenAid dishwasher and garbage disposal, a washer and dryer, and an entertainment system that includes a Blu-ray player and an iPod docking station.
Other features include an Oasis hydronic furnace and water heater, three 15,000 Btu Coleman low-profile air conditioners, and a four-camera back-up viewing system. The vehicle can hold 150 gallons of freshwater, and it has a pair of 75-gallon holding tanks. The Ikon has a starting price of about $400,000 and requires 10 weeks for delivery.
Manhattan Armor Range Rover
Manhattan Armor can equip a Range Rover to withstand bullets from a .357 Magnum, a 9 mm Luger, a .44 Magnum, an AK-47, or an M-16. Manhattan Armor provides this protection in part by replacing the factory-installed windshield, the rear-door glass, and all of the side glass with 42 mm curved bullet-resistant, multilayer glass. It then adds a polycarbonate inner layer that prevents the glass from chipping if it’s struck by a bullet.
The doors, pillar posts, side panels, kick panels, firewall, headers, rear wheel arches, and rear cargo area all are reinforced with steel, as is the roof. The floors are armored with multi-ply rigid ballistic fragmentation material and as many as six layers of woven armor that fits the contours of the floorboards and panels. The company claims that the floors are strong enough to withstand the explosion of a grenade or a standard six-pound land mine.
Other security upgrades include a bullet-resistant battery, a steel-encased fuel tank, a wire mesh cover for the tailpipe, a locking fuel cap, run-flat tires, reinforced bumpers, and a grille equipped with red and blue strobe lights and a siren.
An armoring project such as this costs about $260,000, which includes the price of the stock Range Rover.
Galpin Auto Sports Pickups and SUVs
Galpin Auto Sports—aka GAS—is the customization division of Galpin Motors, which has been in business in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley since 1946, and has been personalizing, or “Galpinizing,” vehicles since the 1960s. In fact, the company takes credit for starting both the conversion van industry, with its Surfer Vans, and the 4x4 off-road craze, when it began adding big wheels, big tires, roll bars, and custom paint jobs to four-wheel-drive pickups.
Today, Galpinizing can include the addition of such accessories as brass-knuckle door handles, a custom paint scheme, one-of-a-kind wheels, a mobile entertainment system, a custom interior, and any of a variety of power and performance upgrades.
Dynamax Grand Sport GT Touring Coach
Featuring a Mercedes-Benz 450 hp engine and a Freightliner chassis, this luxury motor coach has as much as 20 tons of towing capacity. The vehicle also is equipped with four-point fully-automatic leveling jacks, a 6-speed Allison 4000 TRV auto push-button transmission, and a steel safety cage that surrounds the transition from the cab to the coach.
Standard interior features include a 23-inch LCD flat-screen TV, a convertible dinette, a color back-up camera and monitor, and a Bose sound system. The interior also features living room and bedroom slide-outs and side cross-flow ventilating windows. Dynamax offers five different decor packages for the Grand Sport GT and five different exterior paint options.
Europa G-Wagen
It used to be that the only way to acquire a street-legal Gelaendewagen in the United States was through Europa, the Santa Fe, N.M., company that was the exclusive G-Wagen distributor from 1993 until 2001. Before releasing the 2002 model-year G-500, Mercedes-Benz, which has been building the vehicle since the 1970s, purchased the U.S. distribution rights from Europa and has been selling the SUV through its dealers ever since.
Today, Europa remains a source for buying reconditioned and special production versions of early-model G-Wagens. Europa also designs and builds G-Wagens for such specific purposes as hunting, camping, and sport touring.
TLC ICON CJ3B
The CJ3B is the newest ICON model from TLC, a Van Nuys, Calif., company that was founded in 1996 as a Toyota Land Cruiser restoration and service center (providing TLC for TLCs) and eventually began building ICONs, vehicles that look like classic Land Cruisers but are equipped with modern components. But unlike previous ICONs, the CJ3B is not based on a Land Cruiser (it’s actually going to be the first in a series of non-Land Cruiser-related vehicles from TLC). Instead, its design derives from the Willys-Overland World War II military vehicles that became known as Jeeps. The CJ3B has a starting price of $79,000.
The standard version’s GM Ecotec engine produces 210 hp. The CJ3B seats four passengers and has a removable rear seat. Its body, which is made of steel and has a polyester Teflon powder coat, is available in eight standard colors or any custom color.
Shadow Hawk
The concept behind the Shadow Hawk line of models seemingly is to create vehicles that are part supercar, part tank. Right now, the Shadow Hawks are still just a concept, but the manufacturer plans to build the vehicles to order at prices ranging from $776,000 to nearly $1.5 million.
The entry-level model is the two-door Steel Hawk (the four-door is $996,000), which is made of chromoly steel and powered by a 360 hp V-8 turbocharged engine. The top-of-the-line Desert Hawk ($1.48 million for the four-door) is an off-road machine that can flip itself back onto its tires should it tip over onto its side or roof. The company also plans to build the 208 mph, titanium monocoque Street Hawk ($1 million for the two-door and $1.25 million for the four-door) and the Terra Hawk ($1 million and $1.35 million), a 1,000 hp camper; the vehicle’s rear deck rises to create a two-person cabin with a TV, a refrigerator, a microwave oven, and two reclining beds.
The company is accepting deposits now and expects to deliver the first vehicles next year. The anticipated delivery time is 18 months.
SportChassis P4XL
The distinguishing feature of this luxury SUV is its size: It’s big. The P4XL has a wheelbase of 14 and a half feet, and overall the vehicle is more than eight feet wide and 22 feet long. It’s equipped with an 8.3-liter diesel engine that produces 330 hp and 1,000 ft lbs of torque for towing power.
The P4XL is available with leather seats and leather interior trim and a suede headliner. SportChassis’ Passive Noise Reduction System, which is designed to eliminate road and engine noise, is standard equipment. The interior also features a Pioneer sound system and voice-activated/touchscreen-controlled GPS navigation, satellite radio, iPod integration, and Bluetooth technology. In addition, the vehicle can be equipped with wireless Internet access, rear- and side-view cameras, and a front-view infrared night-vision camera.