So I just bought this crazy truck that was use during promotional tours for Microsoft's Halo ODST and Halo Reach video games. Here it is in it's current condition, with my bike, while we're waiting for the tow truck to drag it the 40 miles to my house.
The truck is a 5ton 6x6 m820 expansible van....meaning the van body expands out 3 feet on each side.
As shown in the picture below (this is an older picture when it was on tour for ODST). This truck is massive. You can see one set of stairs, needed to get in the van body, in the right side of the picture.
I bought it as a "ran when parked" type deal, which is the reason for the tow truck.
Made it home!
I bought four new batteries for it (Interstate group 24 blems at $52 each) and surprisingly the monster 855CI 14 liter Cummins fired right up! But I have NO brakes, I mean none at all, so what do I do? Drive it!! We have 10 acres, so I drove around in 1st and 2nd gear and the truck runs great, I'm super happy with it, but after a close call with a 29k pound truck and no brakes I decided to park it, expand the sides, and play some video games while contemplating brake repairs.
The "playing video games" needs some more detail. So when this truck was on tour it had 8 flat screen TVs and 8 Xbox 360s all networked together. Generally there were 16 people inside the truck, 8 to play and 8 to watch, then they'd rotate them out. Currently it only has 4 32 inch flat screens and 4 Xbox 360s, which are networked together for multiplayer. The van body has heat, AC, lights, etc, but that all runs off 3 phase power, which I don't have (yet), so I'm running the TVs, consoles, and some lights off 110. The plan is to eventually get a big ex military tow-able generator that I can run the truck off as well as our house if the need arises.
Last night I was in it playing Burnout: Paradise City with my shop cat Larry Diddle. He really digs the Halo Truck.
Here's a crappy pic of the current state of the interior. The chairs are Xbox 360 chairs from the original tour. It's a little messy because I had to pack everything up for the tow and am not set entirely back up yet.
You can see my ear protection to the left in the pic. I needed them because, when I was driving it, the air brake buzzer was going off and it is LOUD. I mean I get it, I have no brakes, stop trying to burst my eardrums. Also it has huge pictures covering the side walls that are stills, or some type of artwork, related to the video game.
Anyway that's my latest acquisition. Most people want to know what I'm going to do with it. Right now the plan is to fix the brakes and enjoy it as a mobile man cave, insane camper, and general crazy fun toy.