Haters, Gas Fail to Crush Hummer Pride

Sure, the Hummer may be going the way of the dinosaur: Sales are down 40% this year on soaring gas and an eco-image problem, and GM is looking to ditch its troubled brand. But for owners, the AP reports, outsized pride remains part of the package. "It definitely sparks some intense reaction from people on both sides," says one Hummer owner, whose baby was attacked last year by baseball-bat-wielding vandals. But to sell? "I love this car," he says.

These massive machines trace their DNA to the Jeep, designed for the Army in WWII, and the Humvee. But while enthusiasts push the behemoths over car-sized boulders, into cement-like mud pits, and through lengthy riverbeds, hundreds of people have submitted photos of flipping off Hummers to the site FUH2.com.
(More Hummer stories.)