Craigslist Find: Ram 3500-Based Tornado Intercept Camera Truck From Storm Chasers
Despite weighing 15,000 pounds, this armored storm chaser can travel up to 800 miles courtesy of its 92-gallon fuel tank.
Spotted for sale on Craigslist is storm chaser Sean Casey's heavily modified TIV 2 camera truck, which is based on an old-school Dodge Ram 3500 dually pickup truck. The documentarian's Tornado Intercept Vehicle (TIV) features 10 wheels that spread across three driven axles and some serious armor plating that makes it looks like a miniature, makeshift tank.
Listed for sale in Burbank, California for $35,000, the TIV 2 comes with 130,000 hard miles on the odometer, but prospective buyers can take solace in knowing that it's only had one owner. The ad claims that there's "light damage from debris," which judging by the car's previous appearances on the big and small screen these are nothing but battle wounds.
Featured in Casey's own Tornado Alley IMAX movie as well as multiple seasons of the Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers TV show, the TIV 2 was designed to wade into the worst Mother Nature has to offer. It weighs a total of 15,000 pounds, 10,000 of which consists of two-inch-thick armor that envelopes the vehicle. Despite the load, its modified 6.7-liter Cummins turbodiesel apparently returns 11 mpg. And with a 92-gallon tank, Casey says the thing is good for 800 miles of range—because the last thing you want to do is run out of fuel while in the eye of a tornado
Armored flaps can move up and down, allowing the tank to go off-road or shield itself from strong winds that could possibly get underneath the vehicle and flip it over. Bulletproof windows and four hydraulic anchoring spikes further set it apart from your contractor's Ram.
Peak tornado season in the U.S. may have died down for now, but for one enthusiast of dangerously inclement weather, it's never too early to start stocking up on equipment for next year's wave of storms.
By the time The Drive got a hold of the seller to find out more about the TIV 2, the vehicle had already sold it, meaning that the vehicle was listed for less than 24 hours before selling. According to the owner, it ended up bringing $30,000 bucks, so $5,000 shy of its original listing price.