The truck is a 2002 Stewart & Stevenson ex-US military vehicle refurbished by Acela Truck Company in 2019. The vehicle had approximately 8,700 miles when we picked it up. Only 8,700 miles in 17 years… that is not even 500 miles a year!
The initial tear down provided the obvious opportunity to install the ‘high speed’ gears and an additional locker in the intermediate axle (the rear axle has one as standard). The high speed gears facilitate a top speed of 74 mph but in reality I think the truck prefers to drive between 55 and 65 (he just seems more comfortable at this speed).
In addition to the above mentioned goodies, we clicked the options list for raised breathers to 55 inches and a relative luxury cabin Acela calls the ‘XL’ package. The package includes power windows, power door locks, heated power exterior mirrors and heated, leather air ride seats. I don’t think the military had any of these accouterments!
Here you can see the EEZI-AWN roof rack sourced from Equipt 4×4 turned 90 degrees and mounted on custom rails fabricated by Acela. I think the roof rack normally fits a Toyota 4Runner but mounted longitudinally. Also shown is the largest size Rigid light bar (yes we went over board!) Mounted on the rack will also be a set of MaxTracs, three Alu-Boxes, a set of Rigid camping lights for coming into camp after dark, a shovel and our HAM radio antenna.
In the living unit we selected the color of the couch material along with the shade of the floors and the bamboo cupboards, looks pretty good doesn’t it? The Bliss box is equipped with a built in vacuum system, 85L fridge, 65L freezer, four burner induction cook top, a separate shower room with a heated towel rail, a maturation toilet, a washing machine, two air conditioning units, diesel air heater, electric floor heating, an arctic package which heats the rubber seals on the doors, windows and garage, a water maker for taking water from a river or lake, Apple I-Mac, outside shower, 220 volt and 110 volt power systems to charge and be charged both in Europe and the USA. We also have 1,300 watts of solar power on the roof and two solar powered roof fans vents. We have exteria lights on all four sides along with infrared cameras for day and night recording of what is going on outside our truck.
The living unit we selected is the 18 foot model which offered a little more room in the kitchen, seating area and overall height so that even at 1.98 meters (or 6 foot 6 inches) tall, I can stand comfortably inside without having to duck my head. Bliss offers a range of other lengths both shorter and longer than ours, however I think the proportion of the 18 foot living unit on the standard length Acela FMTV chassis looks correct and with an all up weight of 31,060 lbs (including a full load of fuel and water) we are still sitting at only 70% of the truck maximum chassis load capacity, which also feels perfect.