Shawn Chitnis of Denver's CBS 4 brings us this story of a Greeley man whose ride may look Mad Max, but is more for a twister.
Ryann Shepard is a storm chaser who spent over a decade following severe storms. The Greeley man recently purchased a TIV, that's Tornado Intercept Vehicle for you acronym impaired, and drove it home from Illinois in just two days. Built in 2007 on the frame of a Dodge Ram 3500 truck, the vehicle weighs 14,000 pounds, is armored plated and has a 90-gallon fuel tank giving it a range of 800 miles. The "tornado tank" is designed to literally go through tornados and was tested in 25-mph winds from a jet engine as well as 175-mph winds from an actual tornado.
Shepard had only used his personal vehicle to get close to twisters - come on, dude, didn't you see what happened to Bill Paxton's new truck in the movie, Twister? Shepard says the TIV needs some TLC, but he is excited to get up close and personal to the weather phenom the vehicle is designed to intercept.
The vehicle features eight layers in the walls that are two inches thick, the windows use bulletproof glass, and there are 10 special tires this bad-boy rolls on.
And it's loud. Way loud.
Check out Shawn Chitnis' vid...
Photo Cred: Getty Images
Story Cred: CBS 4