10 Best Vehicles for the End of the World

Originally posted by schuyler

Originally posted by CaptChaos
Sailboat. Bicycle. Horse.

There won't be any fuel. Duh.

There won't be anyone to USE the fuel that's sitting in tanks all over the country. All you need is a siphon hose. That's why my Duramax diesel (with the Allison) will work just fine. If I can't find diesel (highly unlikely) I'll just pull up to a McDonalds and use the frier oil. The Duramax will burn just about anything.

Ah no your Duramax will not burn straight fryer oil it has to be processed to remove the glycerin and food particles or you can modify the engine to run straight veggie oil but still have to remove the food particles.

Unprocessed veggie oil will gum up your injectors rendering your truck useless.

Best bet is to learn how to make biodiesel and or ethanol. journeytoforever.org...

Has got to be an Apache helicopter! If you can stockpile the fuel that is.

I think the giant armoured Mastiff trucks that the British army use would be awesome. They are huge and look like they could smash through thousands of zombies. Probably get lousy mileage but hey it's the end of the world who cares, the end is coming!

reply to post by hawkiye


It will run straight soybean oil with no processing at all. But I jest anyway. The main point I have is that it is not true there will be no fuel available. Indeed, there will be ample fuel available with little competition for it, and it will be free. I don't know how big your typical gas station fuel tank is, but it must be several thousand gallons. Gas stations are conveniently located along all roads. This begs the question of whether you need to move around much, but all things being equal, you'd never run out of fuel.

Now people will say, "Well, if it's an EMP blast your vehicle will be useless." True enough. If the atmosphere is stripped from the Earth or the Sun blows up, the vehicles also will be useless. We can make up plenty of scenarios where vehicles will be useless, but this thread is about what vehicles would not be useless. So let that happen.

There's a book called "Earth Abides" by George Stewart written in 1949 that tells the story of a post-apocalyptic America where only a few survived a great plague. Part of the plot is a sortie out of San Francisco of some of the survivors trying to scope out the extent of the issue. They take a jeep and a siphon, and never run out of fuel.

Originally posted by schuyler
reply to post by hawkiye

 

It will run straight soybean oil with no processing at all. But I jest anyway. The main point I have is that it is not true there will be no fuel available. Indeed, there will be ample fuel available with little competition for it, and it will be free. I don't know how big your typical gas station fuel tank is, but it must be several thousand gallons. Gas stations are conveniently located along all roads. This begs the question of whether you need to move around much, but all things being equal, you'd never run out of fuel.

Now people will say, "Well, if it's an EMP blast your vehicle will be useless." True enough. If the atmosphere is stripped from the Earth or the Sun blows up, the vehicles also will be useless. We can make up plenty of scenarios where vehicles will be useless, but this thread is about what vehicles would not be useless. So let that happen.

There's a book called "Earth Abides" by George Stewart written in 1949 that tells the story of a post-apocalyptic America where only a few survived a great plague. Part of the plot is a sortie out of San Francisco of some of the survivors trying to scope out the extent of the issue. They take a jeep and a siphon, and never run out of fuel.

Well then if it will burn straight soybean oil the engine must already be set up for it however you need two different type of injectors to burn straight unprocessed oil and regular diesel and separate tanks etc.. You would still need to filter out food particles of fryer oil. Also you probably have to at least in cold weather start it on regular diesel or need some sort of heating element. Maybe I need to look into the duromax to see what all they are set up to do.

Update: Ok I just did a search on the Duromax and can't find anything on it burning unprocessed soybean oil without modification. Would you mind telling me where you got your information? Everything I am reading is on it burning "bio diesel" made from soybean oil or other veggie oil. Most people are burning a blend of conventional and bio diesel. So what I said originally is most likely correct unless I am missing something,

None of your vehicles will be working.

I suggest you start learning how to run, sprint, climb, and invest in a horse. I would also practice not eating very much as well.

I'd have to say my feet, because having a car will make you a target for others who would also want your car, plus on feet I can be more stealthy as no one will hear me coming, and easily to hide.

reply to post by r2d246


definitely like your thinking....I have been looking at few different electric-drive kits for mountain bikes as well. That EGO is one of my top picks as well

One has to remember what the end of the world scenario is....well at least from the Bible it is that you will not be able to buy and sell (so no fuel and be able to live off the land), people will be coming after you to kill you best you are not submitting to the antichrist (so you need to be heading to a remote locate).

Best combo of vehicles is probably the Jeep Wrangler (to get to that remote location with a decent amount of gear) and then a mountain bike with a hunting rifle for those deer

Originally posted by II HAL II
I would choose this bad boy...

latino.foxnews.com...

I know, it's not off the shelf, but hey... I'm sure me, the A-Team and Macgyver could knock one up in a few hours

edit on 28-8-2012 by II HAL II because: (no reason given)

I think I would take one of these; adapt the engine to run on wood-gas and add a small generator to atleast run an electric chainsaw.

Even after a "collapse of everything" there will be wood for fuel. The saw will make it quicker and easier to retrieve it.

A few sharp rails, mounted along the sides, would be nice to ward off free loaders, should they hopp on.

Originally posted by hawkiye
Well then if it will burn straight soybean oil the engine must already be set up for it however you need two different type of injectors to burn straight unprocessed oil and regular diesel and separate tanks etc.. You would still need to filter out food particles of fryer oil. Also you probably have to at least in cold weather start it on regular diesel or need some sort of heating element. Maybe I need to look into the duromax to see what all they are set up to do.

Update: Ok I just did a search on the Duromax and can't find anything on it burning unprocessed soybean oil without modification. Would you mind telling me where you got your information? Everything I am reading is on it burning "bio diesel" made from soybean oil or other veggie oil. Most people are burning a blend of conventional and bio diesel. So what I said originally is most likely correct unless I am missing something.

I got my information by personal experience of running pure soybean oil. I also frequented the diesel forums where there is always a section on alternative fuels. For awhile there were a couple of dealers who would bring it right to my house. I have a 240 gallon tank in my garage, complete with a normal gas pump. There are a couple of issues. One is that it will gel up on you if it gets to 32 degrees outside and it doesn't take long. Happened to me once in a freak snow storm. I changed the fuel filter and everything has been fine since. You can alleviate this by running a blend. Right now I'm running straight road diesel because my suppliers of soy both went bankrupt. If you start running soy in an engine that has run a significant amount of diesel it will "clean" it out for you and then some. There you go changing the filter again. After experimenting with it I don't advocate running it unless you have to, but the major issue is that if you have to, you can. Soy does not have quite the energy of diesel, so your gas mileage will be off by about 1 mpg.

Right now I have off-road diesel/soy in the tank to run my generators at about a 75/25 blend. I figure if the SHTF I'm not going anywhere and would rather make my stand in my familiar home and keep the electricty going as long as possible. So the idea is to use the truck's tank as storage for the generators as a last resort.

There are always a lot of holes in any prep plan, but at least I;ve done something raather than just hope everything is ok.

horse n buggy all the way! no fancy fuel just food
then collect their waste droppings for fertilizer in the garden

Potassium Hydroxide converts aluminum into Hydrogen. So just raid the bars and collect the beer cans and you have fuel for life.

Basically drain cleaner and anything aluminum will work.

Being a mechanic, and having much camping, and ranching experience, i may be of some help here. First and foremost, forget horses, they eat too much. Get a mule or a good donkey, low maintenance and can carry large loads over great distances, horses, really are only good if you intend to be nomadic, and there will always be plenty of grass.

Mountain bikes, are good, but you will need plenty of spare tires and patches, also you will need to learn how to repair a chain.

If you live on a river, nothing is better than a good old fashioned canoe.

If you have a good fuel supply, first, disregard anything made after around 1985, If it doesn't have a carburator, it will do you no good as there is too much of a reliance on the electrical system. Find a Jeep, preferably a wrangler, but a wagoneer will do, these are hardy vehicles with a common bolt pattern on the wheels, also, they are numerous in the states, repair parts will be easy to find. Other good vehicles would basically be any 4WD half ton truck made by the big three, Chevrolets and GMC's are great, but they're lug nut pattern is unique to them, if they are a 5-lug, however, 6 and 8 lugs are universal in most cases. The parts you'll really need are spark plugs, plug wires, distributor caps, ignition coils, and alternators. Engines to be on the look out for. For GM products, Small Block V8's Inline six cylinders, or the 4.3 litr V6. The V8's were nearly unchanged from 1955 to 1986, The 4.3 V6 uses many v8 components, like pistons, water pumps, valves, and rocker arms, also for the GM products, they all used the same transmission bell-housing to engine bolt pattern, making transmission, or engine swaps easy to come by. For MOPAR vehicles, go for the 225 or 170 slant six, or the 318 or 360 V8. The slant six was pretty much unchanged from 1961, into the 80's, the small block V8 was basically unchanged from1964 with the 273, to the early 90's with the 318, and the 360. For Ford products, look for the 300 cu in inline six, first and foremost as it is common, long life, and unchanged from the early 60's, even up into the 90's with the exception of fuel injection, but even on the FI motors, the engine components are the same. Secondly, with Ford Products, go for the 221-351 windsor motors, especially the 221-302 vareity where there will be the most interchangeabilty. Learn how to tune and rebuild a carburator, this may seem like a futile effort with obsolete technology, but remember, they are longer lifed in the end as they can be rebuilt almost infinately if you have a gentle hand.