Survival Novel Vehicles

[Hamilton Felix]

When I mentioned a vehicle from Larry Niven's novel "Footfall," dieseltrooper said " You could just about start a thread about survival novels and the vehicles the protagonist/hero/main character drove..."

Well, why not?

Ahern's series "The Survivalist" always had John Thomas Rourke roaring across the post-apolyptic wasteland on a big black Harley. Very "Hollywood," though a Kawasaki KLR650 might have been more practical.

I wonder what it was like building the vehicles for the later Mad Max movies.....????????

 

[flight recorder]

do movies count?
-how about Tom Hanks survival vehicle in Cast Away -a porta-pottie






okay okay it wasn't a movie it was a commercial for fedex

 

[dieseltrooper]

Ya went and did it,huh...

Now I'll have to rack my brain and grab for books off the shelf....

I seem to recall from "Lucifers Hammer" Niven/Pournelle, one guy was driving an International. I think it was a Travelall (like Suburban). Talk about your petrol-swilling land-yachts! No way would it be practical now. Parts scarcity and single-digit fuel consumption.

Dean Ing's books have both land and air vehicles that lean to the futuristic. In the trilogy with Ted Quantrill as the hero, there are ground-effect hovercycles using supercharged diesel power.

 

[Hamilton Felix]

Not survivalist novels, but L. Neil Smith's "Probability Broach" novels have air cushion vehicles for surface travel. We've seen them, from little bitty things not much bigger than a snowmobile, to the ferries that cross the English Channel. Imagine that your car is a hovercraft, and highways are simply cleared stretches planted with grass. No pavement necessary. Bridges not needed, so long as there's a reasonable approach to the river or lake. I'm not sure sure about steep hills and logging roads, though...

 

[night driver]

In "Emergence" they used a bus-type MotorHome, and a 4X4 truck IIRC.

quantril also used little electric skate boards.


Pulling Through Rackham used hover craft hybrid cars.




c

 

[Hamilton Felix]

Shall we allow movies, too?

Here's the Landmaster from Damnation Alley, which was based on the novel Survival Run, by Roger Zelazny. I don't have that one on my (dissappointingly short) Zelazny shelf, so I can't say if the movie vehicle is faithful to the novel. I can tell you the vehicle is real, based on a Ford truck powertrain, and that trick triple-tires-on-arms final drive is real, too.

Here's a site to tell you more than you ever wanted to know:

http://users.snowcrest.net/fox/landmaster/

 

[Hamilton Felix]

Maybe I'm mixing stories, but wasn't there a scene in Lucifer's Hammer where the main character pays an outrageous price for a loaded up Blazer? I seem to recall a description of carefully running it onto some railroad tracks, maybe airing down the tires a bit, then letting it run along the tracks through a flooded area. At one point, the character driving is feeling "at sea," because the tracks he's using are actually submerged by a few inches.

 

[CTCStrela]

Thought given to Traffic Jams....

I always think about a couple of things..

After/during a major disaster

1:Gas is going to be scarce
2:Highways will be *jammed* with traffic, possibly stalled or non-moving a car or a 4x4 will more than likely be stuck in the jam, 4 wheel drive or not, where are you going to go?


My personal solution for these..

 

[dieseltrooper]

Hamilton: It took me a while but it just came to me. It was an International Travelall, much like a Suburban.

 

[CTCStrela]

Diesel. Nope, it was a Chevy Blazer

The one they drove on the railroad tracks, while the land was flooded, right?

 

[AKLester]

harvey randall had the Travellall, tim hamner bought the Blazer for $250K from the dealer, paid $5K for the extra 5 gals of gasoline. "Best deal you ever made," says his GF, eileen.

Hammer is a very interesting book. I especially enjoy the scene where randall finally "get's it".

Dean Ing had a column or two in the Tappan Suvival Newsletter.

I like the idea of motorbikes for putting around and economy runs to the store for odds n ends, but c'mon... Anybody who is serious about getting out of Dodge had better be gone before the freeways close down. What can a honda 50/65/90 carry anyway? Trail 90's had a pretty good rack behind the solo seat.

Mountain bike is probably a better alternative. A mountain bike set up like a moped might be pretty doable. One of my neighbors rigged one up with an electric motor and a battery and got around pretty well.

 

[CTCStrela]

Lester, you're right about the travelall!

As per the bike:
It's not the moped version, it's basically a 3/4 scale motorcycle. It's based on the Honda 50SS or the Scrambler 70. As soon as I can afford it, I'm putting the 110 motor on it, changing the gearing, and putting some dual purpose tires on it.

As far as suitability:

I've had 400lbs on my bike before. I've got a rack/case built on the back, and will be buying some soft saddlebags soon, as well as a tank-top bag and possibly a larger cargo rack for the back.
So really, it can carry just about everything I can afford prepwise, as a college student.

The problem is, I live in Orlando. It's a city with few exit roads. So it'll be virtually guaranteed I'll have to fight traffic. I can cut through traffic like you wouldn't believe on this bike. It gets 140 miles to the gallon, with a 2 gallon tank. With two Jerry cans full of gas, I have a theoretical range of over 1680 miles. And, in a pinch, it does suprisingly well off-road.

Try getting a suburban through traffic, or through a forest.

Plus, in a pinch, the engine can be pretty easily converted to run on alchohol.

 

[AKLester]

Strela,

I did not previously note the "college student" bit. If you are bugging out with just stuff to make it home your motorbike will likely do fine.

I hope you get a jump on the crowd. I imagine finals are done with. It looks to me like you ought to be ready to go at a moments notice these days.

God's Blessings to you.

 

[CTCStrela]

Intensive summer classes now

 

[Hamilton Felix]

I guess one CAN have it BOTH ways.

I am too cheap to buy the $400 carrier from Versa Haul, so I built my carrier out of about $50 worth of steel. And yes, there are always heavy duty cutters in the 4x4 Suburban; I have a good chance of making my own freeway offramp, if need be.

 

[CTCStrela]

Felix, good choice on a bike, regarding the dual-sport on the back...

You're gonna need it if you start out late