Civilian vehicles?
The discussion on refugees vs rural communities brought me to this. What about civilian vehicles?
We have talked of fuel types, of EMPs, but what about the type of vehicles that would survive?
Do you think that only older models can survive or do you think that knewer types stand a chance as well? I mean over time of course (from 1997 to 2000).
EMP is not only the problem and even if we admit that EMP don't affects cars very much a number of problems can arise. You'll need spare parts, you'll need to fix them from time to time, and you'll need to find some fuel to run them.
IMO, with the most modern types, you'll quickly run out of spare parts, you'll have trouble fixing them without the proper diagnosis computers and, from what I read, their engines are not as adaptable as older engines (what is fun is that it seems to be the opposite for military engines).
With older types, you might not have that much problem. You can run them on alternate fuel (I think that puttting a gazogene on newer models isn't done with ease). You'll have less problem to fix them either canibalizing another vehicle or modifying the mechanics. You won't have to worry about EMP.
Today, such older vehicle still make a fair part of the running cars (may be 20% in the countryside and 5% in cities) but their number is being reduced every year. Of course, In the time of T2K their would be more numerous. In addition, small businesses often use older vehicles, country people often have several in storage or roting in their backyards...
In the place were I'm living (roughly 20.000 inhabitants), you'll even find trucks and vehicles from WW2 and the late 1930's... They are not that numerous but you can count on a few dozens for the area. If you count pre-1970 vehicles, you might find a few hundreds and if you add vehicles from the early 1980's you'll easily reach at least 1000 plus may be as much in some kind of storage (even under woodpiles). Many are FWD including cherokees, japanese types and lada nivas. Several others are commercial vehicles (van, pick-ups...). For spare parts, you'll find a large number of them all around the area.
Many of these older vehicles are seldom used but a fair number will have a chance to start again. In one of my former house, we found an old 2CV fourgonette from the early 1950's. It was stored under a woodpile at the back of the house and had been there for several years. We took some time to clean the engine (a morning in fact) and in the afternoon it started to run. It never went faster than 25 miles per hour but my father is still running it today (almost 20 years later).
I put a picture (found on the web) of that model and, as you can see, you start it using the old good way
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