Supplying reliable vehicles.

[PaulM 16]

Right now you can't get a simple vehicle that you can work on. You can, however make cars, rat rods are an example of this. What if some of us started making simple vehicles , registering them and selling them to others in our movement. This would give us a serious resource to draw on.  families would have something they could rely on and repair themselves.  It could all be done unofficially, cash deals, even trade for tools, weapons, food etc. It would be a good step to take in starting a parallel economy and protecting people from our rogue government.  I'm thinking you could just get a reliable chassis and drive train and build the body out of light weight materials like the skin off an old trailer. That stuff is light as a feather and pretty much unavailable to any car manufacture due to cost  They can't use scrap, we can. As long as their is a good strong steel frame around you, and you insulate the skin against the weather, the thinness and softness of the material shouldn't be a draw back. Fuel millage should go up a bit or perhaps even considerably without relying on complicated , impractical and costly electronics. 

Edited March 4, 2019 by PaulM

[Whiskey6 520]

That's an interesting idea. There was an article I read about making your own vehicle, but I can't find it any more. To make this work out, I think it'd be smart to start with one state and identifying the requirements to build the car. Come up with a simple and flexible design, and teach others to build them.

[Rev.E. 838]

We had this option at one point, but they took it away from us. Does anyone remember The American Motors Company? You could go to the parts store and buy a generator from Chrysler, a Starter from Ford a distributor from Chevrolet and install them all at once on the same motor. You could use Brake calipers from any manufacturer as long as you used all four the same. This all originated from the Original "Jeep" Once they figured out guys were buying AMC's and shopping around for better parts prices, they began to fade out AMC. Then they sold to Chrysler and it became Proprietary. Many of these AMC's are available in salvage yards. All you need of it is the frame which is a take-off of the Jeep Frame anyway. 

 

The AMC frame can be retrofitted with an entire Jeep suspension with zero issues. They bolt right into the frames. All the holes are already predrilled in the frame. Changing just the motor mounts you can change from the 4.0 to any V-8. Using aV-8 Trans cross member is all you need to do to upgrade to a V-8 engine. This is just a bit of info to add to this thread. 

[ACE 24]

I like the idea. How much would it cost? Also, if the exterior is made from an older body/vintage, would it be cheaper to register? But what about VIN? Sorry if this is a stupid question. I hate new cars; everything is computerized. 

[Whiskey6 520]

Those are things to figure out, @ACE. Need to figure out what are requirements to make a custom car, how to register it, and an idea of how much you'd value the car.

[PaulM 16]

There are a lot of really crazy rat rods on the road so I'm guessing regulation isn't too stringent because hardly anyone is doing it. It's a loop hole we can definitely use. As I said, we have access to scrap material some of which has unusual properties we can exploit. Simple aluminum siding form an old trailer would take a lot of weight off a car. That's just one idea. About any frame could be fitted with a drive train of about any type. If the vehicle was radically lightened over a factory vehicle we could nearly match computer mileage providing a good family car or truck that would give us a serious advantage. Once more a father could get under the hood and fix what is broken. I'm thinking it could be done in a garage or old shed somewhere. A bunch of guys with just a couple skilled guys there to lead would work. Who ever got involved would have an opportunity to learn a lot.  There are men who make cars, rebuild cars and so on all over the US. What I'm suggesting is that those skills be put to work for a broader use than simply personal entertainment. A man with such skills throws a car together for mere entertainment but how valuable would his skills be to a family across town or across the state fighting a broken down computerized pile of junk? This is an opportunity to help that family, to change their situation. It's also a way for people to boost their income. We already have groups of people willing to go out in the woods and train for war together, the network is already there. How many men in your local militia can twirl a wrench or know someone who can?    Societies exist for our mutual survival in the first place, the problem we're having is that ours has turned against us. Maybe it's time we created a new one that will do the job. 

Edited March 4, 2019 by PaulM

[Dav Harzin 675]

I thought of this years ago, but would use p/u trucks, 4x4 optional.

85 or earlier ford f250/350,  GM 350 motor/trans, aluminum flatbed.

Thinking when shtf, ya gota move people and supplys, wich are HEAVY.

[PaulM 16]

Also to get some kind of parallel society going that people could rely on. Obviously the automotive manufacturing sector is broken. This kind of project would also spread valuable skills. Training and border patrol etc are good but a militia group can do so much more. All it would take is one guy with the skills and a bunch of reasonably smart interested guys to show up at an old shed or something. Once every one got their heads together and started networking what ever materials were needed would be found and bought to the site. Every thing we need would be there including a family that wanted to spend 4 k or so on a simple and reliable vehicle vs 40 k for a ridiculous vehicle they can't even work on to do the same thing. As more vehicles were turned out the skill level , cost and manufacturing time would all improve.  At the end we have militia connected people with who knows how many of these simple easy to repair vehicles ready for domestic or military use if necessary. I don't see a down side to a program like this. 

[PaulM 16]

Here is a very interesting video on installing diesel engines from various equipment in trucks that I've been thinking about for a long time. He's got diesels from brush cutters, tractors and so on in pickup truck and gets very good mileage. If it were done with a homemade car it would be much easier. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzbfvbgXXKo