Post SHTF Car of choice and ammo

I got a couple inquiries regarding what people choose to drive around here.

So, I'm curious, what sort of automobile would be a good choice for one living in Argentina? I don't know, but I'm a bit of a car nut, and the movies and TV stuff I've seen out of your country make it look as if the city folk in Argentina prefer VW Golf-sized European hatchbacks from Renault, Citroen, Fiat, etc. but it would appear that the early-1960s bodystyle Ford Falcons and Ford F-Series pickup trucks dominate the countryside, except for places where folks from the U.S. go to shoot large numbers of doves and ducks, where it seems like the transport consists exclusively of crew-cab 4x4 Japanese pickup trucks. Just curious.

Also, you can still buy ammunition, correct? I assume it's somewhat hard to get and more expensive than here in the 'States. Indeed, ammo prices have risen a great deal in the past few years here-cheap promotional packs of .22 LR ammo used to run around $10 per 550-cartridge package, and I think I paid over $14 with tax for one of those boxes of 550 the other day at Wal-Mart.

I love your blog, by the way, you have lots of interesting and thought-provoking information.

R

And another one:

In regard to TSHF vehicle, I have been thinking of getting an old Toyota 4x4 pickup truck with camper shelves...is it a good idea ?

TIA

R is correct about the choice of vehicles. Mostly people in the cit choose rather small Golf-sized European hatchbacks from Renault (206) , Citroen, Fiat, etc and people in the country go for older F-100 , or Falcons.
More modern 4x4 would include, probably the most popular and successful 4x4, the Toyota Hilux. There’s also Ford Rangers around, but Hilux easily dominates the market.
All of these vehicles are very often converted to NGC ( natural compressed gas) which is extremely cheap to use and still allows you to use diesel or gasoline.

What’s the perfect car for city/suburban use?
Lets see what you look for in a car after SHTF.


1) Of course it has to re reasonably priced, and spare parts and repair should also be easy to obtained and reasonably priced as well.


2) In our case, a cheaper fuel source became the natural course of action, so out car should be easily convertible to alternative fuels like NCG.
Here's the link to the post on NCG conversions: NCG car conversion

3) Given the amount of roadblocks, unemployed protesters, general debris that liter most streets, the usual traffic jams and the need to be able to squeeze trough narrow places to avoid roadblocks or escape during carjack attempts. It’s important to have a car that is not too big.

Big cars are sexy and size isn’t a problem in more rural settings, but if you’ll be navigating cities often size is important, your car should be preferable small or medium sized, nothing too large.

3) The car should be solid and powerful enough to A) Push against debris, blocking elements, cars, even pushing against people if protests become violent and your safety is at risk. You want tubes up front protecting the engine B) A good suspension because even though you are in the city, expect street conditions to decrease drastically in the next few years after the depression. You’d be surprised how BAD streets get without maintenance, true crates form, so you want enough ground clearance and good suspension.

4) For these same reasons you also want 4X4 if possible. Sometimes you have to go over boulevards, across muddy fields or even up the sidewalk to avoid protests roadblocks or to escape carjacks and mass robbery on highways.

For all these reasons a smaller SUV would be something that fits the bill.
Of course keep in mind that there’s a lot of differences between what’s available in my country and what can be found in USA.

A vehicle nearly perfect here in Argentina would be the Lada Niva, which is fairly popular here and converts to NCG very well.

Something popular here and also popular in USA would be the Jeep Cherokee.

Keep in mind these points, do your research and choose the best vehicle for you.

About the ammo question.

We still have ammo yes, but prices…
You complain about the 550 22LR packs. Here those same packs by Remington or Federal cost 50 to 60 USD , yes 60 dollars, so don’t complain much ;), buy more of it while it’s still cheap instead.

Take care everyone.

FerFAL

Alternative fuel for your car

Ok, now that the little guy (my son) and the little pregnant lady ( my wife :) )are asleep, I can sit and write about the current problem many have with increasing fuel prices.

I jumped out of that boat a couple years ago now, and today I don’t care if there’s fuel shortages or not, or the price.

I had a GNC set installed when I saw that the price of fuel could be a problem in the not so distant future.

The GNC set allows your car to run on natural compressed gas, and almost any car or truck can be set with one of these.

Basically you have three components, besides the chipset for the car.

First, you have a big yellow gas tank in your trunk. This part sucks the most because you do loose some space, and moderate size tanks like mine only allow you to drive 100 km.


The good thing is that most gas stations now have compressed gas too so there’s a lot of infrastructure around, and that it only costs USD 2,50 to drive those 100 km.
Stopping by the station nearly every day is a pain in the butt, but the saved money is worth it in my book.

Second, you have the gas regulator an valve. This basically adjusts the amount of gas that feeds into the engine, and is connected with the yellow tank. This is where you connect to fill the tank with more natural gas at the station, though some have a setup that allows to fill it up with a connection right next to the fuel cap.



Inside, you have a switch with a few LEDs that allow you to see how much GNC you have left.
The 3 way switch allows you to instantly go from gas to compressed gas or to auto.
The auto feature starts the car with regular gas, and switches to NCG automatically when you accelerate some.


If you are serious about not using regular gas, you can go for months without using any, only using the auto feature just to start the car a bit at first and keep the system running and lubricated.

I think eventually people will have to use one form of alternative car fuel or another.

Meanwhile, go diesel, in a fuel efficient car, and choose manual over automatic.

I understand manuals are more common in USA, but a stick allows you to have greater control over your car if you have to bug out, it’s better for pushing other cars, and it’s more fuel efficient, it’s also more rugged from a mechanical point of view.

Look around, wait until something that actually works shows up, and then wait for a few months until you see it actually working on the street, then go for it.

You’ll save lots of money.

FerFAL