Adam, your VW is on a hot list apparantly.. BEST POST APOCALYPSE VEHICLES

All you need is some 1/4 plate armor and a floor mounted machine gun!

2 things will survive Apocalypse: Cockroaches and the VW, apparently.

Can't wait to take a ride in that beast.

Haha, Funny. It only looks apocalyptic right now. With some paint it would be very nice.

I've got almost all the guages working properly, but have a little oil leakage (What VW doesn't) around the senders. And need to adjust the fuel sender to read right. I put on a 16 gallon tank vs the original which is about half the size. I'll probably have a cruise range of 400 miles.

Wierd to have a real speedometer and a tach.

Thanks Dan and I also can't wait to get it out, but will wait till it's a little cooler and the X won't overheat towing it.

Oh dear goddess that article was lame. I honestly want my 3 minutes back. Not only did I have to click through so they could get more advertising revenue, but they had a unicycle in there.

I'm sure that we could do better here with minimal effort. The criteria aren't that hard to establish:

1 - Is it bulletproof?
2 - How difficult is it to fix?
3 - Can it haul enough stuff to keep you alive?
4 - How many were made? (makes spare parts easier to get)
5 - Can you comfortably sleep in it so you're a bit safer?
6 - Will a lack of roads cause problems for it?
7 - Can you mount weaponry on it?
8 - Did the A-Team ever use a similar concept.

This means things like Jeeps and VW Beetles are in, but not necessarily preferred. Xs, oddly enough, might be out because they're difficult to work on.

Unicycles, however, offer no value whatsoever.

Ron, I know of one vehicle that may fit all those requirements and then some... The WWII DUKW.
WIKI



Spare parts may be an issue, but with a torch and welder anything is possible!

I do know all about the DUKWs. Damned fine vehicles, but yes, spare parts are going to be a biotch.

And for lots of the parts, you're going to need a welder and some sort of machining ability.

However, we'd also have to define what this apocalypse is going to look like. Is it the post nuclear war? The ice caps melting? The world falling into general anarchy? Some pandemic killing 90% of the population?

Wow - this list could get very entertaining...

Honestly - things like GM and Ford trucks (mostly the Blazers, Surburbans, and the like) are probably best. The Jeep is good to a point - but not really all that big. The others could probably do a better job in terms of security while doing a decent job of getting around, are reliable as hell, and spare parts really aren't an issues (for serious - how many Chevy small blocks are out there? If that doesn't make it easy to get parts...).

I agree Chevy has the most compatibilty between the years 67-78 or so? That makes parts very available, that is if you can out gun the junkyard dog.

Apocalyptic in my minds eye is mass hysteria, people killing other people, not so much from disease, but for food, water, etc. (That is after there are no more stores to loot) So armor will be a definate must, but you will have to fuel it... Hybrid DUKW?

I'll leave that kind of thinking to the story writer as I don't ever want to think that is possible, at least not in my lifetime. Aren't the Dutch predicting it in 2012?

I think portions of the Chevy compatability actually go even further than that. As long as it's the basic small block and the engine mounts haven't changed, you could easily downgrade a modern fuel-injected engine to a carbed one without too much hassle.

In any of the apocalyptic scenarios, cover and concealment come to mind. Armor's great and all, but if you can't stay concealed you're going to have problems.

The diesel DUKW would probably work well for a good portion of this, but again, it's parts that are a biotch.

Maybe crafting your own floater would be the best idea?