What car to get? What mods?

Big vehicles cant get up and run...
I have a photo of a Dodge Neon BEATING a Ford Mustang GT in a drag... On a strip. By a car length.
My point? Big Iron doesnt mean big power. You can get a little 4 banger scooting just as hasty as a big block.

Its amazing what a stage 2 turbo can do...
Anyway...
The one thing about Rally cars... unlike other types of cars, they are "at home" any place, any time.
Street cars in mud? No. Off Road on the street? No...
A rally car? Its good everywhere accept rock climbing.
Seriously.
The motto of Rally is "Real cars, Real Roads, Real Fast."
They have to be street legal as they often venture onto public roads... many drivers go to and from rally events driving in the rally car.
Mitzu Evolution 5 is one of the BADEST cars you can get...
Followed by the Galant VR4, Impreza, and amazingly - the Hyundai Tiburon (WTF? Oh - 350 horses? That'll do it!)
 
So, on the LP gas - What does it cost, consumption-wise? Like, my beater truck costs about $0.10/mile (15 miles per $1.50/gallon gas) to drive...

The whole concept of the superburban sounds way cool.
 
We found with the full set up we had that we got about 35% more miles per dollar than with gasoline. The real savings however becomes obvious when after 10,000 miles the oil is still crystal clear. We had an airport at the time and thus lots of test equipment... We checked the oil after 10,000 miles using aircraft test equipment and found NO proof that it had been used. After that we added some super-slippery "Slick 50" oil additive and picked up additional power and savings. The Slick 50 was washed out of our aircraft engine oil, after a while, as they used gasoline. It was not washed out of the LP gasoline engine. Thus EXTENDED engine life becomes the biggest savings of all.

The tuned 4 into one headers running into two very large exhaust pipes with low restriction mufflers also picked us up added torque, horsepower and mileage savings. When we were done we figured about 1/2 the cost per mile of a similar vehicle and when in the mountains the huge torque and horsepower allowed for VERY little change in cost per mile consumption.
 
Amazing

The volume of car know-how in here ...

PaladinX13, does that thing have room for a pintle-mounted machine gun somewhere? :D I love the thing already ... only problem with things that fly: SAMs and ack-ack.

Still trying to decide on a ride ... you guys are not making it easy.
 
Viceroydude...

When you get to a semi-permanent duty station, get together with some buds, and buy a decent $1,000 or less junker. DO NOT blow your entire paycheck on a new car. Or bike. It's tempting, but hey... When I was at Ft. Ben Harrison (great golf course!), there was a clapped out, no rear window, Ford Capri or something that sort of belonged to someone or something... The keys were generally left in it. You drove it, you filled the tank and checked the oil.
 
Ultimate Y2k gotta get outta town car ? Like most others have said, has gotta be a top of the line Volvo wagon.

However, my backcountry Red Dawn ride would be a a Dodge Ram 350 turbo diesel with an ATV (or two dirtbikes)in the bed.

Seriously though, last new years eve here in L.A., I figured there are so many Hummers rolling around I'd just car jack one of them. No sense wasting my precious money on some yuppie vermin's toy.
 
Bogie, actually I was planning on an under $3000 claptrap once I got to Fort Lewis (I'm requesting 2nd Battalion in the 75th Ranger Regiment should there be openings and I qualify after all the training is done) ... if I get to a much more permanent state of affairs I'm going to get something nicer. Still thinking.

I know, I know ... lots of temptation to blow it off. I get $13000 from enlisting because (1) I already have a Bachelor's ($8000) and (2) I'm enlisting for 4 years ($5000) ... only 4 because I was thinking of Army Reserve and LEO duty. Wanted to leave that option open. Career sounds great too. Usually I would never discuss finances (you never know where the IRS is hiding) but thought it might clarify ... $13000 goes a long way towards a new car. It also makes a big sound when it drops out of your wallet ... yup public transport or the Humvees it is.

Thanks for the advice ... still digesting the car talk here :)
 
I really like OLD Cadilacs, Suburbans, Buicks, Pontiacs, Wagoneers, etc. from the 70s and before. The parts are easy to find, you can get one CHEAP with a little looking. And you can customize and paint it for a couple of thousand after you get it and when you have the money. Check the farm and industrial auctions too.

My first get out of town vehicle was an OLD telephone company truck with all the really cool drawers and bins, bumpers, lights, etc. It had a giant 6 cyl and 16.5 tires with limited slip and HUGE anti-sway bars which were on it to stabilize it when it was heavily loaded. I bought it at an auction for $100 and for another $300 (that would be $800 now) I swapped the engine for a "new/rebuilt" one -- installed.

One of my associates redid a city garbage truck (the inside was remodeled as his living quarters; he then made a very professional looking "specialty refuse" sign for the truck and parked it and drove it anywhere he wanted to as even where trucks are not allowed... garbage trucks are. He also liked the security of the thick metal sides of the truck and the hydraulic "door". He was a "little bit eccentric".
 
Jody, we gotta talk sometime - I'd really like to slap together one of these Superburbans... I live in a major metro area, so I'd guess I could find the folks to do the strange stuff...

I've been lusting after a "tool truck," like the phone company truck you described... With a camper shell on the high rear bed, you'd almost be able to stand (or with the right shell, maybe...), and you'd have tozno room for gear...

As for the garbage truck - How the heck did he get the smell out?
 
Don't invest in a GI car.

"Remember - $13,000 invested at 10% return gives you $1,300/year. "

That's after the first year, 14300.
After the second year, 15730.
After the third year,17303.
After the fourth year,19033.
Then it really gets good.............
After the fifth year,20936.
After the sixth year,23030.
After the seventh year,25333.
After the eighth year,27866.
After the ninth year,30653.
After the tenth year,33718.
Now you are half way thru a 20 year career.....
After fifteen years, 54304.
After twenty years, 87457.
Now you are just entering your prime, with a growing estate plus a military pension, and with your experience you can choose from many options. You may have fond memories of the POS beater you abandoned in the woods outside of Ft. Lewis when they shipped you overseas twenty years earlier.
 
Personally I have found little difference in value between a $100 vehicle and a $4000 one. You still are likely to need brakes, trans, motor, and body work; you will also likely need tires.

If you get EVERYTHING Possible at the BIG junkyard you will have $100 in new brakes from a brake shop, $300 or so in the trans work at a trans shop, $800 or so in engine renewal, and $500 or so in body work. Another $500 will give you a GREAT paint job if you do the masking tape work. The tires can be gotten "used" from the junk yard for $30 each (new or nearly new and larger than standard size).

Start with a CHEAP vehicle and a couple of thousand later you have a reworked dependable vehicle.
 
Or, conversely, of the POS beater that you sold for $200 more than you paid for it, because you cleaned it out, washed it, and put $10 worth of new spark plugs in it...

Remember - After that 20 years, you've got half pay. Plus, that chunk in your stock portfolio is still growing, if it is managed well, at about $9,000/year, 10,000/year, 11,000/year, etc...
 
Go for it Bogie!!! Just write me here or at my personal e-mail if you have a personal and private question of some sort. If you write here though, I'll see it.

Smell? He rented a commercial Steam Cleaner, got up inside and cleaned it out with the water and soap setting first using liquid dishwasher detergent (because it is a great grease cutter and doesn't suds when sprayed). Then he went in and threw around about 20 pounds of baking soda all over the insides while it was still moist so it stuck to everything. He then washed it all out and sprayed it all down with several gallons of white vinegar inside, let it sit for a few hours, washed it out and then ran a salamandar heater into it for several hours to heat dry it.

He then welded in some supports for the interior stuff he wanted to do. Afterwards he went to a roofing insulation place that did spray foam plastic insulation and sprayed it with a couple of inches of the high density foam insulation and then the vinyl skim coat. The foam was about 4 inches thick.

He squared the floor and walls with steel framing like they make steel studded homes out of. He glued and screwed heavy wood paneling that he got from a building salvage yard and did it double thick with overlapping seams. He cut behind-the-wall and behind-the-floor and ceiling storage spaces all over the place. The place was quiet as a snow cave inside. He could have his stereo blasting inside and it was un-hearable outside. He needed no heat usually and when he did he used a small 12 volt car heater from the Western Auto store that is sold to keep old people's feet warm.

He used all yacht, motor home and airplane stuff inside which is already 12 volt. He bought a couple of used electric fork lift batteries and welded some huge battery boxes for them underneath. He then covered the cab roof with solar cells to charge the batteries. They were also charged whenever the truck was running.

He only got about 9 miles to the gallon but he had about $3,000 in the truck/home when he was done. It was pretty strange. The weirdest part was watching people watch him as he would go in and out of the truck. They usually just pretended they didn't see him. He'd wave and they'd turn thier heads and try to not see him. :)
 
I have just got to say, We have an armored Jeep Cherokee at work, and it is just awsome, pretty good as far as room goes, but would be better if the stupid bp bulkhead was taken out, they are talking about an armored Ford Exersion, with the souped up 7.3 powerstroke, should be even better than the Jeep...
 
If you want to avoid a confrontation, I think projecting the right image is the way to go. Beemers, etc., might be infinitely more practical as an "unass the AO" vehicle, particlularly for most of us that live in an urban environment, but if you want to be left alone, nothing says "hands off" like a large 4X4; particularly a PU truck. Once you leave the AO in question, the option of going almost anywhere is of immense advantage. If I can be a little presumptuous, here in Arizona, a 4X4 PU is nearly synoymous with "gun on board", even without the NRA sticker. I respectively submit, that the "yuppie" in his sports car is perceived as an easier mark than the "redneck" in his 4X4.

Before the onslaught of "flames" descend, let me acknowledge two points of reality:

1. I, as a computer professional who lives and works in an urban environment, probably qualifies for the epithet of "yuppie", except for the F250, 60+ guns, and the 20,000 rounds of ammo, and

2. The average bad guy does not read this forum, and therefor is unaware that the guy driving the BMW has an HK -whatever (fill in the blank) laying in his lap.
 
Get yourself a Lincoln Town Car, pre ban something in the 1989 box model. Hey they can't be all bad, I have one and they used a Limo in the Movie Lethal Weapon out in the desert.
 
This has me wondering about other possible vehicles to use. Are any of these practical for a 'normal' person?

1) Those big F450, F550-type trucks: tow trucks, drinking water trucks, AC/Delco trucks, soda trucks, etc.
I saw that 'Getaway' TV show, and the stunt guy was using a tow truck at one point. The announcer commented that they can go like 90-100 mph! That would make one heck of a road block buster.
2) Big panel truck/van things - those vehicles laundry services use, uniform companies, even UPS trucks I suppose
3) Buses - I always see old surplus school buses and such for sale

Anyway, those were just floating around in my head this evening. Not sure how practical or anything ... just curious
 
My personal favorite is the Mercedes Benz 300 Turbo-Diesel station wagon. The ultimate in safe and secure and it doesn't cost a fortune to fuel it up either. Who carjacks station wagons anyway?
 
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