This is the first page that I made on this website, other than the welcome page. It got put here originally as a dummy page, just to be a placefiller while I worked on the layout and menu structure, etc., of the website. Now that it's here though, why not leave it here? And think of something to write about cars. Since cars are such a huge part of modern life...

My first thought about cars and prepping is that a lot of people spend a lot of money on them. Really, a lot. For most people in modern society, their car is the second most expensive thing they own after their house. And if they're renting it's usually the most expensive thing they own.

Robert Kiyosaki is the author of many books and other materials about how to increase your financial wealth (including "Rich Dad Poor Dad" which is probably his most well known). What does he have to say about cars? He points out that if you drive past the working class suburbs at night you'll see a heap of guys working on their cars. I'm not sure if this is as true now as it was when the book was written, since people are less mechanical and practical now generally speaking. But the principle that Kiyosaki is pointing out here is still true. He goes on to say that if you drive through the more affluent suburbs, people are working on their houses. (Again, this is probably less true now, though instead, people are paying others to work on their houses).

He then explains the punch line of this little story: A car is a depreciating asset, while a house is an appreciating asset.

So, basically the lower income people are directing their time and energy into something that's only going to dig them deeper into poverty. While the better-off people are directing their time and energy into something that's going to increase their financial position in the future

This is a really good thing to think about with regards to prepping. And with regards to cars. And with regards to prepping and cars and how they go together. Cars are a lot cheaper than they used to be decades ago. You really can buy a reliable car that will go faster than the speed limit for very little money in today's economy. However most people spend many, many times more than that.

A big part of prepping is letting go of our addiction to the comforts and luxuries of modern Western living, in order to free up money, time, energy, and other resources which can then be directed into prepping. Driving a cheaper car than you otherwise would is one really big way you can do this

What Kind of Car?

Having gotten out of the way the idea that you don't need the latest and greatest luxury or high performance sports machine, what kinds of cars are good? Here are a few ideas:

Something that blends in and looks average, which doesn't attract attention, is a good idea. If it looks like an ordinary family car or commercial vehicle it won't be noticed and singled out nearly as much as something that looks like it was made to win World War III, or for the jungles of 'Nam, or for the cover of the latest Street Machine magazine. This is one of those situations where less is more.

An uninteresting, non-eye-catching vehicle like this can carry a lot of gear discreetly and leave you with plenty of budget for other prepping essentials.

Something that has a long range in terms of how many kilometres you can go on a tank of petrol. You could consider getting an extra petrol tank fitted for increased range. This is quite common for some types of 4WD activities. You probably don't really need this though in the same way that you need to have available drinking water and food after a society-wide crisis that breaks the usual supply chains of produce, and brings down the utilities such as power and water and sewage

If you're concerned about EMP, cars made in the early 1970s and before (the exact year depending on the model) are much, much less likely to become immobilised in an EMP than modern cars. I would estimate that older cars with points ignition and mechanical carburettors and fuel pumps, and no semiconductor electronics anywhere (apart from the radio), are pretty much completely immune to EMP. Modern cars are almost completely controlled by computers, which are highly sensitive to EMP. The metal body of the car and the metal housings of the individual in-car electronic components would provide some amount of protection. But would that be enough? It only takes the failure of one critical sensor to prevent many modern cars from running at all

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