I recently re-read Steven King's "The Stand." Several good ideas were presented re. BOVs. Most of them were tailored to the needs of the individuals, e.g. Nick Andros/Tom Cullen used bicycles; motorcycles were also popular. Bikes and motorcycles were great ideas because they could push them past roadblocks.

But during the final push to Colorado, they were in automobiles. Why? Because, for one, they had a lot of people to move; and they were able to clear the roads because they had a tow truck with them.

IMO, any group travelling for any distance in motor vehicles should have a large tow truck, plus a fuel tanker to feed it.

Comments?

Quoted: IMO, any group travelling for any distance in motor vehicles should have a large tow truck, plus a fuel tanker to feed it.

Just having a winch-equipped pickup or SUV would go a long way towards solving the same problems.  Not perfect, but possibly better than having a dedicated specialty vehicle.

12K winch, couple snatch blocks, and a good anchor and you can move just about any vehicle.  

I always thought a public works or state highway truck with a snow blade would be useful and you could load the dump bed with an extra fuel tank or sandbagged gun turret!!!!

Quoted: Quoted: IMO, any group travelling for any distance in motor vehicles should have a large tow truck, plus a fuel tanker to feed it. Just having a winch-equipped pickup or SUV would go a long way towards solving the same problems.  Not perfect, but possibly better than having a dedicated specialty vehicle.

Probably don't even need a winch.  Tow strap will get the job done.

And most of the time, a 4x4 could get around cars that are otherwise blocking the road.  Heck of a lot faster than moving the car.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: IMO, any group travelling for any distance in motor vehicles should have a large tow truck, plus a fuel tanker to feed it. Just having a winch-equipped pickup or SUV would go a long way towards solving the same problems.  Not perfect, but possibly better than having a dedicated specialty vehicle. Probably don't even need a winch.  Tow strap will get the job done. And most of the time, a 4x4 could get around cars that are otherwise blocking the road.  Heck of a lot faster than moving the car.

Actually now that I think about it, after the group got organized in Denver, they started clearing all the nearby roads of the cars that had been abandoned during the event.  Obviously a tow truck would be great for that but that is so long term that I don't see a need to work that into current plans.  In that type of event plenty of tow trucks would be available to the survivors anyway.

A 4x4 with a tow strap would solve 80% of the same problems, without the liabilities of the tow truck.

Michael

Quoted: I always thought a public works or state highway truck with a snow blade would be useful and you could load the dump bed with an extra fuel tank or sandbagged gun turret!!!!

I always thought that most any vehicle with a snow blade in front would be useful in the Los Angeles traffic!

I hadn't thought of the sandbags in the back. However... I stand firm with my idea of having a tanker along to feed the convoy.

wouldn't need the tow truck if you got a tanker truck,

just down shift the trans and rear axle to 1 low and push other vehicles outta the way.