A wagon as a bug-out vehicle?

Yo.. fellow wagoneers.. Posting something for giggles..

Any preppers out there? Wife and I are gearing more towards prepping for natural disasters, storms, power outages, etc... not so much the end of the world or U.S. as we know it.. not that it can't happen.. but we're tired of watching the panic around here every time something happens.. We experience at least 1 outage a year and have been without power for over 2 weeks before.. Having a way to get away to either a place that has power or another piece of property that you have prepped with a trailer, cabin, or.. is also a nice alternative to have. That being said.. having a vehicle with large storage capacity and towing ability is a good thing to have.

I'm sure some of you are aware of "bug out" vehicles and wonder if any of you have ever thought about putting together a wagon for such use? Of course 4x4 is a plus.. but not necessary.. you definitely have the room and storage with a wagon..

Just for S & G's.. what type of a wagon would you use? I'm thinking any 60's - 80's full size would work well.. of course going for mega room.. something like an old ambulance or hearse would work well too.

My top 3 would be:

• Early to mid 70's Ford Squire Wagon (had one and loved it)
• AMC 4x4 Eagle.. for obvious reasons
• Buick Vista Cruiser.. if your going survivalist.. may as well do it in style..

and you......????? :Blasting_anim:

 

I'd like to think the house is preped for emergancy, been a couple years but we have had those freak storms with rain, wind, and snow complete with power outs also. We have ample fire wood for heat, propane, and allways have alot of extra canned soups etc, even keep 2 extra large bags of dog food.

Hard really describe where I live but if, lets say the big earth qwake did come today a car or truck would be of no use. 2-3 miles on the left of me the only highway out would be rock slide blocked. And to the rite of me... there is nowhere to go but ocean. So when the sunami comes..... I should have a bout in the back yard packed with provitions.


Reality though, if and when anything happens, and I'm just speaking for me and my wife..... do we know where we will be on said dooms day or even be together? Yup the house is stocked and ready but if we are not at home at the time the chances of us getting back home is kinda slim to none.

 

Oh yeah.. we definitely prep the house first and if we don't have to leave we don't. I've got a generator we've used multiple times and we usually have more food and water than we know what to do with.

I was just giving a what-if... If you had to bug out in a wagon what kind? :2_thumbs_up_-_anima

 

Well, if ya put it that way.......I guess I better get the Meteor on the road


And speaking of generators..... I think(?) it was about 3-4 years ago we had another real magor storm, trees doun everywhere, hurricane winds for a couple days sraight, couple days of calm and it happened all over again with with a foot of snow. We lost power for over a week, no biggie as we were prepared.

Well the honey got into a "need a generator" mode so I bout a big'n....... I think it has maybe 8 hours on it and thats just because I run it now and then to keep it working........ havn't needed the darn thing once

 

Maybe I should have just said "to camp out of"... I notice most people clam up when you mention prepping or survivalist.. both words have kind of a negative stigma attached due to all the extremists out there.

 

I have two small generators. The big old RV gen we had in the combination pump house tool shed would no longer start no matter how much we yelled and kicked it. Scraped it.
A few times we've been asked by the weather people to leave because of a possible hurricane headed our way. We are roughly 35 miles east of the Gulf. We went to the middle school shelter. I'd rather sit out the disaster in our mobile home next time.
Once we did take the RV and ran away to the Panhandle when one was shown headed directly toward us. We went from the Panhandle to Mississippi moving from the new path. When it finally bore down on where we were camped we went home.
Like I wrote, we'll take our chances at home or run to a shelter at the last minute. We usually have enough food and supplies to survive for months anyway. My wife loves to over shop!

 

The great thing about a fairmont is that they are so simple to work on.
I think anything of which you have intimate mechanical knowledge and that is reasonably uncomplicated would be a good idea.

But you use it only to get to where you are going.
Where will you go? I have a place on an island on Lake of the Woods, so a boat always has to fit into my scenario. And gasoline. I think I will start hoarding gas. Maybe get a few drums delivered and use a hand crank pump, the way we did it when I was a kid. And gasoline would make a good commodity for exchange and barter as well.

 

Thin, high ground clearance. If the &hi+ hits the fan here the only way out will be a fireroad. As for a wagon, mpg is going to be a big factor.

 

This one is easy. A 72 Mercury Colony Park. With the non-electronic ignition. I'll deal with points and condenser on a bug out car. Nothing to fry. Put is a really nice 351HO with AOD, all done up for mileage. 2 200 amp alternators.

For the house, I would do what my brother did. He built a battery shack on the side of the house. Enough capacity to run the basics, including the fridge, furnace, and lights for 3 days. A 3 cylinder, 1 litre Suzuki Swift engine to recharge the batteries, with the wagon as a back up to that.

 

A trailer with solar panels, water filters etc. would be nice in that you could hide it.

Instead of 4x , a winch would be nice.

 

Well you can get a 6500watt generator for a relatively cheap price 2nd hand and get a plug for the house. Just switch off the power box, plug it in and you don't even know the power is off. That is usually large enough to run the furnace and hot water heater which is really what you miss when the power is out.

Camping then.. what kind of wagon for camping! You can add one of those tent attachments to the back or pull your trailer of choice!

 

Saw this one posted earlier.... You know I've GOT a '55 Buick waiting in the wings ... hmmm , but do I really want to sacrifice it?

I WILL try this some time with maybe a less expensive/valuable car/wagon... would just have to beef up the suspension. Maybe even put a truck axle underneath it.

I think it would be coooool!



Here's mine..

 

THAT is exactly what I got our generator for (made my plugs for the house)......the one I've never had a need for since I bout it


And if the house falls in on itself, got that coverd also...I'll be sleepin the Merc, Deb can sleep in the conmfee Buick, and the dogs have 2 options, the van or the Escape

 

In "Panic in Year Zero", the definitive apocalypse escape movie, Ray Milland drove a '62 Mercury Monterey... but it wasn't a wagon. It dragged that trailer to the mountains and got him and his family through some dangerous situations though. A lot of the other vehicles on the road in the movie trying to escape a nuclear attack on Los Angeles were wagons or pick-up trucks.
Frankie Avalon would be a good guy to take along whatever you decide on.









My choice would be a Mercedes Unimog. The the things are practically indestructible and will go almost anywhere, plus you could take all the people in your neighborhood along with all their clothes and furniture to boot.

 

"...Frankie Avalon would be a good guy to take along whatever you decide on."


I'd rather take Anette!