When the apocalypse comes, be it a viral holocaust, rampant diabetes, or a plague that wipes out coffee crops, those on a month-long camping trip atop Mt. McKinley will return to face new challenges. Who will tend the farms? Plow the driveway? Empty the septic tank? The first step will be driving to the closest Wal-Mart to forage for canned goods, batteries, ammo, and Ho Hos.
Sure, the roads will be largely deserted, but there will be telephone poles strewn about, overturned trucks, lots of burning stuff, and a finite supply of fuel. And we can't forget other survivors whose embrace of pacifism surely lies between Himmler and Genghis Khan. And although the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse only feature four horsepower, they're probably pretty quick and scary looking, so you'll want something fast. What to drive?
The best vehicle to have parked in your post-apocalyptic driveway is an M1A2 Abrams tank. You and your bestest buddies hunkered inside are protected against nuclear, biological, and chemical threats, and its thirsty 1500-horsepower turbine engine will burn pretty much anything flammable. There is little match for 138,000 pounds of charging curb weight, including buildings. If you don't live close enough to a National Guard armory to crack a hatch and drive off, however, consider these ten other vehicles, some of which are production models and some that are, well, you'll see Don't judge the FJ's hardware by its reasonable $22,755 starting price—the Cruiser borrows many parts from its more expensive siblings, including a chassis shared with the Lexus GX and drivetrain components from Toyota's own 4Runner. Standard 32-inch tires practically beg to be driven over hills and dales, curbs, and Corollas. All those gnarly skid plates aren't just there for show; the FJ can be spec'd out with an electronically locking rear differential. Ultimate doom is hell on bodywork, so you can rebody your FJ by ditching the doors, taking advantage of the pillar-free arrangement for a versatile thrashabout
Track T-800CDI
The Track T-800CDI is produced by Dutch company E.V.A. Products, which also manufactures custom motorcycle bits and accessories. These brilliant fellows let Daimler spend millions to develop a small-displacement turbocharged diesel, as installed in the Smart, then stuffed said engine into a custom motorcycle frame. Moreover, they've modified the 800cc engine to run on diesel, bio-diesel, or SVO (straight vegetable oil). While other survivors are dueling over remaining petroleum reserves, you can fill up from every abandoned semi, restaurant, or grocery store with the oil product of your choice. With more than 20,000 McDonald's locations in North America, finding french-fry oil shouldn't be an issue. And you won't have to fill up too often—The T-800CDI gets up to 100 mpg and promises a 115-mph top speed. With flat-black Raptor styling, it'll help you look like the post-apocalyptic bad-ass you'll need to be
DAF 95 Turbotwin X1
One of the meanest machines ever raced, period, the DAF 95 Turbotwin X1 was created by the Dutch manufacturer to conquer the 1988 Paris-Dakar Rally, one of the most demanding, spectacular, and dangerous speed contests ever conceived. The X1 features two 11.6-liter diesel engines mid-mounted in an aluminum space frame and triple turbocharged to produce 1200 horsepower and 3466 lb-ft of torque. Each. 2400 horsepower and almost 7000 lb-ft of torque made this 11-plus-ton truck good for 150 miles an hour, although we'd slow down a bit for surface irregularities like trees and housing developments
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