8/15/11

Prepper Ponderings

Electric Bug

One of the local weeklies had an article the other day about a guy has taken an old VW bug, and at the cost of about $3,000-5,000, converted it completely to electiric power.  He used a kit from Wilderness Electric Vehicles in Provo, Utah.  He says that he wants to get someone from DMV to inspect it so he can get it licensed.  I think that will be a mistake.  If I rebuild an old VW and cram a 350 Chevy small block in it, it's still a '72 VW (or whatever) and I don't need any new title or special permission or anything.  By getting this recognized as an electric vehicle, I think he is just getting himself on a radar that he won't want to be on.  There have been folks who ran their old diesels on used cooking oil who have been jammed up for evading fuel taxes.  I can see this guy getting jerked around so much that he'll never get that bug on the road.  If he'd just get it licensed as an antique car and be done with it, he'll stay off the radar.  Of course, by getting a newspaper article done on it, he's already broken OpSec.  That Wilderness Electric group has several rigs for sale.  If you buy one, keep it out of the local paper, but I'd love to write about your story on here (with full OpSec anonymity of course).


New Affiliate

I'm very excited to announce that a new affiliate program has come on board to If It Hits The Fan.  We are now affiliated with Emergency Essentials, home of a huge variety of long term storage foods and all kinds of preparedness gear.  Please use the link on the right hand of the page here to visit them, and anything you buy will get me a small commission at no cost to you.  A great way to help support If It Hits The Fan and build your stockpiles.


Inappropriate

Ever shopped at a Tractor Supply Co.?  You'd think that it would be the type of place that would attract preppers, homesteaders, and other folks that are living the rural lifestyle.  I've often shopped at one not too far from here and always enjoy going in see what I might need to have.  I applied with them to become a part of their affiliate program, but I got turned down.  Seems that they reviewed the site here and consider If It Hits The Fan to contain "inappropriate subject matter."  Hmmm.  Who knew?

3 comments:

  1. http://www.e-volks.com/ is the link... :-) Cool article. 100% agree - don't try to re-title it as a kit or anything out of the ordinary... just asking for problems. It's an old bug. 'Nuff said.

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  2. I'm all for laying low and staying under the radar, but what about insurance issues? would the same still apply if the insurance thinks it just a 72 bug and then wrecks it and has an acid spill which burns him or someone else, if, as the article suggests he has to have it licensed for insurance purposes, he may find his insurance policy won't pay up and find himself being charged with fraud, He better go along and do it the correct way rather than trying to skirt the law.

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  3. Dustin - thanks for catching that, I've fixed the link in the post.

    Matt - With custom cars (my wife's whole family builds hotrods and such), the insurance knowing all the custom details really only comes into play if you are getting full coverage. For liability, he should have no problems if the car is licensed. At the cruise in last weekend, one dude had a hotrod pickup with a completely wood cab and bed. No telling what kind of engine or chassis he had, but it was licensed as an antique. Virginia has pretty lenient laws on getting an antique car registered. My guess is that the guy in the article just doesn't know any better. Kind of like the person who wants to let the police know if they buy an old shotgun from you. Completely unneccesary, but they just don't know. Of course... not legal advice, check your local laws...

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