car enclosure

CAR ENCLOSURE
Today, and today only, I'll take a break from telling you how we are all doomed from Peak Oil. I understand being burned out on Chicken Little warnings, and I understand every author claims irrefutable proof of an impending disaster. No one wants to be taken for a fool so even a true prophet might be ignored after enough charlatans spoiled the process. Let me just say this today, then I'll shut up about it. You don't have to go and live on junk land in a trailer. You can buy marginal land for cash and live in a trailer while you build your own home without a mortgage. You are not panicking, you are not foregoing luxury forever. You are building towards independence, peace of mind and financial freedom. If things really fall part quick, you at least have some kind of shelter.
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This weekend I read "Hubbert's Peak" by JJ Ritonya, a novel. It didn't get into too much detail on the collapse, it was more of a quest epic in the aftermath. It wasn't bad at all, entertainment wise. Not great prep wise, the only tip was on how to substitute gasoline with some auto parts store chemicals, but I was entertained and got my monies worth. Today's article was an idea from that book. I also read "A Presidential Energy Policy" by Michael Ruppert which was great and even made me tingle a little. This is basically an update on "Crossing The Rubicon". It was written last summer but he does add to the end of each chapter if needed ( the additions were February of this year ). So it is about as up to date as you are going to get. He weaves economics and peak oil together, and does a darn good job. You can ignore he Presidential Policy part, it is basically a theme for the book mainly relegated to the back of the book and can be discarded as pure wishful thinking. You can bet I will be ripping off ideas from this one left and right.
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The idea I stole for today was that of junk cars for a fence. Nothing new here, just go back and watch The Road Warrior. The part I liked was it being used to surround the farm fields. The city of Chicago shrunk its area down to a manageable size, ripped up asphalt and made a car fence around everything for defense. Yes, the novel had problems. Like the typical never ending ammunition supply. In this case, how was the sterile soil re fertilized? But that is not the point. I liked the idea of cars protecting the crops. A medieval castle or fortification enclosed a town. Building huge walls obviously took a lot of material and labor. So you had the crops outside the walls. When an enemy attacked you fled into the fortress, perhaps leading the livestock in. The only problem of course was losing the crops. This would be a more viable strategy if you had an offensive force, of course. If you had to be defensive, say for lack of soldiers, could you feasibly enclose all your crop land?
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First off, you need to forget about a vehicle only fence. That needs to be backed by dirt. If you just stack the cars on top of each other or tip them on their side, artillery is going to hit them and create shrapnel ( plus take down the wall quickly ). Dirt backing them absorbs the blast. This stuff is basic, and five centuries old. You might have problems creating ammunition for modern small arms once industry stops, but cannon is simple enough. Black powder works to take down a stationary target just fine. Of course, I have little in the way of details here. I'm just the idea guy, big picture stuff. I would suggest Civil War research. Because there is such a huge amount of interest in that conflict, books and article abound on it. And cover any subject you desire. There is sure to be plenty of reference material on siege and defensive works ( cough, cough, hint, guest article, hint, cough ).
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I would imagine that a trench is dug, then the car is tipped up on its engine end. This creates a wall to pile dirt behind. The details are how to lay this out in a defensive position. Yes, there is a lot of labor involved. But at least little in the way of other material is needed. The cars can easily be pushed by a gang of workers ( we assume this isn't twenty years later after tires have rotted ). Tipping up with pulleys, perhaps. So the main work is the trench and the dirt wall behind. Surely, every community in this country has enough cars ( SUV's pay their way here ) to create a good size defensive wall. You take out the generator and battery and leaf springs and other salvage items and use the remaining frame for shoring. What else are you going to do with all the damn things without gasoline? Ethanol will be a luxury and limited to farm equipment, no one will be able to afford personal internal combustion transportation.
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And, there is little need to surround an existing city. I would think you pick fertile land, then rebuild with city salvage. Go underground to limit your winter heat and provide ballistic protection. You might think the old school way is better, needing a lot less work. Just have a retreat structure all the farmers can go to under attack. Less walls mean less labor but also less manpower to protect. My answer is, how many times do you want to lose your crops? How much reserves do you think you'll have. Use the trash of the Industrial Age to be defensive smarter. Protect the crops. It will pay in the long run with less loss ( again, we are assuming you don't have a buffer zone protected by nomads or a offensive strategy ).
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The above article will reflect how much I love all my loyal minions by once again providing ways to protect your beets and asparagus. Please show your love by buying my crap at www.bisonpress.com .