Little GTO, you're really lookin' fine
Three deuces and a four-speed and a 389
Listen to her tachin' up now, listen to her why-ee-eye-ine
C'mon and turn it on, wind it up, blow it out GTO…

Okay … so this may be a little before your time, but …

Ever noticed how a crowd seems to gather around a classic car when it drives up? (And no, it’s not because there’d hot looking dude driving it!)

Muscle cars, like the GTO, Chevelle SS, Road Runner, Mustang Mach I, were built solid.  I mean, just about everything in the car was made of a metal.  Today, cars are made up of a bunch of useless pieces of plastic or some sort of plastic composite.

May moons ago, I found this out the hard way when someone backed into the front of my high-end car.  As I got out of the car to examine the damage, I thought to myself, 'I sure hope this guy didn't bend the front grill.'  He didn't.  He totally smashed the daylights out of it.  It was plastic!  Plastic painted to look like chrome.  That is when I realized, they don’t make cars like they use to.  Now what you get is genuine plastic burl wood trim, genuine vinyl leather-looking seats and, of course the plastic dashboard and vents.

After plastic came the computer (and sensors).  As a little history lesson, (groan) around or about 1975, cars started coming out with these new fang dangled sensors.  Now, every time something lights up on your dashboard indicating a problem, you take it in for service.  The car is hooked up to a diagnostic machine and read.  Then, presto! $300 and four hours later you drive off your car fixed.

Think about this.  What can you do without your computer at work?  Not much right?  Or at home for that matter.  Same holds true for your car now too.  If the computer doesn’t work, the car doesn’t work.

So say, heaven forbid, some third world country gets a bug up their fanny or, some foreign terrorist decides to be a hero and propel himself and a nuclear warhead way up into the atmosphere (about 200 miles high) and detonate the weapon, causing an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) over the United States, or at least the majority of it, totally wiping out the power grid and communications.  Including - all electronic ignition vehicles.

This is my thought.  Maybe we need to start taking a closer look at those pre-1975 oldie but goodie cars, and not put so much faith in their electronic (computer) ignition cousins?

Pre-1975 cars had carburetors, then moved on to the electronic ignition (but not computerized, in the mid 1980s, and finally, by the late 1980’s, fuel injection, electronically controlled carburetors and a rudimentary computer control system were the norm.  Which to tell you the truth … I haven’t a clue what all that means except now our cars all have computers in them.

Now, take the scenario of the EMP strike.  Chances are your car’s entire electrical system will be totally fried AND the entire power grid for the majority of our county as well!

EMP conducts (travels) through lines of metal …that means antennas on houses, telephone lines, and power lines (above and below ground).  See where I’m going?  Think lines and the EMP it’s gonna zap it.   Any metal in a line.

Look around you.  What do you see?  Fences, pipes, tracks, sprinkler lines … all metal.

Okay, okay, you’re probably thinking … well if there is no power why do I need a vehicle?  Answer.  To get-outta-dodge.  You do NOT want to be caught in a situation where there is no power.  You need a reliable vehicle to get you to your safe retreat or a safe retreat as quickly as possible BEFORE others realize what is happening.

So, my advice to you is, unless you were the winner of the lottery, inherited a bunch of money or are independently wealthy (did I cover everything?), and can afford to convert your car to EMP-hardened electronics (inserting a metal shield), you might be better suited to sell your car and buy an older mechanical diesel or gas vehicle.   Do some research!

Again, think on it.  As an alternative, you may want to keep your old faithful, and opt to buy a second car.  Again, do your research and see what’s out there pre-1975.

Plus, think of all the attention a muscle car would attract with a girl driving it!! Just sayin'.

- Survivor Jane

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