My Apocalypse Truck!

I will start by saying nothing more than to refer you to this article from Car & Driver.

Did you read it?

If you are a guy then you are convinced that this thing is the COOLEST THING EVER!!! I could imagine myself crashing through the forest taking out small trees (and maybe some large ones) in the name of getting my game! This is like a camping trip in a truck! Never have to unload the thing, just go. And then I got to the price tag. $340,000 is a bit steep for me. But I am not deterred.

I have been dreaming about this thing all night and I think I have come up with a plan to build my own. Of course this would involve a ton of trial and error. And I would probably end up spending about $340,000 after all is said and done, but at least it would be spread out over time.

First off I would need a frame. Obviously a large one. Since I am no engineer (besides an audio engineer) I would have to start with one that already exists. Or as I think of it, two. My father drives a '92 Ford F-350 dually (four wheels on the rear axle). I think I would need two of these frames and weld them together with substantial overlap in the middle. This beast needs to be 20 feet long. I need to practice welding.

Second I would use a boat as the body of the truck. I would have to get inside the body of the boat and reinforce it somehow depending on what model of boat I buy. I would use a boat because:
1) fiberglass is lightweight and the boat is already built to support itself
2) I want to make this thing amphibious
I could put plates of steel around the outside of the truck body once the boat is satisfactorily in place. I would replace all the wood inside the boat with more steel. I could also use the boat trailer (won't need it anymore anyway) as a source of steel to put in places around the vehicle to make it stronger and look cleaner.

The builder in the article uses a big block GM motor to power his. I would use a medium sized diesel motor. Likely a Cummins because I am familiar and comfortable with those ones. The transmission this builder uses from Allison, is designed to be hooked up to a diesel motor anyway so that would be all set. I'm not sure yet how I will take a drive line through the bottom of the boat to power both wheels and a propeller for amphibious use, but I will find a way. I also need to figure out how to make the boat more buoyant because it is going to have to keep a lot more stuff floating than it was originally designed to do.

I like how tall this truck is, I will keep the height by building just like he did using ideas from monster trucks. The wheelbase will have to be wide, but I want to drive mine on highways and city streets so it has to fit in the lane size. Shouldn't be too much trouble, military trucks fit in the lanes and they are about as wide as I'm going for.

I would use canopy from the military surplus store for the overhead canopy. I would design mine to roll down and fasten on the sides so it would be an enclosed tent for rainy nights. I might go junkyard shopping and take several roll bars from jeeps to build my canopy.

I don't yet know how I'm going to build the staircase on the back. I think the hydraulic lifted one would be awesome! But maybe an electric one would be easier. Or maybe keep it manual. I would of course keep all the creature comforts listed in this article, as well as the gun racks, gun rests, and the crane on the back. I would possibly add a fish finder to it. And it would need a snorkel as well. So when the apocalypse happens, I will have the funnest truck around!