Cars in the Apocalypse? We’ve Been Lied To!

For one reason or another, human beings have a strange and long held obsession with zombies and the apocalypse. I’m not exactly sure what that obsession says about humanity, but nevertheless, we can all agree that an obsession clearly exists.

Countless movies and TV shows have been made about trying to stay alive in a zombie-ridden post-apocalyptic society, and we at FIXD noticed pretty quickly that there is one overarching plot point that exists in almost EVERY. SINGLE. ONE of them. Perhaps this is a trait that might go overlooked by many, but certainly not to all of us automotive experts here at FIXD! What we noticed was that in every zombie movie, somehow, the main characters always have access to working cars and fuel.

In AMC’s hit show The Walking Dead, Rick Grimes wakes up from a medically induced coma to find the zombie apocalypse upon him. He stumbles around the town for a majority of the first episode, before finally grabbing a car from the police station he worked at (pre-apocalypse of course), and heads off to find his family.

Very early on in the show we see that finding cars is central to how the survivors, well, survive. As we all know, cars need maintenance, fuel, and a general know-how. Luckily, the show explains pretty early on that the character Dale (RIP) can apparently work proficiently with cars. This comes in handy when a radiator hose breaks in their old-timey RV, and the gang is tasked to “find one in the area”.Now, this would be nearly impossible. For the 1973 Winnebago Chieftan, there is a very specific molded radiator hose, one that is specifically made for that car. Now perhaps in this instance MAYBE they would’ve been able to patch it.

We were thinking cars could be feasible until someone from our development team said something that ruins the entire concept of all cars in ANY post-apocalyptic world. FUEL GOES BAD.

As a general consensus (and agreed with by google), gas, in a vehicle, lasts about 30 days. There are technically fuel stabilizers that might help it last a little longer, and if stored in a proper fuel container with a fuel stabilizer the gas could last anywhere from 6 to 8 months. But most claim that after a year this fuel is unusable. Now, there have been reports on the internet of some magic fuel being used after 2 years of storage. That’s pretty hard to believe, but so are zombies – so we will let this idea be suspended for a while. But that still begs the question, would there be ANY fuel left that’s properly stored? In the UK in March of 2012 the fuel delivery men went on strike & fuel ran out at the stations in just 2 days. There was mention that if they hadn’t panicked, fuel would have lasted up to 4 days. So let’s give the writers of The Walking Dead the benefit of the doubt and say they had 4 days of fuel left in those stations before they were emptied.

Well we did some digging, and Rick was by himself in a coma for roughly 30 days. By the time they get to the CDC in season one it’s been 194 days since the outbreak and 63 days since it went global. With this information, we can safely say that there would be little to no way that number 1) any gas would be left, and number 2) that any gas left would have certainly gone bad.

So, to summarize, every zombie, post-apocalyptic, TV show or film showing characters driving around somehow avoiding the living dead in their old-timey RVs and Hyundai Sonatas has lied to you! Why do you do this to us Walking Dead writers?!? We’ve been loyal to you for so long and stood by you through so many ups and downs!