Muscle Machines

A fan-favorite muscle machine has always been Monster Trucks. The legendary Big Foot, giant-tyre pick-up truck on wheels fit only for heavy haul construction vehicles has been an arena spectator sport for quite a while. We look at the movie Monster Trucks and look at the culture behind the love for big pick-up trucks with giant wheels. Monster Trucks is a coming-of-age movie about a biy who befriends a monster who feeds on crude oil or gasoline and powers his scrapheap Monster Truck as its lving engine.

With the Philippines going all out to find alternative non-western trade partners, we can take a look at Russian train makers and see if we can get a great deal out of having a local train or national rail service upgraded and improved using Russian train technology and engineering. Russian Railways has been managing a contnental train service for almost a century and its pedigree as a railway maker and passenger and freight train builder is world renowned.

With President Duterte's push for exploring trade ties with our closer geographic neighbors, let's look at KAMAZ, one of the world's renowned builders of heavy trucks in the world. KAMAZ has won the Paris to Dakar international endurance rally for 13 times now as of 2015. The company has invested in upgrading the brand by sourcing its heavy truck engines from Cummins. A future Filipino relationship with trade partner Russia may be more fruitful than the ties with the U.S. which are now fraying because of underwhelming economic and technical support from a once staunch ally.

Having a reliable mountain bike is better if you can attach a sweet bike camper to tow along on your long out-of-town trips. Bring more good stuff than can fit on a messenger bag and sleep in a cabin caravan or a tent mounted on top of your bike camper. As a survival vehicle, a bike camper is also a neat trick even if it stands out like sore thumb. Rickshaws, tuk-tuk bikes and tricycles may be ubquitous for motorized cargo bikes or passenger vehicles, but a mountain bike towing a camper is a sweet deal for downtime in safe secluded areas like nature parks.

Custom built trailer rigs with built storage units containing outdoor cooking systems, water filtration and cisterns as well as complete survival gear packd in are worth more than just overland adventure and camping trip convenience. Trailer systems might be the most ideal and unobtrusive survival rig you can get for your vehicle to get it ready for a bug out situation. Survival trailer tubs have evolved from the seeming two-wheeled, wheelbarrow cab bed used by the U.S. Army to multi-compartment, modular storage systems that can house sleeping quarters, a fridge and even be equipped with solar panel racks.

Most small and medium scale family businesses need a small cargo utility vehicle that can haul stuff from home to market or do door-to-door delivery. Given budget constraints, an AUV might be exactly what a small family business needs. If you really need a workhorse vehicle for your family business, a budget AUV, can even last for 10 years or more given proper vehicle care and maintenance. It even doubles as a bug-out vehicle! or an emergency vehicle.

Forget the gridlock traffic that is a permanent fixture of 'progress.' Airships or balloon-type hybrid aircraft are now a safer vehicle technology for freight cargo delivery, passenger ferrying, as well as for monitoring, surveillance and other important data gathering missions usually assigned to airplanes and choppers. Expect hybrid airships going around starting in 2018 as FAA guidelines allow for balloon ships to officially fly the skies.

Bikes that look old, tired and packed with saddlebags are now the hottest look for adventure riding and even for showboating. We take a look at one underrated motorcycle trend that has purists scratching their heads in disbelief. Who the grunge would choose a grouchy looking, rude motorcycle over chrome and sexy paint jobs? Them Rat Bike hobbyists, of course.

We got new armored troop carriers wth modern, remote controlled, overhead weapon turrets. Want to know how tough we are at protecting our own from threats within and without? The Philippine Armed Forces modernization program has taken a new stride by getting smartl upgraded and modern APCs from Israel's Elbit Systems.

Long a workhorse of Asian small scale businesses, the cargo bike has become one of the most popular means of delivering packages within short distances insde cities and towns. In Asia, they are known as Rickshaws--pedal powered or man-pulled wheelbarrows or traysikads, a bicycle with a sidecar attachment. In the West, cargo bike designers rig a cargo hold in front of the handlebars and right behind the front wheel or as extended rear bike cargo holds. For creating thriving biking communities for a green future, cargo bikes are a trend that will never go out of style..

Oshkosh Corp won the U.S. Defense Department contract for a NEW armored troop transport J-LTV that will replace the vulnerable and aging Hummer fleet of the Army and Marines. Check out the J-LTV and hope that the manufacturer' be allowed to make a civvie version or a premium luxury limited edition for SUV and truck enthusiasts to drool over.

Aside from specialist makes of luxury armored vehicles, there are niche manufactureres who customize almost any make of SUV or truck and convert it into a new, luxury armored vehicle. In the 90s or so, owning a prestigious sports supercar was every young man's wet dream. In the Gundam Century, we'd like to own a nice armored luxury 'tank' truck if you could please? And namel it 'Ironhide.' Here's a look at custom built luxury-survival, armored SUV trucks.

We encounter disasters almost yearly in every place in the world. If one hits your place, having a reliable EVAC vehicle like a survival truck might be more than just being one of those 'pimp my ride' show-offs. Your lives might be at stake if you are NOT prepared to LEAVE an extreme situation. Check out some rigs that even celebrities are having a hard-on for.

One of the food service ideas whose time has just arrived, is the Food Truck business offering brand name fast food service options. Overseas, this idea is as old as the 80s but it has only caught on recently with local entrepreneurs investing in vans retrofitted for food service equipment. Check out what you might need if you want to invest in the Food Truck business...

People always try to be prepared for emergencies. The need to evacuate from a place might require more than just your family car. Here is a look at the kinds of Bug-Out vehicles available out there and what else you need to hightail it out of ground zero (an extreme situation forcing you to leave your home).

The cult favorite Norwegian cartoon jalopy, Il Tempo Gigante has been made into a custom bespoke showcar. One inspiring artiste masterpiece for other muscle machine builders.

For brand cachet overpower. For being extreme, uncompromising and crazy Italian macho (as opposed to the refined Italian sexy of Ferrari). For the mecha-cockpit style, scissor doors no other marquee can imitate without looking ridiculuous. Every young man's wet dream is a Lamborghini supercar.