Economy of Steel

Heres a rub for ya - the end of the 2050s is gonna look like the end of the 1950s. Its the economy of steel my friend.

Very few people are pumping oil, so plastics are out. Nano materials are special labs, with a lot of electricity rearranging things on a tiny level. Wood doesn't work so well in most applications - not enough strength to keep out reanimates, too much effort to cut it down and saw it out. Ceramics are great, but do you know the micro-ingredients that differentiate body armor from flower pot? Nope.

Trade away lightness, absorbancy, and flexibility - but you still have strength, and boy do you have abundance.

A truck leaf-spring can be made into a very fine knife, and you can barely go three miles down a highway without finding some abandoned vehicles. Besides that, its good for everything from cooking pots to k-pots - that's combat helmets by the way.

Its not just the materials science though. People are working hard to re-invent the carburetor engine, because unburnt computer chips are hard to find. Silicon, Silicon everywhere and not a transistor to think.

I think fins should be in too. The whole point of the 50's "higher the fins, closer to god" mentality was to emulate supersonic jets and rockets - a sign of the times. We need a few reminders of our greatness.