Read [or reread] “Damnation Alley” by Roger Zelazny. You could argue that it’s the original ‘punk’ science fiction novel. A hard bitten Hell’s Angel is chosen to drive across the post-atomic wasteland to deliver a life giving serum to the last city on the East Coast.

When I think about it, I decide that the Atomic War took place circa 1970 and keep all the background details in that era.