Wheelchair Accessible Project Ideas

Well ladies and gentlemen, my son and I are in the market of a new project. As some of you all may know my 14 year old son is in a wheelchair due to Muscular Dystrophy. He has very limited mobility and as a result of the regression of his health he is permanently confined to his wheelchair....this means that we can no longer transfer him to a seat in a hot rod or any car for that matter.
We want to buy something that can be modified for a ramp or wheelchair lift so we can all ride to shows and rod runs together.
We recently saw an episode of My Classic Car where there was a '60-'66 suburban at the Hunnert Care Pileup that was wheelchair equiped.
We are hoping some of you all might have some pics of some w/c rides or even some ideas we can work with.

Thanks, TD and The Goon

 

A mid 60's cargo or passenger van like an Econoline or A100. Maybe a Corvair 95 Rampside P/U?

 

There's a woman here in LB who for years has been tooling around town in a Yamaha 250(?) scooter powered three wheeler trike that her wheelchair rolls onto a platform from the rear vetween the two rear wheels. The engine and drive wheel is on just one side of the chairpit area.
I just thought it was a cool sit in trike for a long time till one day I saw her rolling her whole chair out the rear at a local market.

Ideas:
Years ago Harry Bradley did some concept drawings of a 49 Merc with no doors and a trunk entrance for passengers. I could see making that with a Gene Winfield glass Merc bodies, with front wheel drive and a rear entrance ramp for a wheel chair.
Maybe a Ranchero/El Camino type vehicle converted to FWD so the whole floor could be lowered and rear axle done away with?

Or a really low Model T "C" cab with rear entrance with Corvair engine and transaxle in front with FWD?
T buckets with corvair engines were done in the 60's.

Hope some of this helps.

 

any panel or suburban would work.

any van.

 

i saw that thing in person at the Pile Up. VERY cool indeed. and very well built and thought out by the looks of it. good luck with your hunt. let us know what you come up with. i'd be curious to see.

 

I saw a feature in a rod magazine 10-12 years ago of a wheelchair accessible '40's panel truck. The rear doors were welded together and converted to a drop-down ramp.

Ya might also take a look at old ambulances, one of them would make an easy conversion.

 

i think that suburban is with the road rockets or blacktop bandits in indy. anybody know for sure?

 

there is a guy up here who has a 40's Lincoln ,that wheel chair accessable to the driver..hand controls the whole deal..looks stock till the door opens..drivers seat swivels and drops to the ground with hydraulics.
A real trick piece.. hope you find a good project.
1939fiat

 

For a short time I owned a 50 GMC Panel Van (3/4 - 1 ton). It had all the good looks of an old panel with enormous size. I don't see why you couldn't make the back door(s) into a nice long fold down ramp. It was high enough inside that I (6' 10") could get around without contorting myself into strange shapes, so I don't see why someone in a seated position couldn't achieve the same results. Good luck, and let us know what you decide.

 

I wish you were in Florida...I would help you build it! What a great way for you two to have some long lasting fun together! Let us know as you go! Wish more dads were as cool as you!

 

A corvair pickup with the back cut out of the cab would be awsome. It would almost be like a roadster with a huge windshield. The passenger seat could be removed and replace with a catch for his wheel chair. He could go up the ramp and right into his spot for the ride. A removeable cover coud be made for the cold travels just like a toneau cover.

I think this is a great idea and commend you and your son for wanting to continue enjoying what you love together no matter what the circumstances may be.

Have fun and I wish you the best finding and completeing a project!

 

texasdeuce,
if you used a tornado, or another, frontdrive motor/transaxle unit, you could make the floor very low and flat. with front drive no rear diff, so you could use a dropped axle in the rear, and make the rear of the car "kneel". some sort of air or hydrolic rear suspension would do the trick. check with a handicapped van shop on how they do it. this idea could be used on any mid to late 30s sedan, and later panels, subs and etc. then just figure a way to make the rear of the car/truck open up so you can just roll the wheelchair in.
good luck,
dan
p.s. my dad was in a wheelchair for 17 years

 

Here is the link to the accessible Burb from Indiana: http://craigwilderman.com/ Some radical fabricating for this one though. Many people have used panels for their accessibility.

 

Wow! I've gotten some very innovative ideas from everyone who posted thank you for the feed back, advice and encouragement.

We were also thinking about a suburban or carry all modification. We currently have a tired 90s Ford Econoline van but we want something we can travel in together.

The Craig Wilderman ride is really sweet but probably too much for our budget.

But we gotta start somewhere. Please keep the ideas coming. I'll place an add in the Wanted section for a suburban/carryall. We are not too picky we can work with anything we buy. My son is a true Kustom fanatic so I'm sure he can come up with some pretty good ideas.

By the way if you look at the Craig Wilderman video my son has pretty much the same wheelchair set up as Craig, so we will probably try to go with the same set up.

thanks again TD and The Goon

 

I can measure my 1950 Suburban if you need, but I think it may be a bit small in back for easy access. A later one seems bigger. PM me so I see the message.
It would be cool if he could remotely drop the rear door/ramp unit and roll right in, strap his chair to some floor latches and go. I've seen it done.
Air bagging it would help entry/exit as well.

 

How about an old Divco truck with a fold down back door ramp system that other Hambers mentioned above.

Someone mentioned also about a trike. I believe Inkoret(spelling?) on the board here built one so his wife could go for bike rides with him.

 

I think you have the wrong guy there. Inkorekt is the correct spelling.

 

I used to have a 57 Chev panel that had been a drycleaners delivery truck.
It came with only the drivers seat and had room on the passenger side to fit an overstuffed easy chair on the passenger side. With the barn doors on the back one of those would be easy to set up with a wheel chair lift in the back.
A suburban might be more comfortable if you have a third person going along with the extra windows.

 

i think the bread truck is a great idea, i know you need room for more than just the chair, extra interior space would be great...

currently available!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2-Divco-Milk-Trucks_W0QQitemZ300216107208QQcmdZViewItem

and...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/964-DIVCO-Milk-Truck_W0QQitemZ300215145103QQcmdZViewItem

 

a 50's stepthrough van or delivery truck would be cool IMO. similar to the style of that Frankenford cabover that was at roundup, sans the rattiness.

at least thats what i am picturing in my head.

 

You're right, I've got the wrong Hamber and I don't have a clue who it is now. For some reason his name popped into my head.

 

small picture, but this is what came to mind. something with heavy duty axles, 10 lug wheels, and maybe a diesel.



or a 1/2 - 3/4 ton

 

The bread trucks look really cool.

I'm still freaking out with the Craig Wilderman ride. I was on his website and reading his bio kinda sounds like I'm reading about my son.

I'm gonna run these ideas through with him afterschool today and if I know him he is going to go with the 'burban.

I remember some time back he mentioned he would like an Anglia....we'll see.

Thanks for the ideas guys. TD

keep them coming.

 

Here is Craig's myspace page for the truck too. http://www.myspace.com/84193230

Send him an email. He's a great guy and he would be super stoked to help in anyway he can.

 

Hey Django,

I just got off the phone with Craig. He is one cool guy. We talked for a while and he gave me some pretty good advice. He has some great ideas. I'll be bugging him for sure.

TD

 

The milk truck idea is cool ... what about a small converted school bus from the 40's? I've seen some of those rodded out and they are just plain MEAN.

 

Corvair also made vans as well, I would think you could rework the floor in one of them. The pickups had gates that folded down from the side to make a ramp, somehow you could rework the side of the van to do the same. Most of the old cabover type vans have too big of a hump in the middle to work around. I suppose it all depends on if you want to make the vehicle perform so that the driver is self sufficent, or if someone has to be there to hand the chair off to.

It seems to me that most of the 30's model stuff has too small of a cab to easily pass a chair through. I have a 36 Dodge humpback Panel truck that it may be feasable to enter through the rear to the driver's seat much like Craig's 'burban. I just saw a decent one of those on the 'bay not too long ago.

A 30's pickup with some sort of a crane in the front of the bed may be the easiest way to handle the chair after entering the driver's seat.


Inkorekt isn't the one you are looking for for the trike, he can barely get laid let alone get married. ha ha ha He built the underslung T. Soon the chicks will be lining up to show him their "bathing suit area" so they can get a ride. ha ha ha

 

I agree...those look tough when done right.

 

'barely get laid'? johnny sparkle practically oozes sex appeall!

 

This is a older post about the same thing your talking about doing. (His words~~>) Greg is an incomplete quadriplegic, which means his spinal cord is injured—not severed. He has regained some use of his hands and arms and, in spite of this disability, has worked as a professional artist for over 25 years. He had a 37 Ford Sedan that some friends built for him that uses a FWD Ford V6 mtr & suspension. I met him years ago at a car show, really a nice guy. If you want info on it you should be able to contact him about who the car was built.