Here's something you dont see every day.

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Cope

Fusing with fire
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San Jose, Ca.
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I wasn't here when the car came in and went to move it and did a double take. I'm like WTF is this? I had to call my pops and ask him how the hell to drive this.

The other day a guy came by with a wheel chair that he wanted modified. It was a realy fancy one. He said he was giving it to an 11 year old girl that need a better wheel chair. After hearing that I had my guy rebuild the foot rest on it (on my dime) and called him. He picked it up and mentioned he had a car that needed some work.

Looks like he brought his car in.
 
there was a guy around here, friend of a friend, with a bad *** 68' or 9' charger when i was in high school. had the same type of set up. street raced the the heck out of it
 
Its amazing what people can do. I spoke with him today and I guess he was talking to pops, my climbing came up and dude is also a climber. He wants to hit the climbing gym!

For those who haven't seen it before, that car is set up with hand controls. The owner is in a wheel chair. He throws the chair in the trunk and "walks" around the car on his hands, then climbs in and drives that *****!
 
A neighboring farmer to me years ago had a set up like that put in his pickup truck after he lost his legs in a corn picker accident.
 
Old friend Ralph Thibideau(RIP) was in a wheel chair from a car accident. Absolute Mopar fanatic. Had a setup like that in a 70 GTX, lime green. Loved that car.
RIP Ralph.
PS in Lindsay Sports Hall of Fame for archery. Deadly.
 
I always make it a point to give a friendly hello to someone in a wheelchair. Not avoiding or looking over or looking past. A good old fashion "hello". I wouldn't want to have a disability and have people treat me anything other than the way they treat me this very minute...
 
Back in the seventies we had a customer with a similar set up. He drove a big Cadillac and could hop from his wheelchair to the driver's seat and fold the chair up and put it behind his seat. He pumped his own gas. We treated him like every other customer and didn't expect anything more. We could still pull his car in for service using the regular pedals but we all took a try with the hand controls.
 
Famoso Raceway staging lanes there sits a nice lookin' '68 Camaro, nothing outrageous. The closer I look the more I see. Caged, extensive suspension work, real sticky MTs on Cragars, 10.50 in shoe polish on the windshield, I look inside it has hand controls :wtf: now this has my attention. Come by a little later the owner is there in his wheel chair, 20sumthin' year old. We talked for quite a while. "Wednesday nights on Van Nuys Blvd, I make my living with this little hot rod." he says. :lol:
 
About 10 years ago, I tore up both my knees and spent 6 weeks in a wheelchair, 6 weeks with a walker and a year using a cane.

I learned a lot about myself...and even more about other people.

People with a disability are just like everyone else. They want to live their life enjoying all the things they want to do and not let the disability get in their way.

Most of all, they just want to be treated like everyone else...with courtesy, respect and common decency. Nothing more.
 
Actually, I do see it everyday. Every day I get in my vehicle to drive I see my hand controls. Been paralyzed from the stomach down for 31 years. Might slow me down but it doesn't stop me. This is just one of my fun vehicles, but of course my daily driver has hand controls on it as well. My drag car used to have hand controls to. All of them.

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Because this guy is such a good guy and help folks out all the time. we decided to just make him some door panels. (There was nothing here before) my buddy Anson (in the pic) did the bead rolling, pops did the lay out and I did the rust repair.

Pay it forward right?

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I hate to say it but he may be better than me. His one line is a little heavy but the rest is DAM good.

The owner came and picked up the car today just expecting the rust repair and when he opened the door said, "WHAT THE FU@K?" He couldn't have been any happier.

It was good practice for Anson, makes us look good and made a very happy customer. So it's a win,win,win in my book.
 
That looks so good. That is a very cool car.
Actually, I do see it everyday. Every day I get in my vehicle to drive I see my hand controls. Been paralyzed from the stomach down for 31 years. Might slow me down but it doesn't stop me. This is just one of my fun vehicles, but of course my daily driver has hand controls on it as well. My drag car used to have hand controls to. All of them.

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That's a beautiful barracuda!
 
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I wasn't here when the car came in and went to move it and did a double take. I'm like WTF is this? I had to call my pops and ask him how the hell to drive this.

The other day a guy came by with a wheel chair that he wanted modified. It was a realy fancy one. He said he was giving it to an 11 year old girl that need a better wheel chair. After hearing that I had my guy rebuild the foot rest on it (on my dime) and called him. He picked it up and mentioned he had a car that needed some work.

Looks like he brought his car in.
I want to pay my respect to you for doing a gesture beyond the call of duty.
 
I trained in drivers ed on a Pinto with the throttle/brake setup like that. It is great to see people that continue life and dont let anything hold them back. Because of this I try not to complain when I hurt because I have 4 limbs that I can use even though 1 had to be reattached 3 years ago.
 
Childhood friend had Polio but could walk with braces and Crutches. He had a setup like that in his 64 Chevelle SS. Used to race the piss outta that car. Quite a guy,when he got drunk he would lock his braces and throw his crutches down while leaning against a wall. RIP Tom
 
I worked a small repair shop when I was young, and we did alot of work for local car dealers.
One day I had to take the hand controls out of a Ford and put them in a Chevy.
This was pre-internet, and no instructions.
It actually was not that bad because I was so scared I would screw something up and get somebody hurt.
I really paid attention, and they worked fine.
 
Was a young kid sitting on a corner resting from a hard ride on my dirt bike when a car full of older guys come pulling up along side me and the guy in the back seat gave me a smile and ask if I would give him a ride. Yes I will so he jumped out the window and had no legs and was on the back of my bike so fast I couldn't believe it.
Drove him around for a bit then let him ride it while I worked the shiftier and break. He rode my bike for about an hour and he had a great time so did I.
 
Was a young kid sitting on a corner resting from a hard ride on my dirt bike when a car full of older guys come pulling up along side me and the guy in the back seat gave me a smile and ask if I would give him a ride. Yes I will so he jumped out the window and had no legs and was on the back of my bike so fast I couldn't believe it.
Drove him around for a bit then let him ride it while I worked the shiftier and break. He rode my bike for about an hour and he had a great time so did I.
Well my hand controls are to be here tomorrow the 22nd from a very generous man who has a YouTube channel called Totally Normal. He donated them to help out our cause. So if one day you find yourself on YouTube look him up or at least if nothing else drop a line saying thanks for paying it forward for the Wheels for a Cause project.
 
Well my hand controls are to be here tomorrow the 22nd from a very generous man who has a YouTube channel called Totally Normal. He donated them to help out our cause. So if one day you find yourself on YouTube look him up or at least if nothing else drop a line saying thanks for paying it forward for the Wheels for a Cause project.
I can do that...
 
Well got my hand controls installed in my 1970 dart. A huge shout out to Totally Normal on YouTube for helping me with our project.

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