Rebuilt Car Doors Help Wheelchair-Based Driver

Rebuilt Car Doors Help Wheelchair-Based Driver FARM HOME Cars 28-6-33 "I'm a paraplegic and needed a way to take my wheelchair with me in my car. I didn't want to spend the money for a specially-designed van so I modified my 1985 Buick Century," says Jake Loepp, Dawson Creek, British Columbia. He cut the passenger side rear door in half and moved the door post farther back, then bolted the rear half of the door permanently to the post. He picked up an extra front side passenger door from another car and cut it in half, then attached it to the Buick's front door. He attached the opener lever rod from the original front door to the opener latch on the add-on door. The car's rear seat was removed. "It's faster to get in and out of my car than it would be with a specialized van equipped with an automatic lift," says Loepp. "I just slip into the front seat, then fold up the wheelchair and put it into the open back seat area. Then I shut the front door, slide over to the driver's seat, and drive away. "The entire project took about two days to build. I modified doors on the passenger side instead of the driver's side because I don't want to be in traffic when I get on and off the wheelchair. "The car's original front door was left intact, so none of the glass in that door had to be modified. However, I did have to find a piece of glass to fit the add-on half door." Loepp says that when he was first injured in 1966, the doors on 2-door cars were big enough that you could put the wheelchair behind the front seat by just folding the seat back. Later models are too small for that. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jake Loepp, Rt. 2, Site 2, Comp 3, Dawson Creek, B.C., Canada V1G 4E8 (ph 250 782-7262).

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