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[w3526602]

Hi,

We were visited by a Forum member yesterday. No doubt he will identify himself, if he so wishes.

Whatever, his visit has "stirred my lions", and got me wondering about ways of getting Barbara mobile. She has only twice been outside the front door since the day before Lock-down ant then only to trundle her buggy to the pavement and back ... just a couple of minutes each time. Her major obstacle is transferring from her buggy to her bed, armchair, WC, shower chair, etc. She knows she cannot get into the back of a taxi, says she cannot get into a front passenger seat, but feels she could get into the driver's seat ... because there is a steering wheel to hang onto.

Hmmm! So fit a second (non-operational) LHD steering column and wheel (to match the operational wheel) in front of the passenger seat, or more sensibly, a purpose built struggling bar.

For those of you who haven't met Barbara, she is getting close to 80 years old, but still has most of her marbles. Her right arm (shoulder, elbow, wrist, and grip) was destroyed by a doctor at the nursing home where she was born.  (Swansea Blitz and pre-NHS). Only recently did an orthopedic (sp?) surgeon explain that he followed the correct procedure, if he had done it immediately she was born, not three days later. She learned to drive in a Sunbeam Talbot 90, on Penang Island, passed her UK test after one professional (assess and advise) lesson ... drove my S1 LWB, and my ex-Robin Rew Scimitar GTE (geared for 30mph at 1000RPM, red-lined at 6500RPM), used a Reliant Sabre 6GT (361 WYD, now a Historic racing car) as her shopping car for 9 years, and Historic Rallied her TVR Vixen.

She now has pretty severe osteo-arthritis in both knees. She cannot walk, and can barely stand, and then only if she has something to hang onto. I have to lift her right leg into bed.

The medical professionals seemed to ignore her, until an ambulance crew spent two hours extracting her from the floor between the WC and the shower screen. A District Nurse now pays a quick visit once a week, and she pays a chiropodist to visit once a month, at £20 per visit. She also pays for a team of cleaners, to blitz the bungalow once a week, at £40 a time.

My knees now hurt too, and I think it's time to apply for a Blue Badge ... not that I go anywhere.

My thoughts return to building a disabled friendly S2, new chassis and bulkhead, 14" wheels, wheel-chair ramp, etc, but now with battery power. Well, I can dream .....

How have other members dealt with similar problems?

Nil Illiegitimo Carburundum.

602

[Genem]

The wheel-chair using owner of an local Independent LR garage a bit further North had a Range Rover with a "kneeling" conversion, that dropped the entry height considerably, probably using the air-bag suspension. Its about 10 years since I've been there though so not sure of the details...

How about a "tail gate" lift as seen on many trucks, with a load-bed modded to allow rolling forward, removing the need to exit the wheelchair at all ?  Achieving passenger status should be relatively easy, modding it to allow driving another stage ? 

[Craig T]

I always fancied fitting the Range Rover air suspension system to a 90 or a 110.
Would be quite easy to achieve I reckon as the Dunlop airbags all fitted onto the standard coil spring mounts. All you need to do is add a separate damper to the front axle as it can't run up the centre of the spring as it did with the coils then mount the height sensors in each corner.

Craig.