Disabled Friendly Muscle Cars

By Dave Ashton

The automobile was invented so anybody could take advantage of this mechanical machine to go where they wanted, when they wanted. This included the average runabout to the most high-performance vehicle. But what happens if you have a physical disability and you simply can’t use some of the regular ways to drive a car?

For many years cars have been adapted so that the foot controls, brakes and accelerators mostly could be used via a lever on the steering column. Other adaptions for engaging things like the clutch on a manual transmission were done via a lever on the steering column, which could be pulled to engage the clutch.

The automatic gearbox is very disabled friendly to those with physical disabilities as that side of things is taken care of and the driver only has to concentrate on breaking and accelerating, which is usually done via a lever again on the steering column. Pushed to break and pulled to accelerate. As technology gets more advanced, even with autonomous driving vehicles will become ever more accessible to those with physical disabilities. If these mechanisms can be fitted to a regular vehicle, then why not a muscle car?

We have highlighted in the past a few of our readers who have had their muscle cars adapted with controls for their own specific disabilities. They work and have been tried and tested for many years, but the main barrier to acquiring the kit you need to adapt a vehicles like many things in life, cost.

It’s possible to buy vehicles on the second-hand market which already have hand controls, but it’s far rarer to be able to buy a performance vehicle with the same adaptions. Second-hand kit is usually hard to come by as the hand controls are usually built specifically for each vehicle. Therefore, each vehicle is usually adapted individually with new parts.

The UK has a great scheme with Motability which helps pay for vehicle adaptions in part or whole, but what happens if you have a muscle car or any other performance vehicle? Usually it’s down to self funding. Luckily, the Internet can help enormously with things like crowdfunding websites and social media which can help raise funds, especially if there is a good project behind the adaptions.

One high-profile story which is raising awareness about this area is from Nic Hamilton, the brother of F1 driver Lewis Hamilton who has cerebral palsy. He is now competing in the British Touring Car Championship, made possible with the adaptions to his vehicle.

We have had the technology for quite some time for anybody with a physical disability to drive more or less any type of vehicle. The only real barrier now to access these adaptions is the funding. Therefore, please use the comments section below, our Facebook page or basically any other social media channel you can to spread awareness to raise funds for your own adapted muscle car. It would also be great to hear more about your own projects and your story behind your own vehicle.

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