Special Laser for disabled

Press, 25 May 1984, Page 9

Special Laser for disabled

A Napier coachbuilding firm is offering a conversion on the four-door Ford Laser hatchback which enables a disabled driver to carry a wheelchair and load and unload it from the car without difficulty. The conversion, which is done by R. E. J. Kite, Ltd, for $3OOO, involves fitting a bottom-hinged wheelchair cradle, which is raised and lowered electrically. The disabled driver first

manoeuvres him or herself into the driver’s seat from the chair and then collapses the chair in the normal manner before pushing it on to the lowered cradle. By operating a switch the driver raises the chair on the cradle into the car's rear compartment from which the seat cushion has been removed. The cradle and chair are locked in position. When the driver wishes to

alight from the car, the procedure is simply reversed. Apart from the installation of the electrical mech- _ i™™ amsm to the cradle, the conversion broadly comprises the removal of the right-hand rear door and the substitution of a panel at the trailing edge of the aperture and the cradle at the lead-

ing edge. The panel and the cradle are formed in the shape of the side of the car. The major advantage associated with the Kite conversion is that the car can f je conver ted back to standar{j without difficulty. All that is required is the rehanging of the original door and the refitting of the rear SPa L once the panel and the cradle have been removed.