Hand controls used by anyone here?

[thomas93254]

While i'm new to the forum I'm not to the world of cars, but a few years ago I lost my right leg due to M.R.S.A. I have a "cheater" throttle right now and gas with my right hand and brake with my left foot. I'm now getting to the point where I need to use hand controls to keep the people around me safe as the feeling in my left foot is gone so I can't feel the brake pedal any more. So the Coronet will be set up with hand controls as soon as it gets tuned correctly so I can drive it. Any one else here use hand controls at all?

Thomas

 

[Big Bad Dad]

I do not, but I remember a local guy from years ago. This was mid seventies, and he has since passed away. He was a big time Mopar muscle guy. He lost both legs below the knees in Viet Nam, and used hand controls. I remember seeing him come out one night on the street in his 65 Plymouth 426 car. He did a burnout, and a wheels up launch down the road. A couple minutes later, he came back by the gas station where I was hanging out, rounded the curve in a drift and hauled *** back down the side road to his shop. Few seconds later, a cop car rounded the curve after him. He did NOT get caught! LOL He was pretty good with them hand controls!

 

[monsterflake]

my first experience with hand controls was as teenager. one of the kids i knew would take his dad's 318 powered dart to the white castle. he'd use the hand control brake to hold the car while he roasted the tire.

i use hand controls now, due to a spinal cord injury. i have a 64 pontiac catalina 2+2, my hand controls have a b&m shift knob with a momentary contact button (for roll control or nitrous) hooked up to the horn. that way, i don't have to let go of the handle to honk.

if you're able to keep your balance, using hand controls will allow you to drive as aggressively as you need to. drag racing's a piece of cake, autocross or road course tracks might be more of a challenge, but certainly doable.

(man, i need to vacuum my car)

 

[thomas93254]

That looks like the setup I bought. Can you take a few more pics of the steering column mount and the pedals please so I can see how yours is set up? .

BTW I love the early poncho's. My dream car is 64-65 GTO. came close once with a 66 Tempest (6 cylinder with a 4 bbl and 3 speed tranny)

Thanks
Thomas

 

[monsterflake]

very hard to see in this, but there's a clamp that goes around the column which supports and aligns the whole setup.

there are 2 stainless rods with clevis ends that attach to the brake arm (NOT THE PEDAL) and the throttle arm. the further up the arm, the shorter the travel on the hand control.

the clevis ends attach to two very simple brackets that sandwich the brake arm and throttle arm. make sure they're tight, you don't want those to slip!

it may be best to have a professional shop do it, because despite the cost, it's a pretty important mod.

 

[thomas93254]

That's what I was planning but wondering how they would install it and if there was cutting etc.

Thanks
Thomas

 

[68gtx]

That's what I was planning but wondering how they would install it and if there was cutting etc.

Thanks
Thomas

I have installed a few sets of hand controls in newer vehicles, nothing near as old as we are talking about on this forum,, the issue with new vehicles usually is getting at the column to mount the controls as new vehicles have so much plastic around the dash / lower column area, in something like the cars we are talking about here should be pretty straight forward as so much of the column is exposed.. there should be little to no cutting or modifying

 

[Cranky]

My sister in law had polio as a child and uses full hand controls on her car. Takes some getting used to but I can see it working well! Good to see folks sharing their setup for others to benefit....

 

[monsterflake]

old cars with the way the columns are exposed, shouldn't need any trimming. when they get taken off, it's like they were never there.

also, this type allows anybody to drive the car, everything works 'normally', throttle, brake, steering.

 

[67 coronet]

holy crap Thomas,i almost lost my rt leg to M.R.S.A. this last month.first 2 doctors miss diagnosed,but 3rd guy caught it.leg was the size of a basket ball at the thigh.sorry to hear you lost yours.ended up taking antibiotics that cost $2600 for a bottle of 20,but they worked.still recovering.your the first person i talked to that had it as bad as i did.started from a small cut by my belley button,how friggn crazy is that.

 

[thomas93254]

I got away with my life though, and that's a good thing. Wrote a book about it (more like a pamphlet) Called MRSA No Mercy. It's on Amazon Kindle if any one would like a look.
Mrsa is a nasty killer that will suck the life out of you, while you think you have a "touch of the flu" Took me a while to get my life back to "normal" but have not lost the love for cars and music.

Thomas

 

[YY1]

Just thought I'd comment, as I watched the overhaulin episode last night where they installed hand controls in a gto.

The ones they used had a single stick that pulled back for throttle and pushed forward for brake.

Back in the 80's I had a friend who's sister needed hand controls in her granada.

I liked that setup a lot better. There was a right angle grip just below the (column) gear selector that was normally at the 3 o'clock position. Rotating it to 6 o'clock maxed the throttle. To apply the brakes, you pushed towards the floorboard.

This allowed you to power brake.

Took a little getting used to, but was kinda fun after getting the hang of it.

 

[thomas93254]

This set up works kinda the same way pull down for gas push for break and you can do both at the same time. I just want to drive

Thomas