Feel-Good Story Of The Year

This is a simple story about someone I know with with a shop near me.



Bart Hickey is a mechanic.   

A blind mechanic.

Blind.  Since birth.

Bart loves cars, and has a 1969 Dart GT with a 340.



He would love to to be able to drive.

 

Thanks to Mercedes, he got his wish.

And also brought him much closer to being able to get a chance to drive his 340 Dart.



I know of no one more deserving of a dream fulfilled than Bart Hickey.


 

That was awesome!  Thanks for sharing.

Can you imagine having a lifelong dream of something you were told you never would be able to do?  Bart became a mechanic, and even started his own shop, all due to his love of cars.  

And a nicer human being you'll never meet.

I used to work for a company called Masterdrive, which was a driving school for teens. Every kid in the program completed a 2 day skills course (slalom, emergency braking, skid control) as part of the curriculum. I was one of the skills instructors.

Anyway, we did have a program for a short skills course for blind and other disabled kids who weren't getting their license (of course) but still had a dream of driving. I was trained for it but never got to volunteer for one. Speed would be kept slower than about 20 mph but plenty fast to feel the car in a tight slalom or emergency braking. And apparently blind kids kick butt at skid control because they feel the car at a high level.

If you can find an open parking lot I can tell you how to put something together for him. And I happen to have a bunch of cones too - you know, for safety.

What a great story.  

I must have a little dust in my eye or something.  

This reminds me of the time that I took a blind guy for some hot laps around Road America, I had no idea how much it meant to him at the time but his best friend let me know.

Are you out there Ted?  

He's the one that got me to subscribe to this madness.

Robbie said:

I used to work for a company called Masterdrive, which was a driving school for teens. Every kid in the program completed a 2 day skills course (slalom, emergency braking, skid control) as part of the curriculum. I was one of the skills instructors.

Anyway, we did have a program for a short skills course for blind and other disabled kids who weren't getting their license (of course) but still had a dream of driving. I was trained for it but never got to volunteer for one. Speed would be kept slower than about 20 mph but plenty fast to feel the car in a tight slalom or emergency braking. And apparently blind kids kick butt at skid control because they feel the car at a high level.

If you can find an open parking lot I can tell you how to put something together for him. And I happen to have a bunch of cones too - you know, for safety.

I think the biggest hurdle right now is getting the Dart drivable, but I will talk to Bart's son and see if he needs any help in this department.

Awesome story about humans being bros's.  

Thanks for posting--- what a cool story.

Humanity isn't dead, the TV just tries to convince us it is.  I love this story about a Chicago woman who bought hotel rooms for the homeless during Chicago's run-in with the Polar Vortex:

Hero Chicago lady

Let the guy drive, he can't be any worse than what's out there already. 

In reply to Joe Gearin :

It is heartening to see good news between all the rest.