A 96-year-old war hero has been given a pretty badass way of travelling around after his son built him an awesome wheelchair designed like a tank.
Eddie Shaw’s son, Peter, built the all-terrain vehicle after finding it increasingly difficult to push his father’s wheelchair around on rough ground.
The incredible piece of kit is made from an old motorised wheelbarrow, and has an LDV van seat, caterpillar tracks and is powered by a 4.5 bhp Honda engine.
Peter said:
My father lost his wife two years ago so we decided the best place for him to live would be close to us in Ellesmere. I like to go and take him on a day trip once a week – the house has a folding wheelchair which they would give me and off we would go.
I soon found out that wheelchairs are hard to push on sand and uneven ground so thought of an idea to overcome that. I had seen motorised wheelbarrows before and got the idea to adapt one for dad.
My dad was attacked by tanks during the Second World War – so I thought it would be fitting to create him this. He never got chance to ride them but managed to fight one off with anti-tank missiles. Now this is his chance to have his own little tank.
Remarkably, the chair cost just £500 to build, thanks to donations from local businesses.
60-year-old Peter, a semi-retired plumbing and heating engineer, says it would have cost around £4,000 without people’s help – custom vehicle creator James Brown, from Shrewsbury, and Wem Steels both lent a helping hand, while Penley Mill Garage donated the seat and seatbelt for the chair.
Peter added:
People have been so kind, it has been a real community effort. It is amazing, it is very stable and can tackle any ground with ease.
And Eddie looks pretty delighted with his new wheelchair and we don’t blame him. Talk about travelling in style!
