Sound's Rolling!

My soulution was to buy a van. Not just any van. At first I gave thought to a small [~14'] cube van with a lift gate. I didn't want to get into a situation where I had to keep a log, get a commercial driver's license and all that faffing about.  Regular 1/2 ton vans didn't seem practical, since you can't stand up inside and there's no way to get a lift gate on them. Then an idea, a somewhat weird idea, I'll admit, hit me: Every handicapped person dies eventually. I know this because in Massachusetts, at least, the death rate is one hundred percent. What happens to their wheelchair van?

Suddenly I started seeing wheelchair vans everywhere. Commercial taxis, public transportation, private vans. The ones I saw in the used car lot had tall, bubble tops, were of 1994 vintage with 100,000 miles average. They were somewhat beat up, had less than stunning tires, God knows what kind of mechanical problems, and the asking price was in the $10K neighborhood.  Still too much for me, since my plan for the year involves not taking on any new debt of that size.

A couple of days later [Patriot's Day] I was walking to a client's office to deliver some DVD RAM disks with prior days' sync sound files. I was walking because the Patriot's Day Parade was at that moment going down Massachusetts Avenue, right where Dawes and Revere rode a couple hundred years ago, and the street was closed to sound mixers.  I passed this pretty nice-looking passenger van that had a really interesting price tag, new tires, belts and batteries, and mileage advertiset at 61K. I wrote down the number and that afternoon was poking around on the online version of our regional 'for sale' publication where I came across.....a wheelchair lift!  After a few phone calls, several visits to the van owner [who lives 3 blocks from me] for measurements, tire-kicking, test driving, etc, along with measurements and functional examination of the lift, I bought them both!

A couple of weeks ago I was on a picture not far from here. I took the van, full of gear, and the lift, which was lying inside. One day we turned around from days to nights, and my boom operator, José Leon, and I drilled holes and made trips to the local hardware store. I wired up the electric motor last Friday.

About an hour ago I finished tinting the windows [5% light transmission "Limo Black"]. Further modifications will include a metal partition behind the seats, for safety and gear security; shelving of some sort [now who -was- that grip who offered to help me shelve it out??]; an alarm system; probably metal cages on the windows and maybe door chains. But for now, this 1984 1-ton Chevy van with trailer hitch and wheelchair lift is doing the trick, and for a very reasonable price.