Sitting pretty!

July 2, 2018

Bill Kolias puts disabled woman in the driver’s seat, so to speak

American Trucker featured Bill Kolias’ Western Star as the 2015 Readers’ Rig Grand Champion. He contacted us again recently with an interesting story.

“My wife and I spend our winter months using the Western Star truck to pull our RV to Florida,” he explained. “We spent this past winter in an RV park in Punta Gorda. There is a disabled resident who lives in the park. Her name is Beth. She said that she has always wanted to ride in my rig, but because of her disability was unable to climb up the steps.

“The RV park holds a Mardi Gras parade in March each year. One of the other residents here had a great idea. He said if Beth can’t climb up into the big truck, let’s bring the big truck down to her. So, me and three other residents worked more than 100 hours and custom-made a miniature float of my Western Star that would mount on her wheelchair. We then attached a bicycle to the back of it and built the float around it.

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“She was sitting in the driver’s seat of the rig and her husband, who was riding the bike, was looking out through the top sleeper window. The float was a big success in the Mardi Gras parade—and of course Beth was all smiles.”