I first saw one of these Vehicle Production Group MV-1’s in Southern California a few years ago and thought the ugly thing had been imported from China. Or maybe North Korea. But it’s a wheelchair vehicle designed and manufactured in the US from 2011 to 2016 by AM General — the HUMMV folks. It was originally envisioned as a taxi.
It’s a body-on-frame design, first based on the Chevrolet S-10 pickup, then on the Ford Crown Victoria, with a Roush designed frame in there somewhere. Early versions have V-8s and later ones have V-6s. There are also compressed natural gas versions. The taxis were rather utilitarian, but they were gussied up when they were marketed to the general public.
It’s a little larger than an ordinary minivan. For example, compared to the current Dodge Grand Caravan, the wheelbase is about 10 inches longer, it’s an inch wider and 6 inches taller.
They’re starting to show up on the used market. So if you want something slightly larger than a minivan, with military contractor toughness and the hope of taxi fleet longevity, and if you don’t care about looks, this might be what you’re looking for.
Unrelated comment. I just watched the PBS News Hour video interview of Jessica Brudder about Nomadland and she mentioned you and your van by name near the end during the listener questions. I was thrilled to say, "I know him!" :)
ReplyDeleteA few more seconds of fame!
DeleteWe looked at those for my son when they first came out. They were marketed under the idea that it was the only company to design a wheelchair van from the ground up. Most are post production conversions.
ReplyDeleteIt turned out that there was government funding available for conversions but not for a vehicle built from the ground up.
We ended up with a Toyota Sienna wheelchair van conversion and have been mostly happy with it;it's still in use. I always wondered what happened to the MV-1.