The MV-1 Considered

Every now and then you may see something that looks like this rolling along:

That’s the MV-1, produced by Mobility Ventures, which is a company of AM General. You may recognize AM General as the company that originated the HUMMER.

They know how to produce purpose-built vehicles in their plant in Mishawaka, Indiana, and the MV-1 is a purpose-built vehicle.

According to Mobility Ventures, the MV-1 is “the only purpose-built vehicle that meets or exceeds the guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act.”

Which is certainly laudable.

Other vehicles that area going to transport people in wheelchairs need retrofits.

One of the interesting things about the MV-1 is that it has some characteristics of the Ford Crown Victoria that has long served in the livery business, particularly when painted yellow. (The black cars were once Lincoln Town Cars, also relegated to the past.)

For one thing, the MV-1 is a body-on-frame vehicle. Pickup trucks are pretty much the only vehicles out there with this robust approach. The Crown Vic was body-on-frame.

The powertrain for the MV-1 is a Ford 4.6-liter V8 and a Ford four-speed automatic.

One might feel somewhat nostalgic.

One might also hope that Mobility Venture people do something about the styling, which seems to share a design language with the folks at Tonka. . .