Mercedes-AMG Delivers Drive of a Lifetime for Blind Mechanic
Bart Hickey has never driven the cars he’s worked on until AMG decided to make a dream come true and put him inside a GT R.
Being able to drive presents a ton of freedoms we can take for granted. Instead of waiting for a ride or a bus, we can just hop in and go wherever we want, whenever we want. Of course, we also take for granted the fact that our eyesight allows us to drive in the first place. Those who are blind can do a lot by using their other senses, but driving remains off-limits.
For one mechanic, though, those limits were removed for one special day, thanks to his son and Mercedes-Benz.
“The relationship between me and my father is definitely unique,” says Brendan Hickey, the son of Bart Hickey. “We’re definitely very close. I kind of have more of a friendship with him than some of my friends and their fathers have. Today is a way to say ‘thank you’ to my father. Definitely to honor him, as well, because of how much he’s always done for me.”
Bart had been a car mechanic for over three decades, running his own shop in the Chicago suburb of Alsip, Illinois. He’s also been blind since birth, but the love of cars runs deep in his blood. Bart’s biggest dream, though, is to drive a car, which Brendan says is “the number one experience that he wants to have in his life.”
“‘Dear Bart, we heard about your lifelong dream of driving all by yourself,'” reads Bart, “‘and we are more than happy to make this happen. It would be you in this beautiful car in the endless desert of Alvord Lake, Oregon. No boundaries, no speed limits. Even better than the German Autobahn. Are you up for a ride? Your fans at Mercedes-Benz, and your loving son, Brendan.'”
With some instruction from a Mercedes-Benz technician, Bart gets a feel for the bright green AMG GT R before he and Brendan roll out into the open desert lake bed.
“On Alvord Lake, Bart Hickey drove a car for the first time in his life,” Mercedes-Benz says at the end of the video. “He accelerated over 200 kilometers per hour,” or around 125 mph. We think our allergies are acting up from all the dust Bart and Brendan kicked up with the life-affirming run in the bright green AMG GT R.
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