It’s the Golden Age of Weird Vehicles

This is Street Wars, a weekly series on the battle for space on New York’s streets and sidewalks.

Jimmy Cho could ride a wheelchair, but wheelchairs are slow.

He could also ride a standup scooter, but he prefers to sit.

Fortunately, he owns a blowtorch.

Thus he combined the front half of an electric scooter (handlebars, front wheel, motor, battery pack) to an old wheelchair (padded seat, handrails, nothing special).

The result is a vehicle that defies classification. It’s still a wheelchair, kind of, and Cho can navigate sidewalks. But because it’s zippy, he can keep pace with traffic on busy Manhattan avenues.

“It’ll go 45 miles an hour,” he said. “So it’s dangerous.”

Cho’s favorite place to take his hacked-together jitney is someplace busy, like Herald Square. There he can lounge around, smoke cigarettes, pop wheelies, and look with pity upon the doleful masses still using archaic conveyances like “electric Citi Bikes” and “feet” to move around.

“Look at all these people, walking like cave men,” said Cho, 42, from Brooklyn. “Now you can ride your furniture!”