Returning to the Road, in Style and With Help Paul Nils Stenquist for The New York Times PERFORMANCE Bruce Chargo bought his 1958 Power Wagon in 2000 and had a 375-horsepower Hemi installed. BRUCE CHARGO conceded that he sometimes drove his 1958 Dodge Power Wagon aggressively. "Oh yeah," he said, in a telephone interview. That's the whole idea of putting a 375-horse Hemi in there. Like many of us, Mr. Chargo, 53, of Clio, Mich., enjoys the feel of a high-performance machine and takes pride in his ability to maneuver it. Unlike most of us, he doesn't drive with his hands and feet. Mr. Chargo was paralyzed from the chest down in a childhood swimming accident and consequently needs special controls to drive by using only his arms. His hands, wrists and legs are immobile. Technology has given severely impaired people like Mr. Chargo the ability to drive, but it doesn't come easily. Vehicles outfitted for those with limited muscle control are expensive, and learning to operate one requires determination. It took Mr. Chargo months of practicing in his driveway and on the road to learn. Then, years later, he acted on a long-suppressed love of performance vehicles, bought a collectible truck and turned it into a hot rod. I met Mr. Chargo at the Mopar Nationals here, an event for fans of Chrysler-built collectibles and high-performance machinery. Amid the winged Dodge Charger Daytonas and the purple "Cudas, Mr. Chargo's orange Power Wagon, a 4-wheel-drive utility vehicle that has a cult following, stood out. When Mr. Chargo drove it, he stopped the show. Asked to move his truck to another location for a photo session, Mr. Chargo drove his wheelchair to the rear doors of the Power Wagon and lowered its lift. He motored onto the platform, which raised him into the truck. He propelled himself to the driver's area and locked his wheelchair into place. To start the truck, he moved his right arm to toggle switches on the console. His left arm nestled between the four pins of a controller that operates throttle and brake. Flicking a toggle with his right arm turned on the ignition, a second toggle engaged the starter and a third put the automatic transmission into drive. He then moved his right arm into another four-pin controller that steers the vehicle. And off he went, with all the confidence of a man who has driven half a million miles using controls that require no hand or leg movements. While the control system may be its most interesting feature, the Power Wagon itself stands out. He started looking for a performance vehicle in 2000, but was limited to vans because of his wheelchair. He found the Power Wagon, which was wide enough, for sale on the Web and bought it from a California man. Mr. Chargo spent 11 years having the van built to his specifications. From the factory, the Power Wagon had an optional 315-cubic-inch V-8, but Mr. Chargo installed a 1958 Chrysler 392 Hemi, modified to generate 375 horsepower. It's backed by Chrysler's 727 automatic transmission, a favorite of drag racers, and power is delivered to stout Dana front and rear axles, like those in 1980s-vintage Dodge trucks. The project cost about $115,000, he said. In 1977, the year of his accident, Mr. Chargo had been driving a 1971 Plymouth Duster. He was in high school and lived with his parents on a Michigan farm. Like many teenagers, he had an avid interest in sports and fast cars. He was injured on a July afternoon after he and his friends decided to go swimming. "It was one of those dumb things kids do," Mr. Chargo said. My buddies and I had added sand to the farm pond's beach. It was a hot day, and we had a trampoline, so we put it in the water. Instead of jumping off feet first, I dove. His head hit the sandy bottom of the pond, and he felt something like a severe electric shock as his spinal cord was damaged. Unable to move, he was pulled from the pond by his father and a friend. After five months in traction, he was moved to a rehabilitation facility in Colorado. "At first, being a 17-year-old, it kind of kicks you in the stuff to not be independent," he said. When he started rehabilitation, the doctors told him his injury was so high up his spinal cord that he had very little strength in his arms and no function in his hands or wrists.