Blind Mechanic Drives a Mercedes-AMG GT R at Over 124 MPH

Hickey said in the short video posted eight years ago that his passion for repairing cars comes from his father. The need to turn this passion into a career came at age eleven when his father passed away, and the young Hickey wanted to help repair his mother’s car.

What began like this ended with the opening of a local business the blind man now runs together with his son, Brendan. It is an auto workshop, of course, and the two do some towing as well.

Despite his obvious skills and the determination to do more than what his condition would normally allow him, Hickey never drove a car. This became, his son says, the top wish on the man’s bucket list.

Mercedes-Benz, the carmaker that helped make the blind’s mechanic story public in 2011, decided to give him this year the opportunity to fulfill this wish.

Mercedes took Hickey and his son out to Alvord Lake, in Oregon, where there are virtually no obstacles for miles and miles. Accompanying them was a green Mercedes-AMG GT R.

After a quick and seemingly unnecessary introduction to the car’s systems, father and son are shown setting off into the desert, with the blind man behind the wheel and his son riding shotgun and enjoying every minute of it.

We’re not sure how long the drive lasted. We do know that a man that has never seen the world in the 57 years of his life not only drove a GT R, but he did so at over 124 mph (200 kph).

The the duo won't stop here. They plan to do it again, on November 3, this time in his own 1969 Dodge Dart.