New Ford Tourneo Custom WAV

Simon’s credentials are second to none with a degree in Marine Technology (Naval Architecture) from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. Simon’s unparalleled passion, drive, and technical expertise was the key to his company winning our orders for the conversion kit that goes into building our wheelchair accessible vehicles.

Like us, he is a huge supporter and advocate of the Ford Tourneo Custom; it is also his vehicle of choice to drive daily. By choosing SG Technical, we ring-fenced the conversion kit to a specialist and are assured of a complete focus on quality.

Following graduation, Simon worked for three years for a boat building company, initially as their Design Engineer, and after 12 months, he replaced the Senior Designer. Simon had full design responsibility for everything designed and built by the boatyard and the sea trials of finished vessels.

Aged 25, Simon became the Design Manager for Pipe Coil Technology Ltd, who designed and manufactured complex specialist industrial machinery. They supplied to domestic and export customers, developing new generations of equipment.

In 2010 Simon founded SG Technical Systems during a severe recession. SG Tech grew rapidly, increasing turnover by more than 560% by year four, quickly gaining long term customers and building a reputation for well-engineered, high quality and reliable products.

In 2013 SG Tech was awarded the ‘Best Small Business Award’ by the Chamber of Bridlington & Yorkshire Coast Business Awards. In the same year, they also won the ‘Innovative Business Award’ at the Goole & Howdenshire Business Excellence Awards 2013.

In 2016 SG Tech received the UK’s most prestigious business award ‘The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise – Innovation,” in recognition of their innovative product development and service to customers.

SG Technical is a well-established quality business supplying the UK, European and global customers. While their product range is continually being developed and expanded, SG Tech focuses on technically challenging sectors. SG Tech is the UK’s leading supplier of ramps for front line A&E ambulances, founded on their products’ high quality and excellent reliability.

SG Technical’s ramp systems for wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs) benefit from their considerable engineering experience, innovative design and manufacturing processes. This expertise gives an assurance of their high quality and superb reliability. Putting the safety of wheelchair users and other vehicle occupants at the front of our product development means we know our customers’ safety is their priority too.

It took us nearly three years of research to find a coachbuilder we truly wanted to work alongside. We sought a dynamic, well-organised and focused business with an eye for a detailed finish. We had to know that the right company genuinely wanted to produce the high-quality bespoke WAV conversion we had created for our customers.

Our Managing Director, Peter Zanelli, knew from his own conversion experience that engineering, building, rebuilding, and converting vehicles requires significant knowledge, expertise, and an eye for precision. That eye found Solent Body Builders & Repairs Ltd.

We quickly realised that we had indeed found what we’d been looking for, just down the road from us in Hampshire. We were excited to meet with Greg Heller, Managing Director of Solent Body Builders & Repairs Ltd, to discuss what we were looking for. Their comprehensive understanding of coachbuilding, mechanics, electrical systems, and complex conversions is well proven, and their work is outstanding.

Greg and his business partner Jon started as workshop staff at Solent Body Builders. Jon joined the company in 1991, and Greg joined in 2013. They both worked hard, and step by step, they climbed the ladder until they knew they were ready for an opportunity. They decided to make a move and start their own company or buy one which already existed.

They decided to approach the previous owner of Solent Body Builders, and after two and half years, Greg and Jon finally managed to purchase the company. Greg remembers he and Jon talking passionately about knowing they could do so much more with the business. Finally, in November 2020, they realised the dream they had talked about for so long and took over Solent Body Builders.

Solent Body Builders heritage is lengthy, dating back to 1968. The business has extensive experience in vehicle repairs, coachbuilding, conversions and bespoke finishing internally and externally. Greg, Jon, and his team have skillfully segregated the business to keep each section of their company operating independently. Segregating their business means that repairs, coachbuilding, signwriting, and finishing are connected, focussed, and managed by the right expertise.

We are proud to partner with Greg and his team at Solent Body Builders, and we know you will be as thrilled with your finished wheelchair accessible vehicle as we have been. Solent Body Builders & Repairs Ltd in Hampshire are the right choice.

Using our sixty years of automotive experience, our Managing Director’s extensive vehicle conversion knowledge, and thousands of hours over the last five years, we are very proud of our Ford Tourneo Custom wheelchair accessible vehicle conversion.

We have studied hundreds of WAVs over the years and always pay close attention to what our customers tell us. We took this learning and invested ourselves in working towards what you told us you wanted and what was missing from WAVs that was needed. Our build should cover most of your needs, and now you can have what you want too because you build your WAV from scratch with us. You call the shots.

When we studied what wheelchair users, drivers, and passengers needed and wanted in a WAV, we came up with a substantial list. Of course, we all realise a wheelchair user’s needs exceed that of any standard vehicle in production. If we then consider how the dynamic change of bringing a wheelchair user into a vehicle, by the nature of this, most often the passenger and driver’s needs and wants change too.

We considered everyone who could need to be in a WAV from within groups such as family, friends, therapists, carers, and other possible passenger groups we’d come across. While a driver is a passenger too, their needs are often quite different in their role as the driver of a WAV. All this required a great deal of thought and planning as the list of variables is endless. We knew we could address the list in a focused way by the nature of the car we selected, the kit supplier and the converter when we designed our WAV.

Our mission was to connect the best with the best, and we feel we have accomplished that. The seamless linking of Ford Motor Company, SG Technical Systems Ltd, and Solent Body Builders & Repairs Ltd is the innovative process of producing the stunning WAVs that we know will put a smile on any wheelchair user’s face.

We believe our desire to focus on build choices, inclusivity, colour, lighting and give our customers the ability to complete their WAV with options and personalise their WAV finish has paid off in the finished product you see on this page.

That moment, the moment you realise you need an accessible vehicle; that is the moment we want you to contact us. We will help you from the start to the moment you take delivery of your WAV, and we are here for you beyond that too. This process should be as simple and as stress-free as possible, and that is our drive and focus.

We want to inform our potential buyers methodically but not technically about WAVs to engage people in our product, something we know you don’t wish for but do need. After all, as we often say, this is not exactly a field of dreams, is it. We are doing our level best to change that, so we welcome you to a future of lighter, brighter accessible vehicles.