Abstract: The present wheel chair lift apparatus has a rotatable post at the front of a doorway in the side of a van. A pivotally mounted electric motor rotates this post through a pinion and gear drive at the lower end of the post. A carriage for the wheel chair lift platform is slidable up and down along this post. A vertical lead screw is coupled to the carriage through a ball nut and a lost-motion coupling. The lead screw is driven from an electric motor through a belt and pulley drive at its upper end. The belt is frictionally restrained to prevent the lift platform from coasting down when the lead screw drive motor is stopped. The lift platform has a pivoted retainer lip at its outer edge which is pulled up before the lift platform can move up or down. The lift platform has a slidable extension for enlarging its effective size when a wheel chair comes on.