Conference terri::cars_uk

    Taxis always look well cared for because they have to by law. The
    Public Carriage Office regulates them, and the design of the cabs is
    also regulated - I don't know if this has been updated, but until
    recently there still had to be storage for a bale of hat for the horse.
    
    If a cab sustains accident damage, it is forbidden to ply for hire
    (which is why you will always win a traffic duel with a cab if you
    press your advantage, and he knows you know!). If a cab stops, he is
    obliged to take the fare, if the destination is within six miles (and I
    know, because I had one prosecuted once). 
    
    They used to be built by Austin, but this business was hived off to a
    company called Carbodies. Most are diesels, some are liquid petroleum
    gas as an experiment, most are automatics.
    
    Steve

    Steve,
    
    Thanks. I do recall having a chat with a couple of gents in a hotel we
    stayed at who, upon hearing our remarks about how nice the taxis looked
    told us that, by law, if one gets damaged it must be repaired before
    it can return to service. I think they also told us that they're
    required to be washed daily (or at least appear clean). I'm certain
    that if those two requirements were imposed upon taxis over here, the
    they'd be rarer than Buggatis for a month while they were all being
    fixed! Another rarity in recent years is a cab driver who was actually 
    born here.. but that's another story.
    
    BTW, does anyone over there purchase former taxis for personal use?
    Sometimes, over here, you'll see "privatised" Postal Service vehicles
    (jeep-like things) driven by folks who bought them at auction once
    they've been replaced by new ones.
    
    Thanks again,
    
    Ed

    Yes, they do get bought up by private drivers, along with post office
    vans et al.
    
    They do tend to be a bit - er - USED, though.
    
    I had a friend once who had this bright idea to make his fortune by
    exporting ex hire London cabs to Australia - OVERLAND! He was unmoved
    by such arguments as  "did he think a cab, after 300,000 miles of
    London traffic would get there", and proposed to get round the problem
    of having to go through Iran, with the Ayatollah in his prime, by
    simply going via Persia... He was using a thirty year old school atlas
    for navigation.
    
    He was not of _this_ world!
    
    Steve

    
    
    I was at an auction on Saturday in Cheltenham, dealing with the
    disposal of an entire estate, model trains, motorbikes, gardening tools
    the family home, books....the lot. In a garage, at the rear of the 
    estate the auctioneers, Phillips, found two cars. One of which brought
    me to the auction to bid, an immaculate XJC V12 5.3 with 44k on the
    clock. The other was a London Taxi, however it was 'T' registered, so
    not that old & it fired when they tried to start it so it was probably
    in reasonably regular use, the bidding topped out at four hundred
    pounds and it sold under the hammer for four fifty, seemed pretty cheap
    to me.
    
    
    
    Adam.

There are one or two firms in the US that advertise ex-London taxis for
sale regularly. There is one in my town with left hand drive. Some day
I'll get to talk to the owner and find out it's history. It's gas powered
by the way, not diesel.

    The LPG taxis were, I think, also capable of running what we over here
    call petrol, and it was (again, I think) dash switchable. Only problem
    was that the LPG tank took up the space belonging to the bale of hay...
    
    Steve

They also have to be "disinfected" if anyone dies in them....

    Come on, not even London taxis are that slow...
    
    Steve ;-)

But it's true....it applies to *all* taxis...and the process takes several 
days...

There's one for sale in Rockville, MD.  It's parked in the garage alongside
Loehman's plaza next to a Model T and what looks like a Bugatti, but I can't be
100% as I didn't stop to look closer.  The Taxi looks pretty tatty, and it still
has it's original UK plates as well as MD ones.

Brian

    There's a company in the U.S. that made the London Taxi either under
    license or a good copy....I believe the drivetrain was U.S. Ford..I am
    not sure if they are still in business,but they advertised in the Robb
    Report a couple of years ago. A funeral home in Winchester,Mass. has at
    least one that they used to pick up families for funerals....
    
    
    

    Black Cabs,
    
    Can anyone tell me some details about black cabs. I know they have a
    2.7L diesel and that their turning circle is very small. Is the engine
    bought from somewhere or do they produce it themselves? And who are
    they, i.e. what is the official model name.
    
    Thanks in advance
    
    Derek.

    The engine might be from NISSAN.
    
    mn
    

    
    I was talking to a taxi driver the other night,and he told me that the
    Nissian engine is the most reliable,and his taxi had done 250K miles
    without any parts replacments,and that this should be the case up to
    about 400K.
    
    Andy.

I think the FX4s have Nissan engines, but the Metrocabs
have something else. I don't know what.


	Ian

    
    I thought they were fitted with Perkins diesel engines (?)
    
    Tim

    I thought the black cabs were made by a company called Morris in
    Coventry, not sure if they had/have any relationship with Morris cars
    of cowley (BL).
    
    I thought they had Perkins Diesal engines too.
    
    The old model name was Magister ?
    
    Dave D.

	This TV programme on about a year or more ago, was all about the "Black
cabs" in London in particular.  It was very interesting.

	The FX4 definitely was stated to have changed, some years back, from a
British Leyland Engine (no longer in production) to a Nissan one of 2.7 litres.
This was after a rather protracted study of what engines were available around
the world.  They were not very happy with BL for stopping production at the time
but they were now pleased with the Nissan unit.  I can't remember any mention
of the MetroCab engine.

	The programme went into great detail about the building of the cabs etc.
and then went into the rules and regulations and the enforcement of same in
London.  It is quite enlightening the extent to which they are enforced, but only
in London - if the Taxi has so much as a squeaky wheel bearing, the Inspectors
put it off the road until it is fixed!  Things are so lax outside London!!!

	The programme also went into some detail about how the Garages which
service these Cabs operate around the clock, because any time off the road means
that the driver is losing his income!

	An altogether fascinating programme, I would recommend watching it if it
comes around again.

				Malcolm.

    We do have some black cabs in my home town (Aberdeen), but in general
    if any cab up here (black cab or otherwise) has as much as scratch on
    it, they are taken off the road, as failure to do so *WILL* result in a
    loss of taxi licensing.  An occasion I recently heard about was of a
    cab pulling in to a pick up, the passenger got in, another cab drove
    past to close clipping door mirrors.... result passanger having to get
    a replacement cab, and two cabs off the road until such times as
    repairs were completed.
    
    Bob

    Aren't black cabs made by a company called `Carbodies'?
    
    Phil Gill.

I think you are correct for the FX4, but Metrocabs are made, I think, by 
Metropolitan Vickers.

				Malcolm.

    Re -2 Carbodies was taken over a few years ago and was then
    known as London Taxis International.
    
    I was temping there in my summer holidays when at college in Coventry
    and consequently saw lots of black cabs.
    
    All useless information really.
    
    josie

    Not for everyone!
    
    The reason I asked some information is that a mate of mine in Holland
    wants to buy one and run it for special occassions. It sounds strange
    but he thinks he'll be able to do weddings and similars. 
    He has asked me to try and find out about them. So far I have not been
    able to find one for sale. I have promised to give him some ideas about
    prices for second-hand ones (Eventually I'm supposed to buy the thing). 
    Can anybody tell me where I can buy one of these things? Is there some
    magazine or place where I should look?
    
    (I didn't think it would prove difficult to wnt to spend money [not
    mine])
    
    Derek.
    
    Any information on parts availability would also be much appreciated.

Yeh, there's the Taxi place in London - but I don't know the name of it.
It's where you'd go if you wanted to do the knowledge and apply
for a green badge. I've got a mate who's just doen the knowledge.
I'll ask him when I see him, but I don't see him that often.

Ian

    As you go into Addington train station there is a black cab dealer, by
    Royal Oak Tube ?
    
    so Car Bodies is Coventry based ?  wonder if they were ever called
    Morris ?
    
    There is a place by my mom and dads that repairs/services fire engines
    (DENNIS ones) from all over the country...
    
    Dave D (the trivial)
    

    No change of remembering a name?                                               
    I could give him a ring and at least get some idea.
    
    It's certainly nice to know there are dealers. I wonder whether I'll be
    able to buy one without having to go to London? There must be a way
    they get traded around Reading.
    
    Cheers
    
    Derek