Oldest Working Taxi

[sierraman]

I was reading a while ago about the Peugeot 404 still until recently plying it’s trade in Berlin, probably clocking up an unbelievable mileage. Any other stories of taxis going on long past their sell-by date? 

[Inspiral_Mondays]

Not in the same league, but about 15 years ago a taxi I took in Zug in Switzerland was a W126 Merc which, the driver claimed, still had the original petrol engine and gearbox with 1.2 million kilometres on the clock.

[Ghosty]

On the EG Civic collection mission, I got a ride in a 240k mile 55 plate C200 CDI taxi on a Christchurch hackney plate. As far as I could tell he was a one man operation owner driver. He only took cash, and discounted my fare slightly because he enjoyed talking to me! 

In Rochdale there's a W plate Avensis minicab still knocking about on a quarter of a million miles - I think there are two and the other one is even older, but I've not seen that one for while.

[BertiePuntoCabrio]

2 Christmases ago, there was an Alfa 164 (!) taxi working in Cambridge!

[eddyramrod]

When I lived in Southport, the loal authority insisted on a maximum working age of eight years old for both Hackney and Private Hire vehicles.  Not sure if it still applies... But in Cyprus there were plenty of older Mercs doing taxi work, and to my enormous surprise I found one in Barrow too, which has appeared on my spotting thread; a 1987 Merc 190D.  The owner-driver died last year.  I've seen the car a couple of times since, but I don't think it's still "on the job."  Shame, because it looked mint, it was a credit to its owner.

[MiniMort]

Well if you want old taxis there's one perfect place to go: Madagascar... 

And if that's too old for you, there's so much more in the way of beige French economical motoring... 

[somewhatfoolish]

A bit more pedestrian, but wasn't there an Audi minicab of moon miles discussed on this forum a while back?

[Tadhg Tiogar]

1 minute ago, somewhatfoolish said:

A bit more pedestrian, but wasn't there an Audi minicab of moon miles discussed on this forum a while back?

Yes, it subsequently ended up in Ireland as flipper fodder.

[Daviemck2006]

When I drove taxis a good few years ago the highest mileage one I drove was Peugeot 806 2.0hdi which had done 325000 miles when I left the firm. It was still going about a year later.

Sent from my SM-A125F using Tapatalk

[Neil clark]

My old TX1 had 550k on when I sold it to another driver, he carried it on for abit

[Leyland Worldmaster]

Made me remember this story:

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210819-merci-dix-a-swansong-for-moroccos-mercedes-grand-taxis

[willswitchengage]

Book your winter holiday to Morocco. Cheap flights and COVID-easy local rules. Definitely the most Autoshitey country I've ever been to, mainly French stuff but Merc taxis are popular.

[Spurious]

47 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Yes, it subsequently ended up in Ireland as flipper fodder.

Did it ever sell. It was languishing on DoneDeal for a long while 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

4 minutes ago, Spurious said:

Did it ever sell. It was languishing on DoneDeal for a long while 

Seller wanted something up to three times what the taxi driver sold it for. Base 1.8ltr as well.

[1duck]

What do they use in Cuba, they have some seriously old chod run by necessity, although I'm not sure that's so true anymore. 

[wuvvum]

25 minutes ago, willswitchengage said:

Book your winter holiday to Morocco. Cheap flights and COVID-easy local rules. Definitely the most Autoshitey country I've ever been to, mainly French stuff but Merc taxis are popular.

My taxi upon arrival in Marrakesh was a facelifted Fiat Uno.  There seemed to be plenty of those doing the rounds, in assorted shades of beige.

[Peter C]

https://novacabtaxi.weebly.com/blog/13-million-kilometers-for-mercedes-w124-taxi

[artdjones]

On the old Car Review site there was a 2.0d Omega that had done a million Kms in Holland. As far as I remember the engine was original but the interior had been swopped for low mileage ones a couple of times.

[aldo135]

Seen this in Helston, Cornwall in July, forgot about it until this thread appeared! 

[Datsuncog]

Still plenty of extremely shabby TX1s plying for hire around Belfast, which must be hitting advanced miles. I'm sure I've seen one on an R-plate not that long ago.

Best not to ask too many questions about their PSV test status...

There was still a Sierra minicab doing the rounds until about 2010 too; unsurprisingly, it was utterly hanging.

Every now and again when I'm on the Bangor ringroad I catch sight of a white E100 Corolla liftback with a taxi sign on the roof, but I've yet to snap a pic of it. Think it's on a 1991 reg, so fairly cracking on in years.

[Alusilber]

When I was in Madeira about 5 years ago, a lot of their taxis were still W123s and W124s and still going strong - I even have a Madeira fridge magnet with a picture of a W123 on it!

[Amishtat]

Don't know whether it's still going but there was a blue J-reg 940 saloon still working around Ipswich until  a couple of years ago 

[AdmiralRazorBeard]

My Friend owned a 2006 Avensis D4D (2.0) Estate, that was an ex taxi with 488,000 on the clock, engine and box were still perfect. The rest was starting to fall off somewhat. Needless to say I bought it for £250 to take it over 500k, which I did, I sold it on to someone else and it still going, I believe with around 545,000 on it now.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

2 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Still plenty of extremely shabby TX1s plying for hire around Belfast, which must be hitting advanced miles. I'm sure I've seen one on an R-plate in the last few months....

Given how Covid and Wrath of Khan are getting rid of London TX1s in favour of Chinese electrics, I'd say Belfast will have a near-inexhaustible supply of TX1s in the years ahead.

[Spottedlaurel]

5 hours ago, Amishtat said:

Don't know whether it's still going but there was a blue J-reg 940 saloon still working around Ipswich until  a couple of years ago 

Sadly, possibly not according to this article:

https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/john-winlow-volvo-too-old-ipswich-borough-council-2884276

I recall there being a follow-up piece in the EADT or Star, can't recall what the conclusion was.

When I started work in Attleborough in 2000 there was an S/T-reg Volvo 245 still in use as a taxi. Also, in Cambridge in the very early '90s, when many of the drivers favoured Nissan Laurels, there was a BMC Farina still operating.

This Carina E, along with a similar dark blue example, was in use in Diss in 2012:

Failed its last MoT in 2014 when it'd done just under 280k miles.

[Shirley Knott]

Not the oldest, but about 7 years ago there was an ex taxi Scoda Octavia with the NA 1.9 SDi engine going through an auction in Birtley with just over 550k miles and still running well.

I was so impressed at the time it set me on a path of seeking out/buying cars with the SDi engine, a habit I'm still struggling to shift if I'm honest!

[artdjones]

10 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Best not to ask too many questions about their PSV test status...

Or anything else about them.

[tobyd]

4 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

I recall there being a follow-up piece in the EADT or Star, can't recall what the conclusion was.

https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/ipswich-volvo-taxi-driver-john-winlow-update-2884898

Chap sacked off taxiing to join the 'Cru

[High Jetter]

It may not have moon miles, or have been plying for the longest, but this must be a strong contender for the 'Oldest Working Taxi':

http://vintagemotoringcompany.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/01.jpg

[Tadhg Tiogar]

11 minutes ago, tobyd said:

https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/ipswich-volvo-taxi-driver-john-winlow-update-2884898

Chap sacked off taxiing to join the 'Cru

Pity there doesn't seem to be a market for a "classic cabs" service.

Imagine: "Thank you for choosing ShiteCabs, the yesteryear door-to-door service...."