Oldest Working Taxi

[warren t claim]

2 hours ago, Madman Of The People said:

As far as I’m aware, you can import ANYTHING into the US that’s more than 25 years old.

Send it to me.  I’m pretty sure I can find a redneck mechanic who can drop an LS engine into it! 

The brakes, and especially the bespoke taxi tyres, can barely cope with the limited power the cab left the factory with. As I'm sure I've mentioned elsewhere on here, I've been a passenger in a Fairway that'd had the pump cranked up that was showing 105mph and that was very scary indeed! The whole cab was shaking itself to death while leaving a trail of black smoke that would shame a Detroit Diesel powered truck.

The best way to get a TX into America is to source a pre 2000 logbook and I'll provide an 18 year old TX2 with no running gear for weighbridge money.

[Brigsy]

Taxi with bm diesel power from memory. Good for the burnouts

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1MsaKnZR8S/

 

[trigger]

I was following this today, a 20 year Merc E320 CDi with over 260k seemed pretty appropriate for this thread

[warren t claim]

 

[Dyslexic Viking]

For many years possibly in to the 2000s this worked the streets of Oslo. It had a mileage of well over 1 million km and the whole car had been rebuilt several times. 

 

From 2018 and the owner unfortunately had a stroke and crashed it.

Quote

Dad, born 17/10-27, is alive and well, despite two strokes and a slightly weakened physique. The first stroke caused him to drive straight into a buffer at a toll booth, where he himself was injured and the car, the green one in one of the pictures, was a total wreck. He lives at Torstadtunet in Asker now.

 

Torstadtunet is a nursing home. And unfortunately I can't find out exactly what year it stopped being worked as a taxi.

[DavidT]

We still have a fair amount of old cars working as taxis in the Wigan area 

[cms206]

No picture sadly but plying for trade outside Rochdale station this morning was S474 AGJ - a 1.8 petrol Toyota Avensis saloon on Rochdale taxi plates... doing well at 487k miles!

[Lord Sterling]

On 27/11/2025 at 12:28, cms206 said:

No picture sadly but plying for trade outside Rochdale station this morning was S474 AGJ - a 1.8 petrol Toyota Avensis saloon on Rochdale taxi plates... doing well at 487k miles!

@warren t claim stuck up a video earlier of it. Although its a video presented by a YouTuber who was sent a video of the car still plying its trade.

On 08/07/2025 at 23:40, warren t claim said:

[Lord Sterling]

Now, this isn't the oldest vehicle, but it is an unusual one. A plated BMW 330d;

This was actually spotted by @Imhotep on my road when we were walking about.

I can't think of anything that is the least appropriate vehicle to be using as a cab unless he does long/airport runs. Not CAZ/ULEZ compliant and certainly not exactly very economical. But, each to their own.

[Knotty Ash Towers]

5 hours ago, Lord Sterling said:

Now, this isn't the oldest vehicle, but it is an unusual one. A plated BMW 330d;

This was actually spotted by @Imhotep on my road when we were walking about.

I can't think of anything that is the least appropriate vehicle to be using as a cab unless he does long/airport runs. Not CAZ/ULEZ compliant and certainly not exactly very economical. But, each to their own.

Someone in my neck of the woods uses a Toyota Yaris as a taxi, which seems even worse, especially for those of us who are over 6ft tall...

[colino]

Aren't there rules in those areas for suitable vehicles?  I can't remember if it was the Vectra or the Mondeo that was initially banned by Inverclyde council as the taxi inspector must have used a worn out tape when he first measured it and declared the rear seating area insufficient.

Two responses to a driver if they turned up in a city car.  Either FRO, or if in a hurry, take the ride and give half the fare for turning up in half a car

[Datsuncog]

This old trooper groaned and graunched past me in a queue of traffic while I was walking home yesterday:

Not a fabled R-reg, but even an 02 plate TX1 on private hire is becoming uncommon. 

It's absolutely howling.

Pretty much everything below the doorhandles appears to be wob and rattlecan. 

Sign in the window says 'Cash Only'. 

I'm sure it's totally legit. 

[colino]

Simply no way private hire or taxi would be allowed here in that state.  Are Taxis free there?

[Lord Sterling]

Again, not the oldest, but definitely fairly old to being plying trade.

Spotted this in 2024.

[warren t claim]

3 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

This old trooper groaned and graunched past me in a queue of traffic while I was walking home yesterday:

Not a fabled R-reg, but even an 02 plate TX1 on private hire is becoming uncommon. 

It's absolutely howling.

Pretty much everything below the doorhandles appears to be wob and rattlecan. 

Sign in the window says 'Cash Only'. 

I'm sure it's totally legit. 

That's a TX2. 

Locally, our oldest working cab is a 51 plate TX1.

Last month we lost our final remaining 'Dustbuster' E7.

[LightBulbFun]

7 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

This old trooper groaned and graunched past me in a queue of traffic while I was walking home yesterday:

Not a fabled R-reg, but even an 02 plate TX1 on private hire is becoming uncommon. 

It's absolutely howling.

Pretty much everything below the doorhandles appears to be wob and rattlecan. 

Sign in the window says 'Cash Only'. 

I'm sure it's totally legit. 

thats impressive! dont get me wrong I love seeing old shite clinging on like this that has no right to be, but I do wonder why in these cases they dont just pick up a cheap newer TX4 or something thats aged out of London etc?

3 hours ago, warren t claim said:

That's a TX2. 

Locally, our oldest working cab is a 51 plate TX1.

Last month we lost our final remaining 'Dustbuster' E7.

did early TX2's still have the restricted rear windows of the TX1 then?

 

 

if it really is a TX2, and not just a TX1 rung with the identity of a TX2, I wonder if its still got a Ford engine or not LOL

[warren t claim]

Never seen a TX1 on an 02 plate.

[Datsuncog]

5 hours ago, colino said:

Simply no way private hire or taxi would be allowed here in that state.  Are Taxis free there?

No, but there's some very - shall we say specific local circumstances that apply to the Belfast taxi operating fraternity, which might not be the norm outside Northern Ireland, if you follow. 

I've told this one earlier in the thread:

There was a licencing swoop a few years back, where a couple of taxis were stopped at the bottom of Donegall Pass by the police just to check their documents.

The drivers just ran away - simply legged it, abandoning their vehicles and their confused passengers.

Initial checks showed that the number plates did not match those shown on the hackney licences, nor did they match the vehicle VIN numbers...

I've also heard tell of velcro numberplates, and a reliance on 'the MOT hack' - a sound and roadworthy black cab which doesn't actually do any taxi work, but is kept to rent out to other taxi operators around MOT/PSV time for a few hours. Maybe just the stuff of urban legend, but looking at the absolute state of some of the cabs plying for hire, I start to imagine there could be a grain of truth in  it...

[LightBulbFun]

11 minutes ago, warren t claim said:

Never seen a TX1 on an 02 plate.

yeah comes up on a TX2 on the DVLA, but i noticed its got the restricted rear door windows that you normally only see on a TX1, so Its makes me wonder if perhaps early TX2's still had those? or if theres other shenanigans going on?

[Datsuncog]

5 minutes ago, warren t claim said:

Never seen a TX1 on an 02 plate.

As stated... 

Just now, Datsuncog said:

Initial checks showed that the number plates did not match those shown on the hackney licences, nor did they match the vehicle VIN numbers...

It could be said that there's a somewhat flexible approach on the operators' part as to the permanence or otherwise of vehicle number plates on certain cabs.