Vehicle Description
1967 Austin FX4D Taxi Cab
The FX4 London taxi was the successor to the Austin FX3, (produced
between 1948 and 1958). In its day the FX4 was the most widely used
taxi in London. Like the FX3, the FX4 was designed by Austin in
collaboration with Mann & Overton, the London taxi dealership that
commissioned it, (and paid for half of its cost), and Carbodies,
the coach builder that built the body and assembled the cab ready
for sale. FX4 front steering featured Ackermann steering geometry
which allowed the car to make U-turns in just 7.6 m (25 ft), a
requirement for the narrow roads of London.
Let's put our hand in the air and summon a "hack" to take us uptown
London circa. 1967 in this Austin FXD Cab. Fresh from long term
display storage, this little people mover is complete and ready for
your capable hands to breathe some new life into it and restore it
to its former glory.
NOTE: NO TITLE-SOLD ON A BILL OF SALE ONLY
Exterior
With this taxi design the car remained virtually unchanged visually
over many years, and still today is in the minds of the world when
they think of London Taxi. Long hood, protruding fenders with a
single round headlight on each side, a rectangular mesh grille and
bumper below with "bunny ears". Plenty of mirrors to make sure when
you are doing a U-ie you don't bump oncoming or following traffic!
The Taxi light on the roof and some side hollow running lights off
of the tops of the B pillars keep you dressed for success. In back,
a spacious trunk and another bumper with the "ears" are seen. A
common pillar has the back hinged front doors and front hinged back
doors. On all 4 corners are generic black colored steel wheels with
shiny moon caps in their centers. I say! And it's all bathed in
black, as opposed to the standard yellow in the good old USA but
does show with paint loss,some dents and dings, surface rust and
staining of the paint.
Interior
Black metal sills and shredded brown vinyl make up the simple
utilitarian door panels. Shiny actuators and a window crank are
present on the front doors. Since it's a right hand drive taxi,
only the driver's side bucket is in, and room for storage is where
the passenger seat would normally be. A cabbie sliding window
separates the driver from the paying passengers, who can stretch
out in back in a wide tuck and roll brown colored vinyl full bench.
2 wide jump seats are seen folded up on the mid separating board,
and there is plenty of leg room even with these seats in the down
position. Wiggle your toes across some soiled ribbed rubber matting
in dark brown. Armrests and a pull bar helps the clientele get
comfy and have easy access and egress from the rear seating. A
mohair headliner is in stained but good condition above and lest I
forget a full metal jacket black dash is up front with round chrome
bezel Smiths Gauges, and knobs and pulls.
Drivetrain
Under the hood in an unrestored engine bay is a small inline 2.2
liter diesel 4 popper. It has fuel injection and a 4 speed manual
trans on back. A 5.125 ratio rear axle is on to take you down even
the most winding of London's roads.
Undercarriage
Unable to traverse our lift, we can only surmise theundercarriage
condition to be in the same shape as the body. What we do know as
fact is that there are independent coil springs up front and leaf
sprung rear suspension is seen. Drum braking is on all 4
corners.
Drive-Ability
This car hasn't been run in north of 10 years so I was unable to do
a test drive and we did not attempt to even crank it over.
A harken back in time when you really did not have to go that far
to see many examples old and new, (as who can tell), the body
styling remained the same for years. Get it running and start
"hacking".
Classic Auto Mall is a 336,000-square foot classic and special
interest automobile showroom, featuring over 850 vehicles for sale
with showroom space for up to 1,000 vehicles. Also, a 400 vehicle
barn find collection is on display. This vehicle is located in our
showroom in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, conveniently located just
1-hour west of Philadelphia on the I-76 Pennsylvania Turnpike. The
website is www.classicautomall.com and our phone number is (888)
227-0914. Please contact us anytime for more information or to come
see the vehicle in person.
