Where to, Guv? The Black Cab Story Buy. The London Cabbie Buy. London Taxis at War Buy. Read more about motoring history Show more books. Motorcycles We Loved in the s Buy. Sir Henry Royce Buy. The Touring Caravan Story Buy. VanLifers Buy. Blitz Motorcycles Buy. Going Classic Buy. But while the Morris Oxford was the first to arrive in , it was the Austin FX3 - built by Carbodies of Coventry - that created the template for the familiar London black cab.
Thanks to booming sales, Austin developed a 2. Its replacement, the FX4, arrived in and would go on to be a common sight for the best part of five decades. Having bought the production rights from Austin in the early s, Carbodies had little budget to develop a new model and was forced to update the FX4 with new drivetrains.
Among the most popular with cabbies was the Nissan TD27 diesel, which was offered in the Fairway model. Helped by the introduction of compulsory wheelchair access, the Nissan-powered Fairway remains a favourite with many London taxi drivers to this day. New regulations which restrict the use of taxis over 15 years old will result in the disappearance of these iconic models from the Capital's roads in the next few months. The same Nissan engine went on to power the Fairway's replacement - the retro-styled TX1.
Now, we see the first real challenger to the TX family arrive on London's streets. But black cabs have been manufactured in Coventry since , when Carbodies started making the FX3 taxicab. The FX3, by the way, came in black as standard — the colour stuck.
That's right, while we're slapping ourselves on the back for the ' revolutionary ' electric taxis churned out of Coventry, Walter C.
Bersey's London Electrical Cab Co. The fleet of 'Hummingbirds' was so-called because of the gentle noise they made, and their black and yellow livery. Said the Dundee Evening Telegraph , "It has been ascertained by test that [the battery power] is sufficient for running 50 miles — about day's work — although not continuously at the highest speed.
London wasn't yet ready for the electric revolution. The highly-reputable Dictionary of London Phrase and Fable suggests cites a long-held belief that the 'hackney' epithet was derived from the French word haquenee — which means 'trotting horse' the kind of horse that used to be hired out. Taxis, too are hired out and used to be pulled by horses — so there's your etymology. BUT the book also suggests that actual Hackney in actual east London was once such a green and pleasant land, that it was FAMED for its horse-grazing pastures, and the French nicked 'haquenee' from there, sometime after they invaded in That's another theory, anyway.
The second was in when there were fuel shortages and during the First and Second world wars. At the time, young men who could drive taxis were also seen as quite fit for military duty.
Thus, most of the cab drivers were called into the Service of the British Forces to defend their country from invasion. The making of the vehicles was also suspended as the factories were converted into munitions production plants. During the inter-war period, the industry boomed. It led to new developments such as the production of the first Austin vehicle in Based on this success, the Austin became quite successful.
Austin went on to produce the FX3 black cab in Here is a bit more about the war periods and the period after that. The cab was quite sturdy and luxurious for a taxi. In , Citroen introduced an updated version of a model produced pre-war.
At the time, there was an attempt to present a lower tariff, but it faced a lot of opposition. However, it did succeed eventually. This new low tariff had a significant negative on the industry, which was also feeling the effects of the great depression that had hit the world.
In , the Austin Car was introduced on the streets of London. The car became an immediate success and rivalled the cabs made by Beardmore. The company launched a cheaper model in that proved quite a success. When the Second World War started, most of the young men were whisked away to war as mentioned previously. It had a significant impact on the taxi business.
Most pre-war models had been discontinued, and there was a dire need for new taxis. In , Austin introduced the FX3. It ran on a petrol engine, which proved uneconomical for the time. A conversion to a diesel engine was launched in The popular Austin FX4 came into production in Since then, it has undergone little change and has been prying the roads of London for over 50 years. Austin also introduced a Hire Car version of this model, which they name the FL2 that they built between and stopped production in They briefly re-introduced it in the 80s as the London Limousine, but it did not enjoy commercial success.
The FX4 has been in production for many years with slight modifications and different engines. The main reason was that its parent companies just did not have the money to make a replacement.
It is another model of the London.
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