London taxi purchase - advice please!
Discussion
Hi, new on here, been reading ph for about 6 months.
I had a black cab and I had so much fun driving it back in 2007.
The cab was an 1989 g plate fairway with 304,000 miles.
It did about 20 -25 miles to the gallon!
I bought the black cab for £200, it had no mot and the rear diff had broken teeth but still manage to drive.
I was advised by the seller that the rear diff is the same on LDV 400 series vans.
I knew a scrap yard had the axle lying around!
Bought it for £50 then swapped diff, perfect! Then bought 4 new taxi tyres for £100 then moted it.
Bullet proof 2.7 Nissan with 3 speed and over drive switch.
Driven it to France and still managed to put about £150 worth of wine in boot!
Oh even was advised to insure with tesco, about £200 fully comp.
I did think about buying another, I would like the very last models rolled off, would be r plates (1997 ish)
I will be keeping an eye on here.
Cheers.
I had a black cab and I had so much fun driving it back in 2007.
The cab was an 1989 g plate fairway with 304,000 miles.
It did about 20 -25 miles to the gallon!
I bought the black cab for £200, it had no mot and the rear diff had broken teeth but still manage to drive.
I was advised by the seller that the rear diff is the same on LDV 400 series vans.
I knew a scrap yard had the axle lying around!
Bought it for £50 then swapped diff, perfect! Then bought 4 new taxi tyres for £100 then moted it.
Bullet proof 2.7 Nissan with 3 speed and over drive switch.
Driven it to France and still managed to put about £150 worth of wine in boot!
Oh even was advised to insure with tesco, about £200 fully comp.
I did think about buying another, I would like the very last models rolled off, would be r plates (1997 ish)
I will be keeping an eye on here.
Cheers.
Whenever I have looked at it the advice is as late as possible for the classic taxi, and the Nissan engine.
One thing that bothered me is the stated top speed is relatively low, presumably due to high gearing? I'd assume the economy is pretty poor on motorway runs.
The newer TX series is pretty cheap these days though, I believe they were all-new so for reliability/comfort etc. it might be a better bet, even if it doesn't have the classic look.
There was a TX1 on Autotrader a few years ago, it was ex-police undercover use and therefore immaculate and only 91k on the clock!
One thing that bothered me is the stated top speed is relatively low, presumably due to high gearing? I'd assume the economy is pretty poor on motorway runs.
The newer TX series is pretty cheap these days though, I believe they were all-new so for reliability/comfort etc. it might be a better bet, even if it doesn't have the classic look.
There was a TX1 on Autotrader a few years ago, it was ex-police undercover use and therefore immaculate and only 91k on the clock!
Dont have anything to add, but one of the related ebay ads is this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Magic-carpet-Barn-find/1...
ROFL
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Magic-carpet-Barn-find/1...
ROFL
Notadoctor, I notice you are a man of Kent.
I noticed last time I drove through Pembury TN2, that the old bodyshop place near the green is now a car dealers.
They seemed to have lots of weird and wonderful stuff in there like old jags and beetles, but there was a fleet of black cabs at the front.
If nothing else you could have a look at a few and I'm going to guess the guy trading there knows a bit about them.
I noticed last time I drove through Pembury TN2, that the old bodyshop place near the green is now a car dealers.
They seemed to have lots of weird and wonderful stuff in there like old jags and beetles, but there was a fleet of black cabs at the front.
If nothing else you could have a look at a few and I'm going to guess the guy trading there knows a bit about them.
First series, early ones had drum brakes all round and had horrific stopping distances due to the weight. Idea was that high braking force would throw passengers around in the rear. ( From the mouth of one of the LTI design team, I took home one night. ). I'd like to think that this conversation led to the change to discs on front, and I believe a load switch on the rear brakes. Other problem include the rear end being lively in anything but dry conditions( handling more akin to a Moggy 1000,than any modern vehicle), not nice in windy conditions or on bumpy roads at any speed due to low geared steering. ALWAYS stand upwind of the fuel filler when filling, as when almost full , wind across the filler siphons fuel out. LTI R &D did look at pneumatic rear suspension, but it never took off. ( I worked for a firm that looked after part of the phone system in the factory ,and as I had gotten to know my way round, I got most of the jobs of moving extensions/ providing new ones etc.). LTI- a great bunch of blokes with an old fashioned pride in their product.
I have a fleet of these in London. Started as I had a fairway as my first car. Your main problem on a fairway will be rust and water getting in everywhere, including footwell and through the sunroof if it has one.
You'll likely only find later fairways now as earlier drum brake ones are virtually extinct. All fairways came off the road at least a year ago apart from rare R regs but they demand a high price. If you get a tx1 they will have only just come off so would be in a better condition.
Tx1's are coming off now due to the 15 year age limit and I've got 5 sitting around if your interested PM me, also got 4 fairways.
There aren't many problems that a basic mechanic can't solve on these as the engine just needs an oil change every 6k and that's about it. Also if your in Kent there's loads of taxi only garages not far from you.
You'll likely only find later fairways now as earlier drum brake ones are virtually extinct. All fairways came off the road at least a year ago apart from rare R regs but they demand a high price. If you get a tx1 they will have only just come off so would be in a better condition.
Tx1's are coming off now due to the 15 year age limit and I've got 5 sitting around if your interested PM me, also got 4 fairways.
There aren't many problems that a basic mechanic can't solve on these as the engine just needs an oil change every 6k and that's about it. Also if your in Kent there's loads of taxi only garages not far from you.
www.lemans-or-bust.com
That sort of sums up my experiences with a Fairway FX4 - slow, uncomfortable, noisy...but an enormous hoot all the same despite its foibles!
Cheers,
Tom
That sort of sums up my experiences with a Fairway FX4 - slow, uncomfortable, noisy...but an enormous hoot all the same despite its foibles!
Cheers,
Tom
Le Mans seems to be a black hole for cabs. I took the one below and we got rear ended in Rouen on the way back which wrote it off. The strength saved our lines though, we were doing 45 and got hit at 80 right where my mate was sitting and he was fine. It took the front suspension off the car that hit us.
Nissan took one to Le Mans 2 years ago to put on their stand and that gave up on the way. In the trade though you don't hear of any problems with the Nissan engine and some have done 800000. I had one seize up as the radiator had a hole in, waited 30 mins and it fired up no problem.
Nissan took one to Le Mans 2 years ago to put on their stand and that gave up on the way. In the trade though you don't hear of any problems with the Nissan engine and some have done 800000. I had one seize up as the radiator had a hole in, waited 30 mins and it fired up no problem.
KAgantua said:
Dont have anything to add, but one of the related ebay ads is this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Magic-carpet-Barn-find/1...
ROFL
I saw this too - a great Q&A sectionhttp://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Magic-carpet-Barn-find/1...
ROFL
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