The Iconic London Taxi

Since I've always enjoyed the comfort of a London taxi, I wanted to share an article about it by someone who apparently has appreciated it since childhood as well.

Cultural Icon: The London Taxi

When I was young, one of my favorite places to visit was London. No, it wasn't to see the Beefeaters or Buckingham Palace. It had a lot more to do with London's transportation systems, namely the red double-decker and the ubiquitous black London taxi. (Incidentally, there is no requirement or law that says that the taxis have to be black, they simply are black by tradition.)
Hackney cabs, as they are ….

I owned a rare LHD taxi for awhile. It was in rough shape. I had just started restoring it when we decided to move over here.


UK Taxis are still assembled in Coventry, but the many of the parts come from China. My guess is that LTI couldn't or didn't want to replace their ageing sheet metal presses and labor intensive body shop. Unlike most cars, Taxi bodies are welded by hand. They have a set of jigs and clamps and weld them up. The Taxi body shells are all built in China now.

I've ridden in a new LTI TX4 with the Chinese body. I couldn't tell the difference.

I remember my surprise when I saw a red one the first time. Now they are shrink wrapped with adverts for almost anything.

Cheers

Big dispute in London over use of Bus lanes. London Taxis are allowed to use the bus lanes, but private hire taxis are not. This has led to the unlikely coalition of bicycle riders and London Taxi drivers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/a...?newsfeed=true