Hasta La Ideas

This is not going to be a car blog, but while we are on the subject of London and road transport, we cannot but mention the classic London taxis. They are, at least from a passenger’s point of view, in our opinion the best taxi vehicles ever designed. They are easily accessible, even for disabled persons, they are roomy, comfortable and have lots of space for luggage. The classic London cab has reportedly been made in over 100,000 examples since the first FX series was introduced right after WWII. The taxis are manufactured by LTI – London Taxis International, and the model we are most familiar with is the Fairway, introduced in 1981. The TX I and TX II came in 1997 and 2002 respectively. The brand new TX4 (there is no information as to what happened to the # III) is the latest addition. Interestingly, during our few days in London recently, we saw several examples of all the three latest incarnations. That would mean that the Fairways we saw in the street could be 25 years old and still running. That is quite impressive given that a London taxi averages some 70,000 miles a year. LTI is reportedly experiencing a growing demand from other parts of the world, and sales are reported to increase. There is even a US sales company. A new TX4 Driver sells in England from GBP 26.995:- (about USD 53,000:-) with a stick shift. The TX4 Gold is GBP 35,880:- (about USD 70,000:-) with an automatic at Mann Overton. If that is too steep, you can always get the beautiful 18th scale model Fairway taxi for USD 96:- or EUR 84:30. More on the history of London taxis here and here.brbr