Long before the advent of the internal combustion engine, someone came up with the idea of using a wheeled vehicle to carry people to where they wanted to go in exchange for money or some other form of payment. But if you ask us, it wasn’t until the dawn of the automobile and its first use as wheels-for-hire that thetaxitruly came of age. Today, motorized cabs are pretty much a part of the scenery in every major city on earth.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of taxis are based on plain, unexciting vehicles possessing as much soul as a washing machine filled with soybeans. However, if you want your fare to buy some flair, there are some decidedly enticing options out there. Not convinced? Check out these 20 cool cabs and get back to us
Checker Marathon
No conversation about taxis is complete without at least one mention of the venerable Checker Marathon. Despite its 1950s styling, the Kalamazoo, Michigan built Marathon was actually introduced in 1961, and remained largely unchanged (aside from the switch to Continental straight-six engines to Chevrolet sixes and V8s in 1965) until the last one was made in 1982! Despite this (or maybe because of it), the Marathon managed to become the archetypal American cab.
Volkswagen Beetle
Considering its status as one of the most popular cars of all time, it’s no surprise VW’s first model has served as a taxi. And nowhere was it more prolific in serving as a taxi as it was in Mexico City. The city used to be crawling with green-and-white “Vochos”; now, just a handful are left, and all will be gone by January 1, 2013. Why? A new safety regulation requiring cabs to have four doors will go into effect then, and the Bugs will not be able to get their licenses renewed. No bueno.
Porsche Panamera Turbo
The Germans love their domestic auto industry, so much so that many of the Fatherland’s taxis are sedans (and wagons) from BMW, Audi, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz. And there’s at least one Porsche Panamera Turbo that’s donned the rooftop sign and beige paint. We aren’t sure how beneficial a boomingtwin-turbo V8 and AWD are in city traffic (or with a national speed limit for taxis of 75 mph), but the thought of a 500hp Porsche taxi does make us smile.
Tuk-tuk
A staple of public transportation in Thailand, the tuk-tuk (derived from the sound these typically two-stroke-powered three wheelers make) is a vehicle that serves multiple roles. Not only does it carry passengers, but many tuk-tuks in Bangkok are used to deliver fresh produced to markets early in the morning. They aren’t the fastest, roomiest or most comfortable taxis on the planet, but we think they’re cool in the way they’re taxis that have been distilled down to their most basic elements: Wheels. Engine. Seats.
Hindustan Ambassador
India’s Hindustan Motors began building Series III Morris Oxfords under the Ambassador nameplate in 1958, and hasn’t stopped since. And the Ambassador’s parts availability, durability, simplicity and practicality have made it a favorite among the Subcontinent’s cabbies almost since the first ones rolled out of the factory.
Maserati Quattroporte
Maserati can hardly be considered a blue collar car brand, so imagine our surprise when we saw this late model Quattroporte serving as a taxi in Wroclaw, Poland. We like to think its driver lets his fares hear some of the 4.7L V8’s music as they watch the fourth largest city in Polska pass by their window. We know that’s what we would do.
Italdesign Alfa Romeo New York Taxi
In the mid-1970s, there was a great deal of interest in reinventing the taxi into a stylish, space-efficient urban runabout. One of the companies that offered up a way to do this was Italdesign, the styling studio cofounded by Giorgetto Giugiaro. Using components and other assistance from Alfa Romeo, this boxy, min-minivan of sorts was drastically smaller than the typical New York City taxi of the era, and was also designed from the outset to be wheelchair compatible. Sadly, this stylish people mover never reached production, but more than a few of the ideas contained within it lived on in the first modern minivans of about a decade later.
Holden FC
Many American visitors to Australia in the late 1950s probably did double takes when they passed the taxi stands at the airport. They would see what looked a lot like 1955Chevrolet4-door sedans, but smaller. In actuality, these wereFC-series Holdens, so the family resemblance to the first of the Tri-Five Chevys was exactly that: Familial. Even today, 52 years after the last FCs were built, Aussies still wax poetic about these classic workhorses (unless they’reFordfans, of course). Maybach 62
While Daimler AG’s (nee DaimlerChrysler’s, nee Daimler-Benz’s) revival of the Maybach brand was, by almost all metrics, an unmitigated flop, it did have one notable high point on its resume. A luxury taxi (Yes, there is such a thing) company in Moscow bought a Maybach62 (the long wheelbase version) and pressed it into service for carting around wealthy residents of and visitors to Russia’s capital. As far as we can tell, that’s one claim Rolls-Royce and Bentley can’t make. Coco Taxi
Motorized rickshaws can be found in many parts of the world. As already pointed out, Thailand has the tuk-tuk, but Cuba has the Coco Taxi. Looking like Pac Man as drawn by a motorcycle nut hopped up on hallucinogens, these little runabouts are amusing ways to get around the capital city of Havana. Not amusing enough to make us renounce our U.S. citizenship so we can go there and ride in one, mind you, but amusing nonetheless. Source
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