He is called Mr. Jones, and he has done this work before.
Built in March 1965, he worked London’s streets as a licensed taxi from May 1965 to May 1975. Then four years hauling hay to the cows on a farm southwest of London, before he became the Jones family car and crossed to Texas in 1981. After 27 years in storage, a 30 month frame up restoration brought him back to the way he left the factory, down to a working meter that still counts fares in shillings and pence.
Sixty years on, he is ready for Winston-Salem.
01
Kerbside
Licensed in London in 1965, and still wearing his original London plates.
Most London cabs were black, but London never required them to be.
02
Step in
Licensed to carry four, with a platform beside the driver for the luggage.
The glass partition does more than keep the conversation private. The FX4 rides on a separate chassis, and the divider between driver and passengers stiffens the body.
03
Under the bonnet
Diesel, with a manual gearbox.
11%
of London’s registered cabs in 1970 had a diesel engine and a manual gearbox. He is one of them.
In service, London’s annual taxi inspection meant steam cleaning the engine bay and painting it black. After the rebuild, it went back to Austin green.
Four concessions to modern roads
Air conditioning, with a 12 volt electric compressor
A 90 amp alternator in place of the generator
One 12 volt battery in place of two 6 volt batteries
Seat belts in the passenger compartment
04
Papers
His London provenance, one piece in metal and one in print.
Mann & Overton Ltd, 298 Wandsworth Bridge Road, London S.W.6. Telephone Renown 4484.
Mann & Overton, the London taxi dealer, designed the FX4 with Austin and the coachbuilder Carbodies. It replaced the FX3, built from 1948 to 1959.
METROPOLITAN POLICEFARE TABLE
The first 900 yards, or the first five minutes
2s
Each additional 450 yards, or two and a half minutes
6d
Each animal not in a basket
3d
Night charge, 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.
9d
Two children under the age of ten years count as one person.
London fares, in shillings and pence.
Also aboard: reproductions of the road tax disc issued to this cab in 1965, on the windscreen, and of a London cab driver’s licence badge.
05
After dark
The roof sign and the meter both still light up.
06
Occasions
Coming soon for weddings, proms and special events across Greater Winston-Salem.