TCP - The car pub

The Lobby
9

It’s either a toyota or a nissan engine ( can’t remember which one ) that was purpose built for the London Cab TX1 model that was manufactured in Coventry. Doesn’t, or didn’t, go into any other vehicle.

But as I mentioned, the '51 plate (2001) was the last year they made those engines as the company decided they were now GREEN and did not want to be associated with the typical image of a cab with the big smokey diesel engine.

So it was replaced by a modified Ford Transit engine for the TX 2 model. Great engine in a Ford Transit, total sh*t in a London Cab. Only lasted until '06 plate ( 2006 ). Then replaced by some Chinese thing for the TX4 model. ( the more observant of you have just asked yourselves, “What happened to the TX3?” Good question. They never made one. Don’t know why)

Anyway, the early TX4’s engine had the confidence inspiring habit of bursting into flames. So what was the answer? Did they recall all vehicles? No, believe it or not they fitted a sprinkler system to the engine compartment. I sh*t you not.
If you went to view a £30,000 vehicle, and then discovered it had a sprinkler system fitted to it, and it wasn’t a crop spraying machine, would you buy it??

So that is why it is becoming so hard to replace parts for the pre 51 engine. Original manufacturer doesn’t make them anymore. London taxis is now owned by Geely, a Chinese company and all production was moved from Coventry to China not long ago. So now we get the cheaper Chinese version of the spares.

So that fact that the older cabs are so good, and the newer ones are not very good, means drivers tend to hold on to the older models until they die.

Believe it or not, at 500,000 miles, mine WAS still considered a run in. I think that engine is usually, with regular servicing, good for about 8 or 900,000.

10

That’s how our little pub looks like:

Outside:


Inside:


If you want a beer, grab one from the bear thread please:

http://forums.babypips.com/melting-pot/40600-beer.html

It’s a free read there! :wink:

11

Buckscoder

Can you tell me how you created the link from your post to the aircraft site. Since us boys are sharing our dreams down the pub, I thought I’d share mine. (I promise to keep it clean !!) Don’t know how to do this. This could be another IT lesson for me and you ST. LOL :slight_smile:

HoG

12

Looks like the big guy with the tattoos has parked in your space Buckscoder. I’d sort him out quick if I were you. Don’t want that sort of thing to be habit forming you know !!

13

No this guy is a good one HoG:


He will also always get free beer at our pub. Right out of his fridge, lol.

Do you know in which movie this car was used?

Regarding links, I just paste the link from my brower url field into the text. That’s it. :slight_smile:

14

Isn’t that Mad Max? Rumour has it he’s strictly a gin and tonic man !

15

Bingo!

I had gin tonic also for a while btw. Not that I do not like it anymore, but I do not drink alc. beverages very often lately. Besides a nice ale every now and then. :slight_smile:

So what is your dream?

16

Not fond of the color here, but I do love me some Mustang muscle…

The Boss 302 takes out the BMW M3 on the track, and the Shelby version is just a fire breathing monster.

It’s what I want in a year or two:D

17

Hey, nice to see you around, MT. :slight_smile:

Where have you been? Making too many pips?

I ended now as barkeeper here in this thread instead of becoming a trader, lol. Just kidding, tho.

I drove a Mustang as rental car for a day. Probably not a special version, but I was impressed.

Right now I have no idea about the car I’d wish to drive after my ole Jeep. Maybe a Jeep Wrangler convertible, lol. Something like this:


It’s not too expensive. Anyways, could also be something else. It just must be a truck. The roads down there where I drive are too bumpy and “heavy” for normal cars. My miata would probably drop into a hole at the road, lol.

After my miata I LOVE convertibles. No, I loved it before. I got a rental car as convertible back in the eighties. After that the wish was born to buy one.

18

Been around:D

More in lurk mode though.

Pip making? I ain’t uncle Ben, can’t print 'em, gotta earn them. Doing okay with it in that regard. Slow and steady wins the race;)

Jeeps are great! I love the older CJ5s, and 7s though. Those were classics. I’m kinda torn on the convertibles though. I like them, but don’t. I like a good hard top, with great sound isolation to enjoy good music while driving. Not to mention temperature extremes here are a bear to deal with.

Love the car thread idea!

Cheers!

toasts with a Paulaner Oktoberfest

19

On the other side of the garage from the Shelby GT Super Snake will be this:

You know… for the quiet nights out to dinner and back;)

And an occasional mountain drive.

It sure would inspire valet preference…

:smiley:

20

Morning all, just in from the school run. Funny you should say that - my first car was a 1968 Beetle, my father put a deposit on it in a local classic car dealer when he signed me up to driving lessons, said he would pay the balance when I passed my test, until then it just sat there, calling to me. Couple of years later I was living in the south of Germany, right on the Swiss border, and drove home for Christmas (could make a Chris Rea gag but won’t), heard a rumble out back somewhere on the French/Belgian border, pulled over and realized the motor was dead. Completed the journey on a truck, trailered it to my local specialist - third piston had impacted things it should not, made a golf ball-sized hole in metal it should not touch. £700 to have a new engine fitted, ouch.

Sounds like when they used to use Transit engines in Land Rovers, they used to give all sorts of issues. Made sure I bought a TD5 for that very reason. But would a motor from something else fit? There must be a Lexus at a breaker’s yard somewhere with £500-worth of engine sitting out front…?

I can’t shake the desire to own an American or Aussie muscle car at the moment. Not very practical for a Peak District winter so Mrs Templar is not that keen at the moment…

Indeed and the rumour is that they are making a new one. The director is apparently currently trying to decide whether Mel Gibson would be an asset or a liability.

A friend of mine has a newish Mustang in gunmetal with the black stripes, very nice. Has a sports exhaust on it, sounds like thunder.

Without wishing to come over all European on you, I think that the M3 comparison would rather depend on the track in question…

Lovely!

ST

21

OK, since we ARE talking dreams here.

When it comes to cars I think this would do me nicely :


And the dream would be driving it up this road.


Any guesses where the road is boys? Give you all a clue. A certain coloured jacket will get you into this club !

22

Love this car, can’t say anything else, just love this car !!

23

Augusta? Although I am not a golf man, much to my father-in-law’s chagrin (he is a pro).

If you buy a DB7 and squint whenever you look at it you can get the look for around twenty grand…

Best i can do for you.

ST

24

AUGUSTA !! BIngo Bango Bongo ST.

Me and my two brothers, driving up that road in the bentley convert for a round at Augusta. Happy days.

25

In my experience, all the best traders have tanglible but ambitious dreams, so hold onto that image, it will serve you well.

26

Thanks and cheers MT!

I can code em like Ben prints em, lol. Absolutely agree with the slow and steady term. :wink:

Well, my Miata was indeed a little louder but then after 12 years or so when the top was weared out I bought a new one with noise protection and I can assure you it was like any other car regarding noise if not better. The metal of a limousine on top won’t protect you from noise anyways. What does is the textile below. If you buy a soft top which has a good noise protection and has a thicker textile that’s the key. It was not even expensive. I bought it for $350. It even had a heated and tinted rear glass window where the original was just cheap pvc. Mounted it for myself, though.

ST, funny thing is my beetle was also from 1968 I guess. The reason for that 3. cylinder culprit is what I read in a book a cooling problem. As the engine is cooled by just air it flows great around all but the 3. cylinder and particular where the gaskets of the valves are located. Then the valve stem gets too hot, breaks, valve falls into the combustion chamber and there ya go.

Well regarding big cars/trucks the best would probably be to move to the origin of all that. That’s why my destination lies in the states. Particular in the southern part. Everything is minimum twice as big as in UK. The houses. The cars/trucks. The roards. Everything! :slight_smile:

I see … Maybe I should buy this special Miata southern style:


HoG that is doable. Definitely! I see you are also a convertible lover. Cheers!

I drove a lot of DB. Born in the country of origin it’s probably difficult to avoid that, lol. Albeit most drive VW and many dream to drive a BMW. Those DB or DC as it is now serve well. Had a 8 chambers 350 SE already:

i003385.jpg700×392 48 KB

Nice car that time. The engine sounds like that of my Jeep. Like an electrical engine.

I drove with that often long distance with an average speed of hold your breath 260 km/h. Just flying was better so far, lol.

27

Laguna Seca Raceway was the track.

It has right turns as well:D

28

Cool video, thanks for posting. When growing up, Brands Hatch (Kent, SE England) was just down the road from me, so I was there quite a lot, would be fun trying to squeeze the Boss round there! Lost the rights to F1 years ago basically because the cars wouldn’t fit round any more without major safety work. I have taken a Formula Ford round there, size suits the track better but still feels pretty tight in places.

Like the 302 in the video. I’ve only had a brief go in my friend’s Mustang (and while it was a V8 it was nowhere near the Boss) and it was amazing how different it felt from my regular cars. Plan to hire one next time I’m in the States so I get more of an extended test drive.