A friend of mine is visiting New York City. Although a taxi in New York is hardly an unusual sight, my friend recognized that one like this certainly is. My question to the CCognescenti: is this a real NYC cab? Or something being used in a television or movie shoot?
First, the basics. The car is a 1972 Ford. I am guessing Galaxie 500 based on 1) the lack of the swaths of chrome that covered the rust adorned the LTD and 2) it appears to be a full four door hardtop. The low level Custom/Custom 500 only came as a traditional four door sedan.
The whitewalls and full wheelcovers also make this car look a little nicer than the basic taxi-spec cars many of us remember from that era.
So is this a real taxi? My friend observed someone getting into the cab and the Ford heading into Manhattan traffic – just the way a real taxi would do it. I suppose there is a market for such things among tourists, but I would imagine that an old Checker cab would be so much more authentic.
As a counterpoint, these Fords were Olympic-level rusters and I have a hard time imagining that someone would press a vehicle like this into front-line cab duty in 2018. And yes, this photo was taken within the last few days, as you can see the modern Toyota cab photobombing the un-cropped scene. And there seem to be a couple of other photos of this car online.
My guess is that this is a movie car of the kind that drives people like us crazy – a whitewall/wheelcover/four door hardtop taxi. Something that I am guessing never existed in 1972 New York. What say you?
My city sets a maximum age of 10 model years or an odometer reading of 300,000 kms (186,000 miles) for licensed taxis. I would be surprised if NYC doesn’t have an age/mileage limit for cabs.
Sorry, I just checked my city’s bylaws, for confirmation. For licenced taxis, the maximum age is 8 model years. For Uber taxis, it is 10 model years.
I’m with you, JP, it seems too nice to be anything but a movie prop. But you’d think the filmmakers would want it to look a bit used: Take off the wheelcovers and put on blackwall tires. PossibIe that someone got Gramma’s old car and decided to have some fun.
Well it does have some style. Probably pollutes more than 1000 of those Priuses. Or Priii. Oops, I think I accidentally defended the Prius! Stupid ugly thing. There, I feel better.
Prius forever —
Or, at least 10 years ……. the length of time I’ve had the pleasure of driving my base model ’08 (= no back-up camera), bought during Cash For Clunkers & $4.25 gas.
It is undoubtedly NOT real. Most likely a movie or TV shoot. The specifics of the car itself rule out any authenticity, but this area of Manhattan also has a sort of timelessness about it that makes it ripe for period shots like this. The architecture and overall streetscape there is perfect for the period that this car came from. Also, being parked right under a very distinct street sign, thus imprinting the location for film or still photography. It’s a prop of some sort, whether intended to be filmed in action or for an “exterior shot” to set a period tone.
Well, if it is a movie shot, they’ve got a mixed message going on decade-wise … the car behind which the ’72 Galaxie is parked looks to be a mid-eighties Mercury Marquis.
And there’s the aforementioned annoying photo-bomb by the Prius cab…
It’s not a movie shot. A friend of JPs snapped a pic of the car when he randomly encountered it.
I know that, I just meant that maybe it was being set up as a movie shot.
Who knows? Since you can get anything in New York as they say, perhaps there’s a business called “Nostalgic Taxi Rides” or something where you can ride in a classic, although I would think the ride of choice would be a Checker Marathon; even better with Marilu Henner or Judd Hirsch at the wheel. ;o)
Maybe don’t get in if De Niro is driving.
And there is, in fact, a tour company that gives private tours of the city using restored Checker cabs: http://www.checkercabtours.com/
My thinking is that it IS a movie car but is being used privately at that moment and NOT on location.
I’d be more likely to ride in it and pay regular taxi rates precisely BECAUSE of what it is. I don’t get many chances to partake in the splendor of early 70’s American rides anymore.
Movie / TV prop. Back in late ’80s early ’90s I worked and live in Orlando Fl. Several movie scenes where filmed downtown, Even though the movies weren’t depicted as being in Florida. Passenger 57, lethal weapon 3, one scene of which was actually filmed in the building I worked in.et.al. Downtown workers got used to seeing old or classic cars parked around the streets after business hours. You could always tell. Had fake plastic license plates. Law firm I paralegaled in had a client that leased classic and period correct vehicles to movie and TV production companies. Had an old Winn-Dixie grocery store he used as a warehouse. Was a real treat to visit on business and check out the cars nd trucks and bikes
A similar vehicle in what appears to be a period photograph –
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/DDEAKX/1970s-new-york-yellow-taxi-nyc-usa-DDEAKX.jpg
The fashions and signs seem to make it a modern photograph to me, but I could be wrong.
Good eye. I agree with your assessment, the storefront graphics and the attire are all recent. I had simply focused on the lineup of vehicles…
Bingo! I found the same shot, along with another of that same cab where there was a modern car in the shot. In the shot you linked to, it’s clearly part of a movie set, with other vintage cars and a bus (and no traffic, a give-away. When was the last time there was an empty block of street in mid-Manhattan?) Look closely and you can see a pedestrian taking a picture of the Ford.
The only odd thing is that the ’72 in these two pictures has somewhat different signage painted on it than the one in JPC’s post. Maybe it was repainted recently? Otherwise, the odds are very high of it being the same car.
Here’s one of the shots I found of that ’72:
And the other. It’s clearly a prop.
No real cab would be operating under the name “Taxi Cab Service.” Also, real-life taxis were never four-door hardtops; they would be much less durable than cars with B-pillars. (I suppose the Ford photo at the top could be a pillared hardtop also offered in ’72, but I don’t think so.)
“(I suppose the Ford photo at the top could be a pillared hardtop also offered in ’72, but I don’t think so.)”
I looked up a 72 Ford brochure. It appears that the sedan came as a Custom, Custom 500 or Galaxie 500. The 4 door hardtop came as a Galaxie 500 or as an LTD. The pillared hardtop was for the LTD only. If the car is original, the minimal trim and 4 door hardtop body make it pretty clear that this is a Galaxie 500. But then again, a lot can happen with a car in 45 years so it might be possible that this is a de-chromed LTD with Galaxie 500 trim added back on. But I doubt it.
Another thing I spot JPC is that the picture Paul just posted showing the back end (and Radio City Music Hall) clearly sports the bumper of an LTD, while the original photo for the post is a Galaxie (or lower trim) bumper. Notice the red center reflector strip… That denotes the difference between the LTD and the lesser cars.
Different car? Or the possibility of a bumper swap? As you say, “a lot can happen with a car in 45 years”.
I posted some more info in Paul’s 1972 Taxi post, but the actual Ford Taxi package offered from the factory was only available on the Custom and Custom 500. So this would definitely not have been a taxi package car. That said, I am sure many smaller towns and citys used regular cars (non-taxi package) as taxis.
Exactly. In second grade I watched a film from Ford Motor Company which showed them making fleet-duty 1971 Fords (we had purchased a 1971 LTD Brougham in August of 1970 so I knew what they looked like), and they had full door frames, no center taillight, no chrome, no rocker panels, and dog-dish hubcaps on paint-matched wheels. In real life, I don’t know if I have ever seen a 1971-72 Ford in that low of a trim level!
The one you posted has trim in front of the front wheels and behind the rear wheels and the black paint stripe appears to be to make up for the fact that it is missing from the doors. It is also missing the front wheel opening trim.
The one in the post has the bright rocker trim and doesn’t have the upper trim. I can’t imagine they are the same car as I don’t see them adding factory trim that wasn’t on the car when they obtained it.
I was perplexed by the noticeable difference between the two ‘72 LTD taxi-cabs. But only for a minute. I’m going with Paul on this and they’re both obviously props.
To us at CC, the cars are noticeably, but not obviously, different. To the average movie or TV viewer, they’re likely to be indistinguishable. Remember, when movie and TV productions feature a certain vehicle, they always have at least two, in case of damage or repairs.
One of my favorite films, “White Lightening” starring Burt Reynolds, the featured car was a ‘71 Custom 500 sedan. There were three units, and one appeared to be a Galaxie 500. Another Burt film, “Smokey and the Bandit” featured a ‘77 Trans Am. Again, there were three. You can pick them off by the displacement call outs on the shaker scoop. Three different motors, just as Pontiac had offered.
Another clue is the Ford Galaxie is a hardtop, and 99.9% of taxi/cop fleets are/were “post sedans”.
When I visited MYC in summer ’83, seemed like cabs were evenly split between the Big 3. Impala/Ford Panther/Mopar M Body.
I think the owner of the retro taxi needs to arrange a wheel/tire swap with the owner of this 72 LTD.
Having got used to seeing Australian taxis, always Falcons T model, seeing one with four matching wheels meant it was new, a flat tyre meant another wheel and retread from stock would be bolted on, bolt pattern was all that mattered.
When I was a kid I had Matchbox car that was 1964 Chevrolet Impala 4-door hardtop taxi. It was cute, but it bugged me that it was an Impala 4-door hardtop. Even I knew that taxi cabs were not 4-door hardtops, but cheap Biscayne 4-door sedans.
The whitewalls are the biggest mystery here. They’re not readily available anymore, except from companies that make or license tires for classic cars like Coker, and those are expensive. Whether it’s a movie-set car, a real taxi, or someone who just wants to drive a car that looks like an old taxi, why would they spend lots of money to get whitewall tires that make it look inauthentic? Or are standard blackwalls not available in the needed size anymore?
Yes, this one looks to be a prop. Back in the seventies, I spent a lot of time in mid-town although I almost never took a cab. Local’s know it’s almost always faster and cheaper to take the subway. Some medallion cabs did have things like whitewall tires, wheel covers and upgraded trim. These were cabs generally operated by individual owners rather than by fleets. The fleet cabs usually ran 24/7 since they had to cover the one time cost of a medallion (about as much as a house). Many owner operators had inherited a medallion from a time when they were first issued or when they were less expensive and would spend on things like air-conditioning that fleet cabs generally did not have back then.This meant better tips and also was more comfortable for the drivers who got to keep all they made for themselves. Customers sought out A/C cabs in the New York summers! Things to look for were tinted glass, Ventishades, whitewall tires, (often Michelins) and better trim. Some even had signage indicating that they were A/C equipped.
Late to the party, but end of the mystery. I just saw this car on a show called
“The Deuce”, season 2 ep 9.
Produced by David Simon, of “The Wire” and “Treme” fame, it chronicles the tawdry
70’s era Times Square sex and pornography industry.
More info here
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4998350/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt