Taxi cabs were once primarily the domain of the more affluent segment of society, as regular folks took public transportation. That’s why fine big cars like Packards, DeSotos and Checkers were typically used, at least in New York, where the regulations required a long wheelbase car with additional room in the back.
Here’s Packard’s offerings for 1948: a regular wb sedan, and a “New York-type Limousine Cab”. More details below:
The sedan-type Cab presumably was a variant of the basic “Eight” series, and would have come with the small-block 288 CID straight eight.
And the “New York-type” would be a variant of the Super Eight 7-passenger sedan/limo, with the large 327 CID eight.
At one time, I owned a 1948 Packard sedan (not a taxi), with the 180 HP 4 bbl carb, and 3 speed OD trans. Also had a 57 Pontiac 8 door “Airport” Limousine.
The whole taxicab episode of Packard’s history was notably unsuccessful, ended in the failure of Packard Federal and losses from unfulfilled contracts. The in-depth history is told in the book Packard 1948 to 1950 by Robert J. Neal. Included is the history from the start with the purpose-built taxis in 1941.
There are no known pre-war Packard taxi survivors, one or two of the 22nd Series Sedan-type cabs and a sole New York-type lwb cab now in the restoration process. This video is the only place where the pre-war Packard cabs can be seen.
What a video. I can almost smell the very visible exhausts, and it seems pedestrians were a lot more aggressive and braver (or foolhardy) then than now.
Agree about the pedestrians, which is surprising given how bad these cars’ brakes were.
Previous posting of the video here:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/vintage-photo-1940-checker-model-a-landaulet-open-top-bizarre-front-end/
Includes interesting comments.
A period photo of a NYC taxi:
https://www.junipergallery.com/galleryview.php?targetnode=9136&height=1683&width=2400&targetttl=Home%20of%20the%20Brave&picurl=SHORPY-N4-038A.jpg
I recall reading about the 1940s Packard cabs before. Evidently, the reason for some of the odd-sounding wording in this brochure (“for cities where special partitions are not required”) is due to arcane regulations in New York City’s taxi laws that kept cabs ridiculously large in the immediate post-war years. Also, Packard tried marketing the smaller “sedan-type cab” in New York City in 1946, calling it the “post-war taxi,” but their design was rejected by City authorities.
That 1946 Packard taxi could seat three passengers in the back and two in the front seat. However, NYC regulations required (among other things) the driver be separated from all passengers by a glass partition. Packard’s answer was to enclose the driver in a small glass-enclosed area. The NYC police however, ruled that passengers couldn’t sit in the front seat of a cab for any reason, so Packard couldn’t sell those cars in New York, and in fact no one could operate smaller cabs in NYC for several years after WWII.
Hence, the “New York-type Limousine Cab” in this brochure, which was huge. I think those rules were finally amended somewhat in the early 1950s.
Studebaker had a solution to NYC’s arcane taxicab regulations as per these May, 1963 executive boardroom minutes. https://www.studebaker-info.org/Lamberti/lamberti06May1963.html
under Taxicab Operator’s Meeting
Thanks for the link to the 1964 Studebaker internal paper that includes the NYC taxi comment below. I find it interesting that a major car manufacturer would cheat the city of New York’s taxi and limo commission inspection process by “pounding the floor pan down on a unit to get clearance, and then taking that cab down to get it okayed”. So I guess no one in NYC T&LC ever bothered to measure any of the production cabs to see if they did meet requirements! What amazed me is they apparently were able to get away with this for FOUR YEARS!
Here’s the specific section from that Studebaker memorandum . . .
“There’s a change in the cab specifications for the city, and we will get a copy as soon as it is released. One change will concern the floor well; the city is trying to eliminate personal injury complaints so they are trying to eliminate the floor well. Our car doesn’t meet the specification for the distance from the seat to the roof (we’re short about 1½”). We have been short for about the last 4 years, but we have been pounding the floor pan down on a unit to get clearance and then taking that cab down to get it okayed. We’re not sure we’ll be able to do that this year.”
Great find! Long wheel-based version has a touch of European flair, in the rear quarter area.
This subject got me pondering, whether Chrysler could have better purposed their LeBaron K-Car-based Executive Limousines, as premium taxis. Decontented, with perhaps a slightly shortened wheelbase, and all-vinyl interiors. It would have served as a very public, daily PR example, for the corporation’s comeback.
If New York was using Aspens, Volares, and Diplomats, for their cabs then, surely there might be a place for this spacious premium taxi. That would be stingier on gas, than the F-Bodies and Impalas, with the standard 2.2 or 2.6 litre fours.
Prepared a quick Photoshop. Suggested working example, would have a slightly shortened wheelbase.
It would have been perceived/remembered as a practical, and cool cab, in this role. Rather, than a ridiculed poseur limousine, as its lasting legacy.
I don’t think that anemic engine in those K-cars would have stood up to severe taxi use.
Other than some head gasket issues, the 2.2 litre was a robust, if rough, engine. My 2.2 litre lasted 350,000 kms+ with no significant repairs. Well-maintained, using synthetic oil.
There’s a reason, some nicknamed the 2.2 litre, the ‘Slant Six of the 80s’.
K-Cars were generally considered better built, without the driveability issues, of pre-’78 F-Bodies.
A reviewer once called the Chrysler 2.2 “raucous but reliable”. My 1988 Horizon went 130K miles but did have a head gasket replacement at about 100K. The end of its life had nothing to do with the engine.
In Horizons the relatively large torquey engine went well with the Torqueflite and enabled it to have a long axle ratio for lower rpm cruising than other subcompact 3 speed (with lockup) automatics of the time.
Chrysler got back into the low-priced limo/taxi market in a BIG way with the minivan. Best move the corporation ever made.
Not sure about the US market, but for some reason taxi fleets here in my part of Canada, were slow to adopt minivans. Certainly, in the mid to late 80s.
Still much less hip/shoulder inside than the competition.
I don’t know the stats, but how many taxi rides involve three or more people? Perhaps shuttling drunks on a Saturday night, who wouldn’t care, if they were pinched. Most rides, would be one or two passengers. There’s also the front passenger seat, and jump seats for kids.
The lower centre floor of the FWD drive car, being a significant advantage to stumbling over the large transmission hump of the B-Bodies, or F-Bodies. With their legs splayed, while seated.
»zonk« Wow, that looks and sounds plausible as all getout. What a different world it might’ve been, eh!
I gave it a bit more thought, and the K-Car-based Executive Limousines as taxis would have a drawback in large cities, with congested streets. They are simply too long. For parking, etc., other vehicles, specifically the short wheelbase Chrysler Minivans would take up less space. More practical.
These would be fine, if their volumes weren’t too great. And parking was accessible.
Not so good for dense downtown cores, but further out…
The red and black two-toning looks wrong. Why not yellow? It was probably forced by the constraints of printing. Popular magazines like Life were full-color while trade journals were usually two-color red and black.
Thanks for the video. I am79 years of age, grew up in The Bronx and until we had a car in 1960, we took taxis quite often into Manhattan to visit my paternal grandparents and family. I have never seen a Packard taxi. Taxis in NYC get beaten to bits within a few years’ time. Thus, luxury transportation is an economic unfeasibility. I was so surprised when I was in Washington, DC in 1961 where I saw 1950 Plymouths still in taxi service. Not so in New York City! So, good try to the folks at Packard. This would have been a good idea in today’s modern day limousine service.
Thomas, many of those NY Plymouths were sold to Israeli operators second hand, fitted with Perkins diesels and kept in service until the early 70s, reconditioned maybe 4 or 5 times (I am fairly certain our roads were at least as bad as NY’s). But back then Israel was, well, almost like Cuba so what was unacceptable to a NY operators was just a part of life…
American 40’s – 60’s cars were often used as taxis in Turkey until the 90’s or maybe even early 2000’s as well. Even a few long wheel base cars, most of those were from the 40’s.
Here’s an example
Don’t recall ever seeing a ’55 Chevrolet this long. Looks to be coach work. Any info?
Mag,
In the 1980s I actually employed a guy from Turkey who worked for the company making these [don’t remember the coachbuilder’s name]. He said they bought 2 door cars and 4-door station wagon rear doors, and built the rest including the lengthened chassis rails, floors and roof. He said they did modify the rear lower corner of the rear doors, but they were actual GM wagon doors.
He said they also offered similar Pontiacs as an upscale private corporate limousine. I would love to see an example.
I’m pretty sure he said they also offered the same basic type of LWB taxi in Plymouth and Doge versions, but nothing from Ford.
I never saw any photos, and these are the first ones I’ve actually seen, but he was a damn good body man, working only in metal – no bondo ever!
Interesting to see this (and watch that 1940s NYC film once more)….Getty Images has a little something for us: “G.H. Brodie, Assistant to the President of Packard Motor Car Co.; Sam Abramson, President of Yale Taxi Co. in New York; and Robert King, President of Packard Federal Corp. (left to right), pictured with the first postwar taxi which was unveiled to public gaze at 61st Street and Broadway here. Feature of the new taxi is seating of five-forward-facing passengers without the usual ‘jump seats’.”
Ah – I believe that’s the 1946 taxi (similar to the one in the brochure above called the “Sedan-type Cab”) that I alluded to in my post above.
The “five-forward-facing passengers without the usual ‘jump seats'” caused somewhat of a ruckus among NYC’s regulatory authorities, since it wasn’t clear whether that satisfied the City’s numerous rules for taxi designs. Ultimately, NYC’s police commissioner personally inspected the Packard and determined it was not in conformance with the city’s taxi laws.
A New York Times article from 1946 detailing this is below.
A restored taxi
https://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/forum/your-studebaker-forum/stove-huggers-the-non-studebaker-forum/49457-orphan-of-the-day-01-30-1947-packard-clipper-fleet-taxi
Great pictures of that restored cab – thanks!
Those Clippers are beautiful, even in taxi livery.
In New York State, the taxi business is regulated locally. Cities in New York may regulate fares and operations. The regulations are highly subject to local politics even today in my City and I’m certain this was and is true in NYC as well. Served on a highway committee up in Westchester at one time, I’ve seen it work. Don’t forget that reliable Fluid Drive came out on the DeSoto in 1940 and in ’41 on Dodge and then became standard equipment. Packard didn’t get Ultramatic until ’49 and it was expensive. Used to work in Manhattan, always took the train. My girlfriend lived there too. Sometimes I would pick her up in my stickshift Volvo, her companionship was worth the effort. Driving in Manhattan with a stick was quite a chore, even in my 20’s I would suffer from “clutch foot.” Long wheelbase cabs got regulated out of existence in NYC in the mid 1950’s, prompting the introduction of the Checker A8.
I am proud to say I’m probably one of 3 people alive today who know the history of the Packard Taxicab and Packard Federal. [I provided much of Bob Neal’s taxicab info for his book.]
First a few corrections are due; Both of the 1948 22nd series Taxicabs shown in the brochure were not equipped with the 288 or 327 motors. Instead the company introduced an all-new 6 cylinder motor based on the internals of the mid-range 327 Packard Super 8 engine. As a 6 cylinder, it had a displacement of 245 cu in. [75% of the 327 size as it was missing 2 cylinders.] That engine was only used on the taxicabs and export cars, and only for the 22nd series cars. Fortunately the engine internals are not difficult to find, and the head gasket was identical to the 1941-47 six.
Plus, I’ve been told there were 2 versions of the partition-type of driver’s front seat, one simply fit over the existing bench seat to isolate the driver while allowing 1 to 2 passengers to ride in the front seat. The other version was a complete partition curving around the driver, from the left door center post to the center windshield divider. It was designed to fit up against the existing dashboard. The car could be equipped with a fold down rear facing jump seat, or left open for luggage space. There are currently no known examples of either partition style.
There are 3 known 1948 Packard taxicabs in north America, and one is rumored to be in Brazil. Of the north American cars 2 are the regular sedan, and one is an actual NYC taxicab that was discovered in a scrapyard in the Chicago area. All 3 are owned by a good friend in the Packard Club. He also has a 1947 Clipper 6 taxicab, and I’ve ridden in that cab around the Studebaker high-speed banked oval track at well over 85mph. [He installed overdrive and a lower ratio rear gear set.] In 1975 while living in Germany I found a 1948 Packard six 2-door fastback, sold new in Switzerland, and last I heard it was still in Germany.
Let’s go back 50 years . . .
In June 1972 I found an original 1948 Packard 6-cylinder sedan type taxicab, and it was still in the hands of the original owner, Mr. James Atchison Robey. At that time no one in the Packard club had knowledge of the 22nd series taxicabs.
Mr. Robey worked for a man named Robert King, and he wanted a new Packard sedan. He didn’t care which model, as he was desperate to get a new car after the war. Robert King was the head of Packard’s export & commercial division; Packard Federal. Mr. Robey said there were a couple of unsold taxicab sedans left over in early 1950, And he was allowed to buy one for cash. It was black with the brown leatherette interior. In talking with Mr. Robey, I suspect the cars had been kept back due to the engines having block casting problems, and when I checked the engine serial number, I found it didn’t have one, suggesting a factory replacement.
After Mr. Robey agreed to sell me his car for $100, I spoke with one of the top experts on Packards who authored several sections of the big Packard book by Kimes. As I was only a 20 year old kid, he carefully explained that Packard stopped making taxicabs in 1947, so it must be a Clipper Taxi. I showed him the original 1950 Maryland title with the serial number starting with 2286. 22 was for the 22nd series line, and the 86 meant it was a 6 cylinder taxicab sedan. I had indeed found a very rare, and previously unknown, type of Packard.
Fast forward a couple of years and I was in my hometown of Kensington, MD, visiting the town’s “Antiques Row”. I was driving my 1955 Packard 400 hardtop and parked right outside a small shop known as “King’s Things”. The elderly owner came out and asked about the Packard. Turned out his name was Bob King Jr, the former VP of Packard Federal. It is his father that is pictured in the photo of the ’47 Clipper taxicab at the factory.
Bob turned out to be a treasure-trove of information on Packard taxicabs, He even gave me a pre-production version of the brochure with the PMCC rubber stamp approving it for printing. He also gave me a collection of taxicab-only parts like the folding rear trunk rack used on the NYC taxicabs, and a complete vacuum operated opening rear window, used only on taxicabs.
Because the taxicabs had a shorter engine than the eights and still used the regular front end sheet metal, Packard mounted the radiator at the rear of the radiator support, while the 8 cylinder cars had the radiator in front of the support. This kept the radiator near the fan, and also allowed the use of the same radiator hoses as on the 8. An additional sheet metal shroud directed the cooling air into the radiator. That radiator was also the same one as used on the big Custom Eight engine, the nine main bearing 356. Bob King said Packard taxicabs never overheated in New York City’s hottest summers. The taxis were also equipped with the flywheel, clutch and transmission used on the 356 cars. The typical rear axle gears were [if I remember] a 1:4.56 ratio, as the cars were rarely driven more than about 35 to 40 mph. The dashboards didn’t have any chromed parts except for the row of push-button switches. The horn ring was a simple round casting to hold the plastic center in place. There was also a special red light to the left of the steering column. The light would glow when either of the rear doors was not fully closed. Next to the light was a small toggle switch to open and close the rear window.
I’m slowly working on a history of the New York City Taxicab and Livery rules governing all the special equipment needed for operation in the Big Apple until the mid 1950s. and perhaps it will end up published at CC. It is truly amazing how strict they were to protect passengers back then.
1942 Packard fleet/business car:
https://forums.aaca.org/topic/328970-saw-this-1942-packard-for-sale-on-the-way-to-biomass/#comment-1985465
Another period photo of a Packard taxi in NYC
https://forums.aaca.org/topic/310732-interesting-packard-cab/#comment-1746507
Meanwhile in the news yesterday, the sad fate of the place these were built: