Carbodies, and through its susidiary, London Taxis International, have been building the black cab for over 40 years - on a shape that has been unchanged since then. It was in 1959 that the famous FX4 made its appearance - an icon of sorts. Along with the Rover Mini, it remains one of the longest-living British car designs. Even today, the cabs are built in the old-fashioned body-on-chassis method.
Over the years, the FX4 has been through several avatars. The first one used a petrol-drinking 2178 CC Austin-Healey engine design with chrome bumpers. Around the 1960s came the FX4D, with a diesel engine - first a BMC 2200 CC unit, later a British Leyland 2520 CC engine. These were substituted with 2250 CC Rover diesels in the FX4R between 1982 and 1985, which were also the first models with power steering. The FX4S, which lasted up to 1987, had a bigger 2500 CC Rover unit and black bumpers. Then came the FX4S Plus which you've read about. There was also the Fairway version of the FX4; which was the last version of the FX4, which was the last version from 1988 onwards. This had a Nissan 2700 CC diesel unit.
It's not that a substitute was not considered for the FX4. Carbodies and British Leyland developed the FX5 prototype between 1970 and 1979, but this project was abandoned as the tooling costs were prohibitive. And in 1997, the new TX1 made its appearance. Like the Fairway, the TX1 also has the same Nissan engine. but this model is more environment-friendly and features improvements on the suspension, braking, powertrain, lighting and NVH levels. It is more ergonomic, spacious, has larger windows, a 48 per cent larger windscreen, and attention has been paid to increase driver comfort and reduce fatigue. It may be the spirit of the FX4 still continues. meta name="description" content="">