Lot 102: Austin FX4 Taxi

The FX4 was the successor to the Austin FX3 produced between 1948 and 1959 and in its own day regarded as the classic London taxi. Like the FX3, the FX4 was designed by Austin in collaboration with Mann and Overton (a taxi dealership) and Carbodies (a coachbuilder). The design team included Albert Moore from Austin's engineering division, Jack Helberg from Carbodies and David Southwell of Mann and Overton. The original design was by Austin's Eric Bailey with the assistance of Carbodies' Jake Donaldson. Little change was necessary to produce the outline of the production vehicle.Like the FX3, the FX4 had a separate chassis (which was in fact barely changed from the FX3 chassis) with a body stiffened by a divider between the driving and passenger compartments.The first FX4, registration mark VLW 431, was delivered in July 1958 with an official launch later that year.The FX4 went through a number of changes over the years, finally bowing out in 1997 but the basic design had remained unchanged, despite passing through three different companies in 20 years.This 1990 example has come straigh off the lot at Shepperton/Pinewood film studios. It has never been plated as a taxi but has featured in Eastenders, The Bill and other TV programmes based in London.Equipped with automatic transmission, power steering, disabled ramps, electric windows and a stereo, the car is said to be in full working order and in good condition.