V8 London Taxi

[TheEverton98]

Steve this is the best show that I've seen and I miss it. Speak soon love stephen birchall

[skaterjacks]

wanna see that go...

[kippercab]

you must have no sex life! lollol

[kippercab]

does your old woman need a secondhand dildo?

[Crazybenjiwoo]

cool car man 

[mrsoft1]

Hi your cab is cool, Im hotroding a london cab my self, and am hoping you can give me some advice, as to the running gear, weels, and engine etc, did you change the axle and sub frame if so what did you put on , do you no if a straight 6 jag engine will go in, here be my e mail if you can help thanks Fozzie digzby@hotmail.co.uk

[crisprapper]

This is officially the baddest taxi ever... Amazing work, pure lunacy. Pity it had to go, it's quite an incredible piece of work though.

[sbirchall]

HI,

WOW, thank you for a great comment.

YES, it is a shame that she had to go, but that is life I suppose (at least that is what I keep telling myself)

[dantethecabbie]

Dear God Man,

I own a TX2 and I get 0 to 60 in 17.2 going downhill.

Nice work

[sbirchall]

Hi Dante,

Thanks for the nice comment.

Unfortunately I have now sold the taxi and it "lives" in Austria (I bet he has fun in the ice with all of that power !!!

Cheers

Steve B

[sbirchall]

No new projects unfortunately. Playing with cars has cost me far too much and I am getting a bit too old for any more toys (or so I keep trying to tell myself).

So that is it !!!

Where are my pipe and slippers !!!!!

[discocreator76]

100bhp at most??? more like 60hp for the FX4R versions like yours with the Landrover engine in it!

[sbirchall]

Hi,

You are right, but the TV crew (BBC) that turned up did not bring a presenter or a scropt and so I had to just try to think of things to say without any notice and I could not remember. So I made a guess and I was way out. But hopefully it still got the message across?

Thanks for taking the time to comment.

The taxi has since been sold and now "Lives" in Austria !!!

Steve B

[discocreator76]

Aww, what did you sell it for? Have you any new projects?

[Pashman84]

Hi!

I bring this car to Austria with my Truck last Week!

Nice Work m8 and very good Sound!

Sorry you must sell it!

[sbirchall]

Hi,

I am glad that you like it, I will miss it a LOT

Steve B

[DonRaggo]

absolutely stunning car m8, sorry to hear you gotta sell it, are you gonna have a next project ?, if so I cant wait to see that bad boy !

[sbirchall]

Hi, Thank you so much for taking the time to post such a nice comment.

Unfortunately this wil be my last project!!

If I was going to build something else it was always going to be a "fun" project such as a caravan with a three wheel chassis underneath and with the tow hitch still on the front. The reaction it would get as it pulled out from the car in front, (looking like it had broken away,)with me sitting in the front window with a smile on my face, was something that would have been fun

[sbirchall]

Or am I just a little bit crazy?

I wil have to win the lottery and then build a few fun cars, without that I am going to have to hang up my spanners.

Thanks for all the feedback, it softens the blow of having to sell it.

Steve B

[PinkGangsta2K7]

Cant Beleave Your Selling This Now, Just Seen It On Ebay Atm On £24,999

Good Luck Buddy

[sbirchall]

Hi Pink,

I can't believe that I am selling it now either.

It is purely financial. I have always said that I want to be buried in it!!!!!!!!!

£25K is a lot of money (still less than it is worth) so half of me is hoping that it doesn't sell

Thanks

Steve B

[PinkGangsta2K7]

Its not even 50% of what its worth, a london black cab alone is £2000 - £8000

then the £60,000 Youve put into it.

I Do wish you the best of luck with it,

Fingers Crossed It Does And Doesnt Sell Lol

Chris

[sbirchall]

Hi Chris,

It is now over £70,000 plus hundreds of hours of labour .

But thats how it works with modified cars, if you work on a basis of around one third of the cost, then that normally is not far from their true value.

It is a lobour of love and not profit. But I am certainly not complaining.

I love your comment "Fingers crossed............ " that just about sums it up.

Have fun

Steve B

[sbirchall]

Hi JDMAero,

What you said, it is purely a question of personal taste and so if you don't like it then that is fair enough, everyone is entitled to their opinion. I have not changed the appearnce in any way. The taxi looks the same as any other London taxi!

It is not a beauty contest. It's for FUN at the traffic lights (for example) nobody would expect a taxi to out accelerate a supercar.

So thanks for your opinion, but I don't think that I will hang my head on shame for doing this.

[tpvalley]

u said the 2.2 diesel had around 100bhp and that the 8 litre v8 has about 100bhp!?

The 2.25 has about 65bhp I think and that v8 must have way more bhp at least 300 surely?

Love the car btw, I think u could easily fit a rover v8 to origional box using land rover parts, or even get a conversion kit for a 6.2 v8 GMC diesel, that would be my ideal conversion!

[sbirchall]

Hi,

I was being "generous" to the old taxi engine. I was guessing the BHP. And the V8 engine I stated it was 500 BHP the audio is not that clear so you must have missheard me.

As for the Rover V8, that was my original plan because they had the Borg Warner box the same as the Rover (different bellhousing) but I decided that the rover was not powerful enough for such a heavy car.

I am glad that you like it, thanks for the kind comments.

HAve fun

Steve B

[tpvalley]

I thought I may have miss heard also!

Borg warner gearbox u say, that was a manual box?

I have a mate with a 6.2 v8 diesel in a range rover with the zf auto box, have u ever come across such an engine?

lovely diesel throb.

Can u get private insurance for these taxi's easy enough or does it take ages to explain/ get them to recognise the car?

I always fancied one of these, a diesel automatic, do androver wheels fit I wonder? be good with a set of wellers or modulars.

[JDMAero]

I just noticed your response now. I think maybe I was having a bad day, sorry.

I do question however why you would put such a high centre rear axle on it.

Wouldn't you rather have it look completely mundane? I'm sure most people would be able to tell it's high performance by now.

[sbirchall]

Hi , no need to apologise. The axle is not a HIGH Centre axle, it is a drag race axle. I built the taxi so that it could be used on the drag strip and the tyres and axle etc are TOTALLY functional and required to prevent the wheels spinning. I also built it 10 years ago and styling has changed a lot since then. So the taxi was built for fun on the drag strip first and also designed to be used on the road. it would be a sad world if we all liked exactly the same thing wouldn't it?

Steve B

[JDMAero]

Yes, I see your point now. I'm actually the designer of the worlds fastest Nissan Z, which uses a drag axle as well (Of course).

I am glad to see this is not some chop shop half cut car, and it's instead a full on race car for the road.

Never liked the looks of the cars, but as for power, and scaring people, you got it made.

[sbirchall]

Hi,

I used to race in a street legal championship in a 10 second street legal escort and once you have experienced this kind of a buzz it is difficult to settle for anything less isnt it. You obviously know what I mean because you have felt this with your Nissan. No words can describe the feeling of launching hard, especially with nitrous.

We share a love of powerful cars but have slightly different views on appearance and that is fine.

Steve B

[JDMAero]

That taxi is MASSIVE fail with those Hydraulics. Way to make an ugly car... ungainly from every angle.

[trkraus]

every taxi in london looks exactly like that

get a clue

[JDMAero]

I know every taxi looks like that. I'm saying that they made it even MORE uglier.

[sbirchall]

Hi trkraus,

Thank you for your support on this.

I REALLY don't mind if people don't like it, I built it for ME not them, but to say that it looks any different to any other Taxi is completely wrong.

I guess that this guy doesn't even know what a "sleeper" is.

Thanks

Steve Birchall

[sbirchall]

It was a program on BBC tv and they speeded it up !

Thansk for the interest.

Steve B

[CharlieChelseaComo]

cool taxi

on 1:10 to 1:17 does the taxi really dance that fastt of did u speed up the video??

[ville1806]

Nice

[d2fg]

Nice 1 dad, glad I got you .. I am 33 and you make me realise how young I am ^^

[sbirchall]

Hi Son,

Do you have my email address? I can't find yours?

Dad

[royalcollage]

heathrow express eat your heart out'you couldn't convert my tx11 could you'nice piece of kit top stuff..

[zebedee37]

Amazing!! and a lot faster than mine!

[sbirchall]

Hi,

I am glad you like it, thanks for the nice comment.

When you say that it is faster than yours, do you mean your car or do you have a taxi?

Steve B

[dabee23]

fancy wagering it in a poker game? :)

[sbirchall]

Stright up?

LOL

Steve B

[dabee23]

Str8up :)

[alan48ridgley]

more money than sense...for that money you could buy property in bulgaria,croatia,slovakia etc...and have loads of dolly birds too...

[automaticdog]

how much were the wheels?

i want something unique for my TX2...

[jamminscrew2k2]

thumbs up from texas usa.... very unique ;)

[Drektek]

awesome!

[sbirchall]

Hi Drektek,

I am glad you like it.

Thanks.

Steve Birchall