Happy New Year!

Posted January 2, 2015 By dad

Happy New Year! We started the new year at Three Lions Garage with a marathon 12 hour session on the Mustang.  Most of the day was spent on prepping and installing the rollbar and rear rollbar supports.

 

   

Boxing Day at Three Lions Garage

Posted December 27, 2014 By dad

today we:

  • Repaired the broken side tabs on the clock panel,
  • replaced correct interior fasteners
  • installed the dash and instrumentation,
  • painted the steering column,
  • fabricated a replacement for a broken carriage bolt
  • started prepping the roll bar and checked the fit.

as an added bonus, we had a surprise visit from Linda and Tinkerbell.

   

Three Lions Garage is busy again

Posted December 27, 2014 By dad

I spent an enjoyable 14 hours on Christmas Day working on the Mustang with Jack.  We modified clutch mount; cut brake pedal; installed accelerator, brake and clutch pedals; installed hydraulic clutch master; installed heater and underdash vents.  Time flies when you’re having fun.

 

   
Jack, where are you?

Jack, where are you?

   

Filmed on location at the Three Lions Garage

Posted March 11, 2014 By dad

Charlie, the family auteur, temporarily transformed Three Lions Garage into a mini movie studio to shoot a video showing him at work on his L’Ordinateur sculpture based on Rodin’s “The Thinker”.  His project is still in progress–Can’t wait to see the sculpture when it’s completed.  Enjoy.

   
2004 LTI TXII

2004 LTI TXII

 

Several years ago, while on a business trip in London riding in one of that beautiful city’s iconic black cabs, I was suddenly struck by the crazy idea that the vehicle I was in would make an ideal family car:

  • it’s highly fuel efficient,
  • it has a cavernous passenger compartment which seats 5 large adults,
  • it can turn around on the narrowest of streets,
  • it’s constructed with an extremely safe body-on-chassis design, and
  • it’s so reliable, many are still on the road after more than 300,000 miles of punishing commercial use.

When I returned from my UK trip I started searching for my London Taxi. In order to drive one in the States with our rigorous emission standards, I assumed that I would have to buy a pre-75 model (which would also only be available in Right Hand Drive), which would undermine my “ideal family car” justification. I was surprised to learn, however, that LTI made 250 vehicles for the U.S. market in 2003 & 2004. These LHD models were marketed by LTI in the U.S. as the “London Executive Sedan”. I tracked this one down and purchased it almost 5 years ago. My wife thought I had lost my mind when I presented it to her, but quickly grew to appreciate it. 

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rear-facing passenger jump seats

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rear bench with passenger climate controls

Her primary complaint with the London Taxi was that she didn’t like sitting by herself in the driver’s seat on the other side of the partition from the passengers (a value-added feature as far as I was concerned). I installed a custom jump seat (which is only really practical for short trips around town) and retractable seatbelt in the large luggage storage area on the front passenger side. The fold-up jump seat keeps this luggage area usable. The taxi also comes equipped with the standard-issue London Taxi pull cord which London cabbies use to close the passenger door after the luggage is loaded without getting out of the cab in inclement weather (quite important presumably when you work in London).

jump seat installed in front luggage storage area

jump seat installed in front luggage storage area

The best feature of this taxi is its “smiles per mile” factor.  Wherever you drive in the black cab, people smile when they see you or give you the “thumbs up” sign as you drive by.  It’s interesting that more children than adults in the U.S. are familiar with the iconic black cab, because an LTI TXII named Chauncy Fares was featured in Pixar’s animated film “Cars 2”.

LTI (London Taxis International Limited)  manufactured the TXII model from 2002 to 2006.  Until 2012, LTI was a wholly owned subsidiary of Manganese Bronze Holdings plc, an English automotive engineering company, which was best known for manufacturing of Norton and Matchless motorcycles in the UK in the 1960s.  In 2012, Manganese went bust and LTI was purchased by Chinese auto company Geely, with the goal of maintaining taxi production of the iconic black cab in Coventry England.

The TXII’s 2.4liter Ford DuraTorq turbo diesel engine may not be very fast, but it is efficient (rated at 25.3 MPG city and 30.7 MPG highway).  Its 14 gallon tank gives the taxi a range of approximately 400 miles.  If properly maintained, a London Taxi will faithfully serve its owner for several hundred thousand (yes, you read that correctly) miles—especially impressive when you consider that’s under heavy commercial taxi use.

However, what’s even more impressive about London taxis is their maneuverability. Since 1906, all hailed taxis licensed in London (officially called “London Hackney Carriages”) have had to comply with the “Conditions of Fitness”, which require (among many other rules), that a London Hackney Carriage must have separate passenger and driver compartments, high internal headroom (supposedly required so a gentleman wouldn’t have to remove his hat), a ramp for wheelchair user access (a more recent requirement) and the ability to “turn through 180° on either lock between two walls 8.535 m (28 ft) apart” so a cabbie could drop off a fare on one ‘kerb’ and pick up a new fare on the opposite ‘kerb’ without blocking traffic.  Only two vehicles currently meet that formidable requirement and this spacious vehicle’s 25-foot turning radius is among the worlds tightest. Rear seating easily accommodates five large adults, there is a built-in intercom for conversation between passengers and driver and a wheelchair ramp is built into the passenger compartment floor. Wheelchairs can be locked into a recessed area in front of one of the rear jump seats and a seatbelt extension is included for the wheelchair passenger.

This vehicle has just 20,000 miles on the odometer (of which I have clocked about 5,000) and is in exceptional condition.  TXIIs were sold in several colors.  When I purchased my car it was white, but I bought it knowing I would be painting it black as a proper “black cab” should be painted.  The interior is unchanged from the standard (and extraordinarily) durable grey & yellow fabric. This taxi has been exceptionally well cared-for (because I’m totally compulsive about maintaining my unusual fleet of cars we refer to as “scuderia bizarri”).  It is fully-equipped as imported, totally compliant with the Conditions of Fitness and most interesting of all, features left-hand drive. Sticker price when new was between 33,000 and 40,000 British pounds (about $50-65,000).  The U.S. Spec TXII meets all California, US and Canadian environmental and safety regulations, and the taxi is perfect for pleasure, business, livery or promotional use—or all the above. This London cab comes with unused OEM spare, two OEM wheel chocks, OEM Jack, wheelchair ramp extension, blind spot mirrors (recommended to me by a London cabbie on whose taxi the same type were mounted), North American factory service manual, an owner’s manual and several assorted spares and consumables. Features:

  • Power windows
  • Air conditioning
  • Driver airbag
  • Separate climate controls for Driver and passenger compartment
  • AM/FM + CD player
  • Fire extinguisher
  • Front and rear windshield washers / wipers
  • Separate lockable driver and passenger compartments
  • LTI security system
  • Cup holder
  • Driver’s 12V power charger
  • Interior dome lights
  • Storage net (has been removed to install front passenger jump seat)

CLICK HERE TO VIEW COMPLETE PHOTO ALBUM

Price: $29,995 or best offer

Specifications:

Year: 2004 Interior Color: Grey/Yellow (std)
Make: LTI Cylinders: inline 4
Model: TXII Transmission: 4 speed automatic
Trim: London Taxi Body Type: Limousine
Engine: DOHC turbo diesel Warranty: None; sold AS IS
Displacement 2,402 cc Vehicle Title: Clear
Drive Type: 2WD Fuel Type: Diesel
Suspension, front Coil spring independent Safety Driver Airbag
Suspension, rear Live rear axle with parabolic leaf springs Disability Equipped: Yes
Mileage: 20,266 HP 90 BHP
Exterior Color: Black Wheelbase 102”
   

Standing on its own legs

Posted June 7, 2013 By admin

The Pony is now standing on its own legs thanks to a Herculean 12 hour push

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by Jack today.  We’re going to drop it off at the paint shop tomorrow.

   

Goodbye Paint Booth (and good riddance!)

Posted May 19, 2013 By dad

It was finally time for the temporary paint booth to come down. The booth took up too much space in the garage and I was relieved to reclaim a lot of the space. We now have a good amount of work ahead of us to get the suspension and tires mounted so we can take the Mustang to the professional painters to paint the body.

   

After spending a very enjoyable 6 hours at the Maker’s Faire today with Mom & Oliver, Jack and I departed for the garage for 5 hours of work to get the bottom of the Mustang painted.

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Have Shutz Gun, will travel

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Spraying Monstaliner. Since we weren’t rolling it on, we thinned the Monstaliner with 4 oz. acetone per gallon to make it easier to apply with a spray gun.

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Not exactly Michelangelo, but a masterpiece nonetheless

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First coat has been applied. Now we wait the recommended one hour flash time between coats.

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The Master at work

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2nd coat applied

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ready to remove masking

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masking should be removed before the second coat dries