Universal Orlando has this cool bright yellow 1941 Plymouth Taxi, parked on the street corner. Every time I go there(we got season passes, went yesterday), I want this people mover something fierce. May have to do with my love of old film noir films. ...and old cars. So...watching one tonight (The Dark Corner w/Lucille Ball and Clifton Webb 1946) The Gumshoe hero Private Dick, swipes a 1946 DeSoto and a police chase ensues, through streets of NYC Car is special edition Skyview, outfitted with glass roof panel, for viewing the skyline. Wonder if any still exist???? http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/w/waters/waters.htm Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I rode in these cabs as a kid in the 1940s when my mother would take us into NYC. The roof panel was glass, did not open, and had an inside cover which could be pulled across the glass by the passengers. The glass was always very dirty or cloudy so I could rarely see the skyscrapers. I also remember that these cabs had very large rear-mounted truck racks which, when folded up as they always were, reached almost to the rear window. I was told that people arriving in NYC on ships would have large trunks which the cab could transport to the customer's hotel. I seem to recall that the fare sign included an additional fixed fare for a trunk. And the license plate was carried very high in center, almost in front of rear window, so that it could be seen above a folded trunk rack. Amazing what I can remember from 70 years ago when I was ten years old.
Great story and colorful pictures Wrigleys gum ad too cool “After every meal” Chew on some sugar Ha!! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Chrysler Corp was one of the few car companies that offered a full line of limousine type cars with factory made bodies, not modified or custom. They offered the same exact body on Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler and Chrysler Imperial chassis. I have seen and worked on a 1947 Dodge airport limousine with the same body. The DeSoto Skyview was a special version of this car. Most were used in New York and in San Francisco where the DeSoto dealer also ran a taxicab business. A limousine type taxicab with jump seats was allowed to carry 5 passengers where a regular sedan was only allowed to carry 3. So this was an extra profit for the cab operator. "Civilian" version of the same DeSoto was the Suburban. It had a roof rack and the back seat folded down like a station wagon. Instead of jump seats it had a second front seat behind the first one. If you scooted the middle seat all the way forward and folded down the back seat you could load almost as much in the trunk as you could in a station wagon. They built some 20,000 of those cars counting all Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler and Imperial versions. They turn up fairly often, usually in bad condition. Those used for taxicabs and limousines got a lot of wear, those that were millionaires' transportation had a soft life but when they became used cars were often bought by house painters and plumbers to haul tools and materials, or used as informal buses. Few survive unscathed. If you really want one you might better buy a DeSoto sedan. You won't suffer from any lack of room in the back seat believe me.
Sunday night again....Film Noir movie time antenna TV Where The Sidewalk Ends Another Skyview Taxi plays a minor role in the film Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Just sold a bunch of exterior trim parts to a guy whose going to modify this 50 suburban to be a tow vehicle. Not a skyview but nonetheless going to be a great ride when he's done. Sent from my SM-G950U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
A 'strange character' used to come to the Campbell shop, brought all kinds of 'different' cars...and many 'different' jobs! One of his 'weird machines' was a Cargo loader, a '49 Dodge 1 ton fitted with a hydraulic ram set that lifted the bed high enough to load cargo into a DC-6. (tall fuselage, tricycle gear) The other one was one of these 'Skyview DeSotos'. Good condition, for its age...(1948) The interior was dirty, more than worn. He wanted to see what could be saved, so I called my detailing company and they sent over their ace kid, who went to work on every place reachable, to clean a 'patch', then on to the middle, and so forth, for a close estimate. The most memorable section was that ceiling glass, the 'sky view'. A small corner of it was scrubbed, then soaked in a 'secret fluid', then scrubbed again. The kid wrote the estimate to clean the glass at $90.00! (this was in 1982) I asked what he thought caused the stain. "The worst," he replied. "CIGAR SMOKE!"
I did a load of work on suspension on that DeSoto. Majored engine, also. When finished, the owner took me for a ride up the freeway..."Good road car..." I agreed, whole-heartedly. Superb Chrysler engineering.
A friend has one of those Limos in his collection, or he did, he trades and sells things frequently. Low production numbers there.
Stupid Yellow 1939 Plymouth Taxi, at Universal Studios, keeps calling me...every time I go there ‘50 Suburban is way cool Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
This is the last thing I expected to find on the HAMB. Growing up in Israel in the 60s, those were still a familiar sight on the road - they were known as "service cabs" and carted passengers between cities as an alternative to the coaches (which back then in Israel were nothing to write home about). They were all fitted with British Perkins 4 cylinder diesels which sounded as if they would explode any minute but did the job (slowly). When Mopar decided it was uninterested in the lwb cab business, Checker, M-B and Peugeot stepped in but that's another story.
Unkamort and T Turtle both fantastic additions to this thread Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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