And one of those Ghostbusters hearses. If not an actual Ghostbusters hearse. He's done KITT. Or one of those wedge-shaped things that moves airliners around. Top speed 5mph but masses of torque.
Thanks a lot! It’s been quite some time doing research and learning the industry, I’ll probably put some more up on my channel as the months go on. Same on my IG.
Usually in the VIN: P1 police P2 taxi P3 base Crown Vic P4 Crown Vic LX 2011 last Crown Vics sold in USA 2012 Crown Vics made late 2011 went to Middle East where they love big USA cars (not legal in USA) None made in 2012...
ok so i'm a yellow cab owner/driver, i literally stopped this guy on the west side highway earlier this year because i noticed it was an exact replica but out of state plates which i found interesting. we chatted for a minute at the light and explained how he's preserving it and now it's on regular car reviews....small world. for someone who never drove a cab he was 90% accurate on all the details.
I'm a former NYC cabbie and this kid's knowledge of the T&LC is spot on💪🏾. It's quite impressive that he did that much homework on how the business is run.
Really appreciate the knowledge dump from the owner and for it being in the video. Who would have known I would have learned so much about transit on this channel and not the Armchair Urbanist. :)
as somebody who's never lived in NYC, it's fascinating to see how much is really going on beneath the surface of this iconic institution. it's crazy how organized and officially regulated this cab system was for so long.
As someone who’s fallen asleep, broken up with and been broken up with, and grew up riding yellow cabs and boro cabs since trains had two letters - thank you. Also, I’m convinced the two best sleep aids in NYC are: The R train when you’re not in a rush, and the back of Crown Vic cab. The rear seat of a Crown Vic is basically what every futon in the world aspires to be.
@@NathanielTabora Oh cool! It is yours! Your knowledge and enthusiasm for the platform shines. This car went to the right owner. You are a real enthusiast my friend.
This guy was an absolute treat to listen to. So passionate and knowledgable about something that most people wouldn't even look twice at. I really respect that.
In the beginning when he said he just wanted something to show off at car meets I rolled my eyes and thought "Meh, one of those guys." But then the dude started laying down some seriously detailed knowledge and I changed my mind. This guy is the real deal.
I never knew taxi lore went so deep. This guy is really cool. He chose something nostalgic for him, bought it, then went multiple extra miles to fully learn about what he bought so he can teach others. I've learned alot watching this one.
Thanks, there was quite a bit to learn before getting in this car, and something that I definitely take pride in! Happy to hear people took stuff away from this today!
I appreciate that dude is so into this and that he's preserving it. This is different than some oldster at cars and coffee saying that his Corvette is one of 12 of this color for that year. This is much more enjoyable.
Great story brother! There’s like a sentimental attachment to it Everything was nostalgic about it and I’m from the Boston area. We are seeing the disappearance to but nothing like NYC. I asked in another thread how many miles on that horse?
The best RCR videos are the ones where someone spotted an unremarkable vehicle in it's regular service and just had to have it - not just the type but that specific one, put a lot of effort and research into finding the owner, and after years of hunting and negotiations, managed to get it. A more respectable manner of living one's dream than any rich-and-famous dreams ever could be.
Love the owner. So passionate and informed about the history and lore of these taxis. You could spend hours with this guy over few beers listening to their facts and stories.
I had the pleasure of meeting Nathaniel earlier this year at a car meet. Super chill dude who has a strong passion for these cars. His love for this vehicle is so admirable.
one of the most knowledgeable and passionate guests on this show. Nathaniel, you're an awesome guy for living out your passion, even if it's very niche.
@@NathanielTabora as a former NY state resident who went to the city with my dad all the time to see the Intrepid and his old haunts and so on, thank you deeply for buying and saving this taxi. you're the kind of guy car culture needs more of. ♥
The most American car America has ever made. It was born and lived for the American Dream and will die for it as well. A car comprised of useful functions cascaded in useless function much like the rest of American excess. White picket fences and grass lawns exist only to satiate the vanity of personal space and American idealism. if everyone else likes it, it must be the right thing. The nameplate, Crown Victoria, comes straight from 1955, around the peak of the attainability and symbolism of the American Dream. The first Crown Vic was a trim level for the Fairlane, the Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria Transparent Top, instead of keeping with "Skyliner" like the 54 and 56 model years. It'd take until the Panther body for Crown Vic to be used again. The Panther Body is well known for being a body-on-frame construction, synonymous with trucks, SUVs, and vans. Utility vehicles, tools. Nowadays, the American Dream has been so mystified and sought after that the elites felt the need to seize it for themselves and only themselves, which combined with the raising cost of living and stagnant or slow wage increases, has all but choked the dream to death. And like all things that end this way, the thing itself, in this case the American Dream, becomes so glorified due to artificial scarcity while the tools used to get there, such as the honest Taxi Cab of yore which so many immigrants drove to pay their bills in the booming post-war economy that first saw the name Crown Victoria, are forgotten at best and frowned upon at worst. Dirty and abused despite being a symbol of America, it shares a similar fate to those that use and drive it in a cruel fate of parallelism. It's hard for a normal young American such as myself to think of a taxi that isn't bus yellow with the checkered banners, and especially one that isn't a 50's sedan or Crown Vic. I guess it truly is American to forge your own future only to be shunned for it. The Panther body is a workhorse and the Taxi Crown Vic is a harder worked horse. Yet in the end, only some will receive the love they deserve for their service to others, something America is critiqued for overlooking in all but the prettiest examples. Make something that serves most people well and you'll be walked on by those very people going to praise someone who made a prettier, less useful contribution to society. But, akin to those that first dreamt the American Dream and those of us who cling to it now in its dying days, like a child to their hospice-ridden grandparent, the Taxi is a hero and altruism is silently praised.
"Even this old girl will meet her end, as all cars do. One can only hope that's a long way off. It's too bad she won't live, but then again who does?" RCR has me tearing up over a taxi
Nathaniel awesome video and research. My father was in the yellow taxi business for 30 years as a multiple medallion owner and operator. The only thing you got slightly wrong is that a yellow cab can take a street haul ANYWHERE in the 5 boroughs, not just below 96th street in Manhattan, a boro cab, which is the green cabs can only take street hails above w110th street on the west side and above E 96th street on the east side. All the best.
I was thinking that, he's gradually working his way through the "background of life" utilitarian public-service vehicles. Already done mail truck, fire truck, and school bus, now taxi. Other things that would be great for him to review on a similar vein: - Transit bus, preferably a bendy bus - Ambulance - that could be interesting for all the equipment in the back, ideally an active duty rather than retired one with the EMTs showing him everything - Similar to the ambulance, an active duty modern cop car, such as a Ford Explorer - Donut Media once got to review one so it's hypothetically possible. - Trash truck Surely plenty of others. Perhaps could even do some "not a car" ones as well, such as a subway or commuter train.
I appreciate you gave the owner time to talk about his car. It’s more interesting to listen to someone talk about a subject with passion, rather than a verbal regurgitation of facts.
Don't lose hope. This car is definitely museum worthy since it's one of the last of it's kind, and probably will be the only one preserved in it's original configuration. I also love it when Mr. Regular reviews mundane cars such as this. I don't even bother watching when he reviews sports cars.
The Camry would never hope to be as iconic. The Crown Vic has been dead for years now, but it lives on in perpetuity on TV as a ready-available prop. I live in Toronto where a lot of shows set in New York are filmed, and 8/10 times a production set will include a P71 dressed as a NY cab.
@@andrewduong2740 depends on where you live. Crown vics are alive and well in the rust belt come out to the east side of Indianapolis there are plenty of crown vic cop cars still in service
This might well be your best episode with your best guest ever. In 16 years of living in NYC, I spent more time in the back of these (both yellow and black cabs) than any other car model in which I've ever ridden. I once worked with a guy who'd call the company car service dispatcher and say "call me a car, and make sure it's a Crown Victoria with a driver who doesn't smell."
Really appreciate that! The LWB CV was one of those things that everyone in NYC has seen or been in, but like everything in the city, came and went after something newer came along. They were just tools, and I wanted to buck that trend.
@@NathanielTabora Has anyone ever tried to hail you as you're just driving around? I can imagine myself doing it because I'm having a brain fart moment; all I see is cab = ride without thinking about how I'm not in NYC.
What an ABSOLUTE smasher RCR. Huge props to Nathaniel for keeping this piece of American History alive and bringing its story to the masses. God bless.
Just for reference. Currently at 5:00 EST on a Monday to get from Midtown East to JFK (terminal 5) it is 90 dollars on both Uber and Lyft. With a taxi, flat rate of 52 dollars becomes 56.50 with peak time surcharge. Given how crazy traffic can be, I recommend taking the subway to JFK only 10.75 and gets you to the airport in pretty much the same amount of time.
Man, Crown Vics have been everywhere all throughout my childhood. It’s THE police car and THE taxi for a whole generation. It’s like they were a constant reassuring presence, that there were always these big comfortable dependable workhorses around and they became iconic without anybody making a big deal of it. They’ve always just been… there. Now that they’re disappearing from fleets, it’s strangely depressing to realize that something that’s been around my whole life is dying out. I’ve never known a world where Crown Vics weren’t everywhere, they transcended the model evolution that regular cars are bound to and became their own whole category of vehicle that never changes. Now that they’re being retired, it doesn’t feel like they’re simply disappearing, it’s like they’re going extinct. It makes me more sad than it probably should, but it’s just sad whenever something that was always around goes away. I’m going to miss Crown Vics.
Until recently, I'd never thought of the Crown Vic as a car that you could "own" - I never even thought of them being out of service, since they're rare where I live. Sort of like how seeing a teacher outside of class for the first time as a kid is strange. Saw an '09 P71 clean, pitch black detective's car in a lot one afternoon all polished and every single time I've ever seen one flooded back to me all at once. I bought it less than a week later - that was almost exactly a year ago. Later I found a photograph of the detective that used to run it, along with a tiny sheriff's association calendar from 2009 and around seven bucks in miscellaneous change under the driver's carpet. The photo is kind of like a baseball card or something, and it lists his career path on the back - I guess he kept it in his car as a good luck charm or something. Still a self-employed pi to this day out of the same county. Kinda of adds personality to the car to me; he retired not long after it was issued to him, so the mileage was very low and the car is itching for the all the driving that it never got. I give it the lead foot.
@@piterpraker3399 Nice! Definitely cherish that Crown Vic, it's not often that you find a police-spec car that hasn't been beaten to death. It's especially cool when you can find out some of the car's history from before it was yours, cars with good stories are the best kind.
I'd be continually humming the Taxi theme. Dah-dah-dah dahdahdah dah-dah-dah, dah-dah-dah dahdahdah! That's how it goes. I can't remember the rest of it. I'd be humming the Taxi theme and doing air piano all the time. "What does a yellow light mean?" etc.
This dude just talking casually about Windows Embedded and custom-built computers just for a *taxi* of all things to play tinny advertisements for RUclips Bro Videos of 2014 is so fascinating, especially for someone who knows what they're hearing. I have no idea how old this driver is, or if he has any sort of contacts, but I would love to try and track down these NYC TLC Embedded PCs
My feeling is that they were using some kind of virtual machine software in some pocket computer so to be able to run windows where then they could load the media player for whatever was provided to watch. I specifically remember there being live news in one of these NY Yellow Cabs so maybe it was both pre-recorded content + a satellite link as well.
I wonder if it was running on a Dreamcast. WinCE ran on Dreamcast. Remember when Sega was all like "we reduced our Dreamcast architecture to a single chip!" in like 2001. I wonder if anything ever came of that.
I gotta say this guys the most fantastic owner ive seen on this channel, super knowledgeable on the car itself and all the cab related features - I feel like he'd be great in car reviewing
This is one of your best videos in a long time. I was hooked for the entire 33 minute runtime. It’s a big shame that these are going away. It was only a matter of time since production ended in 2011 for these cars. It really is a symbol of NYC.
Makes me wanna go to '80s NYC again -- evocative episode! I guess the Uber/Lyft process works better on balance, from the standpoint of convenience and reliability. But nothing compares to that feeling of joyful self-determination when you'd hail an oncoming cab at the precise moment you wanted one -- take that confident step from the curb, raise your hand with purpose, and off you go.
11:30 importantly, the yellow cabs also have the exclusive right to pick-up passengers in the taxi line (IE without Uber) from JFK and LGA. So they usually pick up someone to get a fare back into Manhattan.
This is why I like cars so much. It reflects the way we function as a collective in a given time and space. Thank you for giving form to this approach.
Thanks, it is a pleasure sharing what I know about these cars to everyone! And RCR did a great job editing my lengthy rambling to something worth watching lol!
Hands down the best car I ever owned. Purchased with 112k for 2000. Drove another 100k without issue. Regular maintenance and one recall that had not been done.
I have heard many stories of these cars lasting forever and of their durability. Ironically my friend had a '92 and it threw a rod at about 62K and was toast. I wonder if it was because it was his grandma's car for the first 8 years of its life, driven very lightly and not very often, then he got it and beat the hell out of it. Maybe it wasn't broken in enough and became soft from being a granny car 😂
The ending of this made me tear up a little. So much passion put into this, probably my favorite RCR episode since the Tata Nano episode. Nathaniel is also one of the best guests I’ve ever seen on this show. Very knowledgeable and knows more than most people would about P7As.
The depth of emotion the conclusion of the story holds... Put me at a loss for words. It's like a favorite tool or a family member after a few years. There becomes a bond between us and our cars, and You guys are one of the few that can make it tangible.
I just watched a 30 minute video on an old ny taxi because it's more enjoyable than any other car content on youtube. As for the gearing, it was literally so these cars wouldn't leave first gear 99% of the time, as first gear comfortably chills at 20mph without being crazy high in the RPM's to lighten load on the trans. Realistically its also the reason they aimed for the V8 and not going for a special V6 variant, as they wanted the torque so the gearing could be made taller. They would of went for a V6 and shorter gearing if they wanted to abuse the transmissions more.
That's...actually well thought out. I wonder if considerations like this were made for other vehicles with similar service life such as mail trucks (which The LLV was recently covered on RCR but I don't think anything like this was mentioned?) or the MV-1 which is purpose built as a people mover. eCVT based hybrid vehicles (such as the Prius, old 2005-2012 Ford Escape Hybrids and the Ford Fusion and C-Max hybrids as examples) generally don't need such considerations as the eCVTs are practically designed for low speed stop and go in mind and the drive electric motor that handles most of the load from a stop is directly mated to the front diff (essentially making it direct drive in EV mode just like a full EV) with no gear changes to deal with. But there also seem to be a lot of NYC taxi cabs based off of vehicles that would have never had hybrid options and used traditional automatics like older minivans for example.
@@Vchat20 Well the thing about minivan taxis is they didn't show up in NY until the early 2000's and were more of a necessity than a desire as people regularly were overloading crown vics and as a result minivan taxis were needed. The same reason they have the NV2000 minivans now, necessity, as they now have to have a certain amount of wheelchair accessible taxis. The preference is still the hybrids and full evs that are designed for city traffic, plus most of these modern hybrids and EV's are smaller than crown vics due to the smaller hoods and trunk spaces, on top of being compact unibody designs. While they don't fit as much luggage as crown vics, most people traveling by livery service with enough luggage to fill a crown vic likely have enough people to fill a minivan taxi or sububran in a rideshare service. So most people JUST trying to get around would only need 1-3 seats, and maybe room for their bags, which a prius or a niro can easily provide. Taxis and rideshare will become the primary demographic for EV's and hybrids going forward. I was just in the city recently and almost every taxi was a prius, sienna, escape, niro, or in the case of wheelchairs, nv2000. BUT livery services do NOT need to abide by the same regulations, especially for fuel economy, so thats why almost every tahoe, suburban, and yukon you see in the city is a livery vehicle.
@@p71_caleb same, it will even peel a bit if I hit 2nd at high revs but its clipping almost 3k rpm at 75 lol. A ridiculously fun city car imo -- and with some nice mags its got simple, austere, muscular beauty too
Once I saw a taxi all the way from NYC in Washington DC, talked to the cabbie out of curiosity because I did a double take when I saw the car, he told me some family wanted to take a trip to DC to see museums for the day and paid him like $400/500 or so for the trip
I saw two up in Hanover, New Hampshire when I lived in the Upper Valley. I did a double take when I saw them. Definitely not something you expect to see around Dartmouth College.
I was once in St. Louis and saw an Indianapolis taxi. Driver told me that this dude regularly paid him several hundred bucks to drive him around the Midwest. I still sometimes imagine there was a Collateral situation going on.
I'm always happy to see a Panther Platform car featured on this channel, let alone one as iconic as the elusive long wheelbase Crown Vic taxi package. I'm ecstatic that this one is going to be preserved by an owner that clearly cares for it. As a sucker for cars with service backgrounds, a former police and former taxi Crown Vic are a good combo to have. I'd love to see RCR find a Checker Cab one of these days for comparison's sake. And Checkers were used as police cars for a short amount of time in a handful of departments as well!
I remember the Marathons being rather slow, with only a 6-cylinder engine. Fine for schlepping commuters around Manhattan, but police work? Yikes! Any police department that used these for cop cars had to be the laughingstock of others in the area.
I love this man's level of dedication to the knowledge of everything crown Victoria taxi, for what was 1000$ car! Awesome video folks, knocked it out of the park!
This has to be one of my favorite RCR episodes ever. From the extremely knowledgeable owner, to the philosophical tones later on. In a way, it resembles the most average car of all (for the US, at least)
Damn. I came into this review thinking I knew a ton about these old monsters. And I leave knowing more than I could ever imagine with a dose of feels slammed in. Never change, RCR.
The analogy between this car and the main themes behind Blade Runner were not only brilliant but spot on. 10/10. One of the best reviews you’ve done so far.
This so cool. Features like this are why I'm such a huge fan of this channel. It makes me so happy seeing someone so enthusiastic about a car that often goes unrecognized. Workhorse vehicles like this are the backbones of so many different cities and industries; they're directly responsible for the culture we've made and way we've learned to do business, navigate our cities, and plan our days, but we often don't really give them a second thought. Killer video.
Having owned a P71 retired detective Crown Vic out of Kansas City, I can relate to Nathaniel's obsessive knowledge of this rig - I went down the same path with learning every damned thing about my car, and all other Vics, for that matter. Of all my cars that I have owned and lost (for one reason or another), I miss this most, and then my Olds Delta 88. My Vic rode great, was tough, and had presence. Not only that, it was comfortable, and had a monster trunk, as well as shitty fuel economy. It was my very-own 6000 SUX, complete with a spotlight. Well done on Brade Runnah, @RegularCars.
this review is amazing, we dont see often regular reviews where we can really see the guy talk about his car with passion, and this one is a special one too
This is one of the most interesting videos to date. Even more so than any of the "Super" car based videos. It has to be the depth of the icon of NYC, something so common, yet so much depth of the stories and intricacies of what makes it exist.
This is amazing, my grandfather retired from driving NYC Cabs in ‘12 after 40yrs and kept his 3rd and final Ford Crown Vic that he still drives today- this brings back many memories.
Yeah, I almost never took the cabs there. The trains go everywhere. The only time I took while I lived there was when I was too shitfaced to even consider taking the train
This summer, the 100th anniversary of Checker motor cars was celebrated in Kalamazoo. For cars that were so plentiful in their day, relatively few exist, having been worked to death. 1950s and earlier models (the art-deco 1930s models looked amazing) are extremely rare, with no known survivors of some models, between work fatigue and wartime scrap drives. One of only two Y8 models known to exist is a 1937 cab that was converted into a wrecker. As someone who was born in NYC in the 70s, the Checker A11 is my taxi obsession, but I'm really happy to see and hear this young man's devotion to preserving this Crown Vic. I saw car and owner in person at the Greenwich Concours d'Lemons and they made me smile big.
I believe I remember talking to you, and it was a pleasure to allow me to speak to you about it. I'm looking to do something similar to the 100th for Checker, when the last Crown Vic comes off the road this December.
Awesome review, guys! Such love for these rear-wheel drive V8 powered sedans. It's a shame they stopped making them. I also own a 2011 Crown Victoria, but mine's a Police Interceptor. It currently has over 103,500 miles. Bought it back in November of 2021 when it had 93, 245 miles on it.
This was an EXCELLENT video! This gentleman’s knowledge of NYC’s Taxi & Limousine Commission is impressive. The differences between a civilian, P71 & this is amazing. I recently purchased a retired 2005 DE State Police P71 Crown Victoria and in researching the differences between the 3 is amazing. Rear A/C? How cool is that (pardon the pun)…
When i saw its a 33 min review i was a little confused, when Nathaniel kept going on about for more than a minute i was even more confused since this is not how a usual RCR video goes. But man o man i was so pleasantly surprised. What an awesome in depth video and such a treat for nerds!
@@NathanielTabora What a bizarre coincidence. You have the same name as the man in the video! It's almost as if... you are him. NB there's a stone stuck in the grill at 20:05, it might not be visible in daylight because of the shadow.
This is the most fascinating RCR in a long time. I had no idea a P7A was a thing. I love my P7B and if I weren't so bloody tall I'd want one of these too lol
What a great video! How sad that a car that works so hard it’s whole career is banished from the very streets it served. I had a P71 and thought I knew a lot about the platform. Nathaniel takes it to a new level. I’m so impressed with his depth of knowledge in an area few civilians know anything about. This was both informative and emotional. Great work guys!
I drove those cabs back in Iowa City around 2010, ours would run up 300K miles because the city had no real rules about mileage and time of service. Ours would run literally 24/7 unless getting worked on. Fairly comfy when you have to work 12 hour shifts, it's amazing how much wear and tear a car can take and keep going if you keep the basic maintenance up.
This guy is an absolute encyclopedia of this vehicle, and he’s only 19! Imagine being 19 an having the time and passion to investigate, research, and memorize so much about outdated systems that have no possibility of function for himself. And, imagine being a 19 year old that looks like a 38 year old.
@@NathanielTabora Ya know, it probably wouldn't be hard to set up an arduino-based control system to emulate the functions of the deactivated control unit.
I absolutely love when people have so much passion and knowledge to preserve the history of things that often are just forgotten about. Nathaniel did some impressive research for this! I Trying to dig up the stories of old objects can be really interesting
As someone who's born and raised in a 10,000 population town in Southern Missouri, this is incredibly fascinating. We have taxis in Northern Arkansas and Southern Missouri, but they charge $20 one way to go anywhere within the city limits of the 10,000 population town the taxi service is based in. If you have to use a taxi to get to and from work everyday out here in the sticks, you're paying over $100 a week for someone with a recent criminal traffic record to drive you around in a 20 year old minivan. Public transportation needs to be more accessible outside the major east coast cities.
I worked for one of the 3 companies that originally competed to install those systems. TAXI TECH was the only one of the 3 to use the Ingenico credit card pad. It was actually one of the Ingenico engineers they hired to design and set up the system. I won't give his name out in the comments, but you could start there for more info.
Thanks for the tip Scott! Actually I was doing some research and Taxi Tech folded quite a ways back, and were absorbed by one of the two main suppliers today. Very interesting, I’ll have to keep digging!
You said in this review it’s not the iconic checker cab or even the Seinfeld era caprice, but for many of us older Gen Zers and younger millennials who grew up in the tri state area this *is* our checker cab. This and the Town Car instantly bring back childhood memories for me.
Amazing review! Me and my family used to visit my great uncle who lived in NYC in the 2000s, and we would take taxis over the times we visited from central Manhattan to his apartment and back. And the final time I took a taxi like this was a return trip from Mexico to Newark NJ, and it was 1AM and our family hopped into a '95 to '97-ish crown vic taxi to head home. The weather was damp, but we sat comfortably in what has been, my final time in a taxi like this.
Rode in one of these when I came to the US in 05. The leather seats were sticky, and covered in a white glaze, on the doors there were brown splashes which looked like vomit, and it all reeked of that leather smell, cigarettes, cheap perfume, and the subway sandwich the driver was eating. Longer story is we ended up taking the cap from La Guardia to a sketchy bus stop somewhere in Brooklyn at 1am, and we took a Greyhound to Philly where the guy who would give us a job, and place to live would drive us to Jersey City... yeah talk about sketch. A guy picks us up in a blacked out Audi coked the fuck up, and we go west. We actually ended up in Harrisburg instead of Jersey where we ended up being slave labor for a Wyndham hotel or they'd deport us. Had to live in a small, 1 bedroom apartment with 4 other familes. That lasted for 8 or so months.
Holy shit, I've been to Harrisburg many times due to a job I had. I was driving truck for swift at the time and they have a huge terminal there. It was a slave wage job, but not literally slavery...
"Even this old girl will meet her end. As all cars do....it's too bad she won't live, but then again , who does?" Jesus RCR talk about getting me emotional and existential. But I truly felt it. For me, A person who has always seen cars as living things, as mechanical pets. Pets that can grow with it us. Be loyal to us. Pets that we can share a symbiotic relationship with. It really made me sympathise with the panther bodies. The very last of their kind. And they won't be celebrated when they retire. And some cars won't get the retirement farm they deserve after years of servitude. More than likely crushed as their parts won't be seen as suitable even for spares. I hope whatever panther cabs are for sale out there. That they meet suitable enthusiasts who will enjoy them for what they are and use them as cars instead of tools.
We were sad to see our old Saab 9-3 go for scrap after 170k miles (a fair few miles for a car in Britain or Ireland) but it should help keep some other Saabs on the road for a while longer, given that Saab owners are more likely to want to keep them on the road.
@@alastairward2774 I currently own a 2008 Honda civic that has nearly 240k miles. I bought it when it just cracked 200. The past year I've replaced some big parts which other people would have considered scrapping the car instead of repairing (head gasket, alternator,coil packs. As well as all the regular service items). Many people asked me would I not be better buying a newer car. Financially it probably would have made Sense to get a newer car or one with less mileage. But the thing is this car did 200k miles while being poorly maintained and mistreated by it's previous owners. All it needed was a little tlc which I enjoy doing and I have a car that will do another 200k. There obviously comes a point where enough is enough. When a car is rusted out or needs an entire drivetrain swap and you can't do it yourself so your mechanic is going to charge an arm and a leg. Then it doesn't make sense unless it's truly special. But then again I recently watched a video covering what cars broke down the most under 3rd party warranties. the newer cars suffer from huge/expensive electrical and fueling issues costing 1000s. So you tell me what makes sense. Spending 1-2k on a car that's accomplished over 200k miles or spending 5+k on a car that's barely cracked 30k
I already love Crown Vics after owning a retired P71, but this is a whole new level, and really cool. I wish the video was longer. My parents taught me about taxi medallions when I was young, and that people worked very hard to get and maintain them. This is so cool to see a slice of not just the business, but also about the business in NYC. Thank you for this awesome video!
I definitely remember these. Some of them also had red light up buttons for the rear AC. This was around the late 90s early 2000s. Much better time and much better real American cars still. A lot of the Crown Vics in New York WERE old cop cars. Many had the hole where the spotlight was on the drivers door and roof holes plugged
This was the most informative 30 minutes I’ve experienced on RUclips since…well, ever. RCR is my only subscribed channel I automatically play when they show up in my notifications as reading the description just delays valuable viewing time. Thanks for sharing.
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We need a review of an ambulance and garbage truck now to complete the mundane commercial vehicle infinity stones.
And one of those Ghostbusters hearses. If not an actual Ghostbusters hearse. He's done KITT. Or one of those wedge-shaped things that moves airliners around. Top speed 5mph but masses of torque.
Fire truck - check
Police car - check
Mail truck - check
Taxi - check
@@BYLRPhil school bus- check
Add a dump truck to the list.
A crown vic or Taurus police cruiser would be good too, if it’s possible to get permission for one
This is considerably more enjoyable than any "expensive wow fast" car review.
Absolutly, you could almost say it's a 'Regular" car review....🤔
This car pays for itself in about 8 roundtrips.
well it is regular car review....hasnt been very regulalr recently but heck he's rich now slanging leagalized gambling sites he can do what he wants
Idk, that moded Lamborghini he reviewed was a time, but it also wasn't stock.
@@snoopyshultz considering he has yet to review either a tenth or eleventh gen Impala, he still has plenty of regular cars left.
This guy in extremely knowledgeable. I had no idea how many layers there were to cabbing in NYC.
Thanks a lot! It’s been quite some time doing research and learning the industry, I’ll probably put some more up on my channel as the months go on. Same on my IG.
It’s almost like our version of the black cars of London. Extremely detail oriented and mandatory to operate efficiently
same
A complicated and professional place like NYC demands it.
Usually in the VIN:
P1 police
P2 taxi
P3 base Crown Vic
P4 Crown Vic LX
2011 last Crown Vics sold in USA
2012 Crown Vics made late 2011 went to Middle East where they love big USA cars (not legal in USA)
None made in 2012...
ok so i'm a yellow cab owner/driver, i literally stopped this guy on the west side highway earlier this year because i noticed it was an exact replica but out of state plates which i found interesting. we chatted for a minute at the light and explained how he's preserving it and now it's on regular car reviews....small world. for someone who never drove a cab he was 90% accurate on all the details.
What was the other 10%? :^)
@@vaati000 Hookers and blow.
@@vaati000 Yellow cabs can pick up street hails across all of NYC, and not just in lower Manhattan.
That's crazy!
I'm a former NYC cabbie and this kid's knowledge of the T&LC is spot on💪🏾. It's quite impressive that he did that much homework on how the business is run.
Really appreciate the knowledge dump from the owner and for it being in the video. Who would have known I would have learned so much about transit on this channel and not the Armchair Urbanist. :)
as somebody who's never lived in NYC, it's fascinating to see how much is really going on beneath the surface of this iconic institution. it's crazy how organized and officially regulated this cab system was for so long.
As someone who’s fallen asleep, broken up with and been broken up with, and grew up riding yellow cabs and boro cabs since trains had two letters - thank you.
Also, I’m convinced the two best sleep aids in NYC are: The R train when you’re not in a rush, and the back of Crown Vic cab. The rear seat of a Crown Vic is basically what every futon in the world aspires to be.
That was the longest damn story ever
When tipping a NYC cab 🚖 driver, how much do you think is a good tip?
Leave it to RCR to make 10-11 minute videos on Scatpacks, McClarens and Supras, but 30+ min videos on a taxi. Love this channel 👌
This is the way.
I mean the channel is called regular cars. Those aren't really regular cars. I expect no less.
Regular cars are the way to go, it's getting bored seeing reviews for fancy cars.
As someone who has an ambulance and a McLaren, both are quite fun interesting vehicles
How about a 30 minute dissertation of the Plymouth PT Cruiser and Post Modernism?
This is the most wildly interesting review you guys have ever done.
Thanks! There’s a lot of layers to these cars, I got out what I was able to without moaning on!
@@NathanielTabora Oh cool! It is yours! Your knowledge and enthusiasm for the platform shines. This car went to the right owner. You are a real enthusiast my friend.
this and the mail truck video are oddly so good
@@NathanielTabora Dude, that's you in the video?
You're a legend.
Are you new?
This guy was an absolute treat to listen to. So passionate and knowledgable about something that most people wouldn't even look twice at. I really respect that.
In the beginning when he said he just wanted something to show off at car meets I rolled my eyes and thought "Meh, one of those guys." But then the dude started laying down some seriously detailed knowledge and I changed my mind. This guy is the real deal.
Bro just loved that cab lol
I never knew taxi lore went so deep. This guy is really cool. He chose something nostalgic for him, bought it, then went multiple extra miles to fully learn about what he bought so he can teach others. I've learned alot watching this one.
Thanks, there was quite a bit to learn before getting in this car, and something that I definitely take pride in! Happy to hear people took stuff away from this today!
@@NathanielTabora 🐐
imma call the TLC the taxi lore company for now on
I appreciate that dude is so into this and that he's preserving it. This is different than some oldster at cars and coffee saying that his Corvette is one of 12 of this color for that year. This is much more enjoyable.
Brother has one of the last 10. Should donate that when he retires it..
That’s my goal! Thanks, it’s a crazy labor of love and it’ll stay with me as long as I can keep her.
@@ech0828 it’s saved now, no longer a real cab. I’ll keep it until I can’t, and if that happens it’ll be going to the museums.
Oh God, it read the Corvette part with THAT voice! 😂
Great story brother! There’s like a sentimental attachment to it Everything was nostalgic about it and I’m from the Boston area. We are seeing the disappearance to but nothing like NYC. I asked in another thread how many miles on that horse?
The best RCR videos are the ones where someone spotted an unremarkable vehicle in it's regular service and just had to have it - not just the type but that specific one, put a lot of effort and research into finding the owner, and after years of hunting and negotiations, managed to get it. A more respectable manner of living one's dream than any rich-and-famous dreams ever could be.
Love the owner. So passionate and informed about the history and lore of these taxis. You could spend hours with this guy over few beers listening to their facts and stories.
Driving around the city like a complete jerk too!
This guy knows WAY more than any single human being should know about taxi cabs. And I'm totally here for it. I'm so happy people like this exist.
I had the pleasure of meeting Nathaniel earlier this year at a car meet. Super chill dude who has a strong passion for these cars. His love for this vehicle is so admirable.
Today I learned way more about NYC taxis than I thought there was to know. Surprisingly intriguing.
one of the most knowledgeable and passionate guests on this show. Nathaniel, you're an awesome guy for living out your passion, even if it's very niche.
You'd be surprised how many people love cabs, there is a massive community for fans of Lorries in the UK
Seriously, I don't think I would've been very interested in this video if the owner wasn't so engaging and knowledgeable about his car.
Nathaniel, I love that this is your hyperfixation. It's just so wholesome.
Thanks! It takes a special type of crazy to do something like this, and frankly I don’t know where it came from either…
@@NathanielTabora as a former NY state resident who went to the city with my dad all the time to see the Intrepid and his old haunts and so on, thank you deeply for buying and saving this taxi. you're the kind of guy car culture needs more of. ♥
He's smart too. 15 yrs from now, if he keeps it as is, this will be worth something.
The most American car America has ever made. It was born and lived for the American Dream and will die for it as well. A car comprised of useful functions cascaded in useless function much like the rest of American excess. White picket fences and grass lawns exist only to satiate the vanity of personal space and American idealism. if everyone else likes it, it must be the right thing.
The nameplate, Crown Victoria, comes straight from 1955, around the peak of the attainability and symbolism of the American Dream. The first Crown Vic was a trim level for the Fairlane, the Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria Transparent Top, instead of keeping with "Skyliner" like the 54 and 56 model years. It'd take until the Panther body for Crown Vic to be used again. The Panther Body is well known for being a body-on-frame construction, synonymous with trucks, SUVs, and vans. Utility vehicles, tools.
Nowadays, the American Dream has been so mystified and sought after that the elites felt the need to seize it for themselves and only themselves, which combined with the raising cost of living and stagnant or slow wage increases, has all but choked the dream to death. And like all things that end this way, the thing itself, in this case the American Dream, becomes so glorified due to artificial scarcity while the tools used to get there, such as the honest Taxi Cab of yore which so many immigrants drove to pay their bills in the booming post-war economy that first saw the name Crown Victoria, are forgotten at best and frowned upon at worst. Dirty and abused despite being a symbol of America, it shares a similar fate to those that use and drive it in a cruel fate of parallelism. It's hard for a normal young American such as myself to think of a taxi that isn't bus yellow with the checkered banners, and especially one that isn't a 50's sedan or Crown Vic. I guess it truly is American to forge your own future only to be shunned for it. The Panther body is a workhorse and the Taxi Crown Vic is a harder worked horse. Yet in the end, only some will receive the love they deserve for their service to others, something America is critiqued for overlooking in all but the prettiest examples. Make something that serves most people well and you'll be walked on by those very people going to praise someone who made a prettier, less useful contribution to society. But, akin to those that first dreamt the American Dream and those of us who cling to it now in its dying days, like a child to their hospice-ridden grandparent, the Taxi is a hero and altruism is silently praised.
Wow, you nailed it!
It may be a very American kind of car built by ford but it was also Canadian.
@@P7777-u7r doesn’t that just make it even more american?
I don't normally leave comments on RUclips, and I'm not even an American. But this right here is just so beautifully written.
Only the Mustang rivals that.
"Even this old girl will meet her end, as all cars do. One can only hope that's a long way off. It's too bad she won't live, but then again who does?"
RCR has me tearing up over a taxi
Nathaniel awesome video and research. My father was in the yellow taxi business for 30 years as a multiple medallion owner and operator. The only thing you got slightly wrong is that a yellow cab can take a street haul ANYWHERE in the 5 boroughs, not just below 96th street in Manhattan, a boro cab, which is the green cabs can only take street hails above w110th street on the west side and above E 96th street on the east side. All the best.
Thanks! I was a little hesitant on that info. Great to know, I love learning more from those who lived this!
Thanks for clearing that up. Though you'd certainly be hard-pressed to find a yellow cab prowling the outer boros to hail. :D
I don't know why I'm nerding the hell out of these car reviews but keep it up. I enjoyed this video as well as the school bus and the mail truck.
I was thinking that, he's gradually working his way through the "background of life" utilitarian public-service vehicles. Already done mail truck, fire truck, and school bus, now taxi. Other things that would be great for him to review on a similar vein:
- Transit bus, preferably a bendy bus
- Ambulance - that could be interesting for all the equipment in the back, ideally an active duty rather than retired one with the EMTs showing him everything
- Similar to the ambulance, an active duty modern cop car, such as a Ford Explorer - Donut Media once got to review one so it's hypothetically possible.
- Trash truck
Surely plenty of others. Perhaps could even do some "not a car" ones as well, such as a subway or commuter train.
I appreciate you gave the owner time to talk about his car. It’s more interesting to listen to someone talk about a subject with passion, rather than a verbal regurgitation of facts.
Don't lose hope. This car is definitely museum worthy since it's one of the last of it's kind, and probably will be the only one preserved in it's original configuration.
I also love it when Mr. Regular reviews mundane cars such as this. I don't even bother watching when he reviews sports cars.
The best thing about this video is the enthusiasm of the owner. People like him save the vehicles before it’s too late. What a great video.
$1000 for a running car delivered to your door. Now that is an amazing deal in the current market.
I was dying to know what the millage was.
@@badbirdkc He never mentioned that! Also,he never explained why it took 10 years until retiring it!!! They retire all yellow cabs 6 years max.
@@231gnx He mentioned covid as a factor.
@@231gnx it's because they changed it to 10
Crown Vics look best on steel wheels with chrome centre caps. Cool taxi.
Thanks! That’s how it came and that’s how it stays.
i was JUST thinking this
The Camry would never hope to be as iconic.
The Crown Vic has been dead for years now, but it lives on in perpetuity on TV as a ready-available prop. I live in Toronto where a lot of shows set in New York are filmed, and 8/10 times a production set will include a P71 dressed as a NY cab.
Pretty much.
@@andrewduong2740 depends on where you live. Crown vics are alive and well in the rust belt come out to the east side of Indianapolis there are plenty of crown vic cop cars still in service
This might well be your best episode with your best guest ever. In 16 years of living in NYC, I spent more time in the back of these (both yellow and black cabs) than any other car model in which I've ever ridden. I once worked with a guy who'd call the company car service dispatcher and say "call me a car, and make sure it's a Crown Victoria with a driver who doesn't smell."
Really appreciate that! The LWB CV was one of those things that everyone in NYC has seen or been in, but like everything in the city, came and went after something newer came along. They were just tools, and I wanted to buck that trend.
@@NathanielTabora Has anyone ever tried to hail you as you're just driving around? I can imagine myself doing it because I'm having a brain fart moment; all I see is cab = ride without thinking about how I'm not in NYC.
@@NathanielTabora The last time I rode in a cab in NYC it was one of those little Nissan NV's. I don't remember if it was an NV 150, 200, or 300.
What an ABSOLUTE smasher RCR. Huge props to Nathaniel for keeping this piece of American History alive and bringing its story to the masses. God bless.
Just for reference. Currently at 5:00 EST on a Monday to get from Midtown East to JFK (terminal 5) it is 90 dollars on both Uber and Lyft. With a taxi, flat rate of 52 dollars becomes 56.50 with peak time surcharge. Given how crazy traffic can be, I recommend taking the subway to JFK only 10.75 and gets you to the airport in pretty much the same amount of time.
Unless you are carrying 2 pieces of checked luggage lol
Man, Crown Vics have been everywhere all throughout my childhood. It’s THE police car and THE taxi for a whole generation. It’s like they were a constant reassuring presence, that there were always these big comfortable dependable workhorses around and they became iconic without anybody making a big deal of it. They’ve always just been… there. Now that they’re disappearing from fleets, it’s strangely depressing to realize that something that’s been around my whole life is dying out. I’ve never known a world where Crown Vics weren’t everywhere, they transcended the model evolution that regular cars are bound to and became their own whole category of vehicle that never changes. Now that they’re being retired, it doesn’t feel like they’re simply disappearing, it’s like they’re going extinct. It makes me more sad than it probably should, but it’s just sad whenever something that was always around goes away. I’m going to miss Crown Vics.
Until recently, I'd never thought of the Crown Vic as a car that you could "own" - I never even thought of them being out of service, since they're rare where I live.
Sort of like how seeing a teacher outside of class for the first time as a kid is strange.
Saw an '09 P71 clean, pitch black detective's car in a lot one afternoon all polished and every single time I've ever seen one flooded back to me all at once. I bought it less than a week later - that was almost exactly a year ago.
Later I found a photograph of the detective that used to run it, along with a tiny sheriff's association calendar from 2009 and around seven bucks in miscellaneous change under the driver's carpet.
The photo is kind of like a baseball card or something, and it lists his career path on the back - I guess he kept it in his car as a good luck charm or something. Still a self-employed pi to this day out of the same county.
Kinda of adds personality to the car to me; he retired not long after it was issued to him, so the mileage was very low and the car is itching for the all the driving that it never got. I give it the lead foot.
@@piterpraker3399 Nice! Definitely cherish that Crown Vic, it's not often that you find a police-spec car that hasn't been beaten to death. It's especially cool when you can find out some of the car's history from before it was yours, cars with good stories are the best kind.
Same.
I have a feeling owning this car would immediately make me develop an NYC italian accent
Or Pakistani
Fugehtboutit.
Arab accent?
I'd be continually humming the Taxi theme. Dah-dah-dah dahdahdah dah-dah-dah, dah-dah-dah dahdahdah! That's how it goes. I can't remember the rest of it. I'd be humming the Taxi theme and doing air piano all the time. "What does a yellow light mean?" etc.
You do, it’s almost natural…
This dude just talking casually about Windows Embedded and custom-built computers just for a *taxi* of all things to play tinny advertisements for RUclips Bro Videos of 2014 is so fascinating, especially for someone who knows what they're hearing. I have no idea how old this driver is, or if he has any sort of contacts, but I would love to try and track down these NYC TLC Embedded PCs
I’ve been trying for months, I’m still working on it. Reverse engineering it is a pain, I’ve been attempting to, and it’s a lot.
My feeling is that they were using some kind of virtual machine software in some pocket computer so to be able to run windows where then they could load the media player for whatever was provided to watch. I specifically remember there being live news in one of these NY Yellow Cabs so maybe it was both pre-recorded content + a satellite link as well.
@@EndeavorsDnB WinCE machines could be run on a variety of architectures, so it could have very well been ARM, which is why it was fanless.
@@NathanielTabora You can send the information you already have to the contact information on my channel
I wonder if it was running on a Dreamcast. WinCE ran on Dreamcast. Remember when Sega was all like "we reduced our Dreamcast architecture to a single chip!" in like 2001. I wonder if anything ever came of that.
All of the years I worked in Manhattan in the 90’s and 00’s, I never knew this much about cabs. This guy’s an encyclopedia
I gotta say this guys the most fantastic owner ive seen on this channel, super knowledgeable on the car itself and all the cab related features - I feel like he'd be great in car reviewing
Thanks! I’ll be reviewing in more depth all the features of the car on my personal channel. Stay tuned!
This is one of your best videos in a long time. I was hooked for the entire 33 minute runtime. It’s a big shame that these are going away. It was only a matter of time since production ended in 2011 for these cars.
It really is a symbol of NYC.
Makes me wanna go to '80s NYC again -- evocative episode! I guess the Uber/Lyft process works better on balance, from the standpoint of convenience and reliability. But nothing compares to that feeling of joyful self-determination when you'd hail an oncoming cab at the precise moment you wanted one -- take that confident step from the curb, raise your hand with purpose, and off you go.
11:30 importantly, the yellow cabs also have the exclusive right to pick-up passengers in the taxi line (IE without Uber) from JFK and LGA. So they usually pick up someone to get a fare back into Manhattan.
Uber has a line too they have auto dispatch system based on digital take a ticket style line with gps.
I love the owner’s passion for this car and it made this one of the most enjoyable reviews I have watched.
The guy is a hell of a story teller - I love everything about this video!
This is why I like cars so much. It reflects the way we function as a collective in a given time and space. Thank you for giving form to this approach.
that's a great way to put it. I've always liked cars - especially historically significant ones - for the same reason.
Such a good history lesson. I love when the owners reallllly know their stuff and can share knowledge like this. Amazing work everyone!
Thanks, it is a pleasure sharing what I know about these cars to everyone! And RCR did a great job editing my lengthy rambling to something worth watching lol!
Hands down the best car I ever owned. Purchased with 112k for 2000. Drove another 100k without issue. Regular maintenance and one recall that had not been done.
I have heard many stories of these cars lasting forever and of their durability. Ironically my friend had a '92 and it threw a rod at about 62K and was toast. I wonder if it was because it was his grandma's car for the first 8 years of its life, driven very lightly and not very often, then he got it and beat the hell out of it. Maybe it wasn't broken in enough and became soft from being a granny car 😂
The ending of this made me tear up a little. So much passion put into this, probably my favorite RCR episode since the Tata Nano episode. Nathaniel is also one of the best guests I’ve ever seen on this show. Very knowledgeable and knows more than most people would about P7As.
The depth of emotion the conclusion of the story holds... Put me at a loss for words. It's like a favorite tool or a family member after a few years. There becomes a bond between us and our cars, and You guys are one of the few that can make it tangible.
I just watched a 30 minute video on an old ny taxi because it's more enjoyable than any other car content on youtube. As for the gearing, it was literally so these cars wouldn't leave first gear 99% of the time, as first gear comfortably chills at 20mph without being crazy high in the RPM's to lighten load on the trans. Realistically its also the reason they aimed for the V8 and not going for a special V6 variant, as they wanted the torque so the gearing could be made taller. They would of went for a V6 and shorter gearing if they wanted to abuse the transmissions more.
thanks!
That's...actually well thought out. I wonder if considerations like this were made for other vehicles with similar service life such as mail trucks (which The LLV was recently covered on RCR but I don't think anything like this was mentioned?) or the MV-1 which is purpose built as a people mover. eCVT based hybrid vehicles (such as the Prius, old 2005-2012 Ford Escape Hybrids and the Ford Fusion and C-Max hybrids as examples) generally don't need such considerations as the eCVTs are practically designed for low speed stop and go in mind and the drive electric motor that handles most of the load from a stop is directly mated to the front diff (essentially making it direct drive in EV mode just like a full EV) with no gear changes to deal with. But there also seem to be a lot of NYC taxi cabs based off of vehicles that would have never had hybrid options and used traditional automatics like older minivans for example.
@@Vchat20 Well the thing about minivan taxis is they didn't show up in NY until the early 2000's and were more of a necessity than a desire as people regularly were overloading crown vics and as a result minivan taxis were needed. The same reason they have the NV2000 minivans now, necessity, as they now have to have a certain amount of wheelchair accessible taxis.
The preference is still the hybrids and full evs that are designed for city traffic, plus most of these modern hybrids and EV's are smaller than crown vics due to the smaller hoods and trunk spaces, on top of being compact unibody designs. While they don't fit as much luggage as crown vics, most people traveling by livery service with enough luggage to fill a crown vic likely have enough people to fill a minivan taxi or sububran in a rideshare service. So most people JUST trying to get around would only need 1-3 seats, and maybe room for their bags, which a prius or a niro can easily provide.
Taxis and rideshare will become the primary demographic for EV's and hybrids going forward. I was just in the city recently and almost every taxi was a prius, sienna, escape, niro, or in the case of wheelchairs, nv2000.
BUT livery services do NOT need to abide by the same regulations, especially for fuel economy, so thats why almost every tahoe, suburban, and yukon you see in the city is a livery vehicle.
My P71 was upgraded from 3.27 open to 3.73 LSD and at that high gearing 1st gear doesn't exist.
@@p71_caleb same, it will even peel a bit if I hit 2nd at high revs but its clipping almost 3k rpm at 75 lol. A ridiculously fun city car imo -- and with some nice mags its got simple, austere, muscular beauty too
Once I saw a taxi all the way from NYC in Washington DC, talked to the cabbie out of curiosity because I did a double take when I saw the car, he told me some family wanted to take a trip to DC to see museums for the day and paid him like $400/500 or so for the trip
I've seen New York Yellow cabs in the D.C. area on more than one occasion.
I saw two up in Hanover, New Hampshire when I lived in the Upper Valley. I did a double take when I saw them. Definitely not something you expect to see around Dartmouth College.
I was once in St. Louis and saw an Indianapolis taxi. Driver told me that this dude regularly paid him several hundred bucks to drive him around the Midwest. I still sometimes imagine there was a Collateral situation going on.
I'm always happy to see a Panther Platform car featured on this channel, let alone one as iconic as the elusive long wheelbase Crown Vic taxi package. I'm ecstatic that this one is going to be preserved by an owner that clearly cares for it. As a sucker for cars with service backgrounds, a former police and former taxi Crown Vic are a good combo to have.
I'd love to see RCR find a Checker Cab one of these days for comparison's sake. And Checkers were used as police cars for a short amount of time in a handful of departments as well!
I remember the Marathons being rather slow, with only a 6-cylinder engine. Fine for schlepping commuters around Manhattan, but police work? Yikes! Any police department that used these for cop cars had to be the laughingstock of others in the area.
@@Blippity_Bloop64 Those were apparently two of the biggest reasons that they weren't widely adopted and didn't last long when they were!
Having never ridden in a cab, I still find your description a thing of archaic beauty. Long live VIC!
This young man’s enthusiasm for this taxi is just really neat to see. Great video, brother.
I love this man's level of dedication to the knowledge of everything crown Victoria taxi, for what was 1000$ car!
Awesome video folks, knocked it out of the park!
I love this. Seeing his attention to detail and love for these specific cars is so wholesome, and his accent adds to the whole experience.
I love these reviews where you let the owner talk about their own car. Nobody knows more, or is more passionate, about the car than the owner.
This has to be one of my favorite RCR episodes ever. From the extremely knowledgeable owner, to the philosophical tones later on. In a way, it resembles the most average car of all (for the US, at least)
I was very surprised and never realized P7A’s had larger rear doors.
Damn. I came into this review thinking I knew a ton about these old monsters. And I leave knowing more than I could ever imagine with a dose of feels slammed in. Never change, RCR.
The analogy between this car and the main themes behind Blade Runner were not only brilliant but spot on. 10/10. One of the best reviews you’ve done so far.
I'm so glad you guys just included the interview instead of transcribing it. What an enjoyable interview.
This so cool. Features like this are why I'm such a huge fan of this channel. It makes me so happy seeing someone so enthusiastic about a car that often goes unrecognized. Workhorse vehicles like this are the backbones of so many different cities and industries; they're directly responsible for the culture we've made and way we've learned to do business, navigate our cities, and plan our days, but we often don't really give them a second thought. Killer video.
This is the most wholesome and one of the best videos RCR has ever put out. Kudos to RCR and the vehicle owner.
I am glad this guy is obsessed with this taxi. It is iconic and deserves to be preserved. It is a piece of history.
Utterly obsessed, and that’s my intention, to give it the retirement it never would have been afforded otherwise.
I adore this guy's passion. Thank you for letting him - and all of us - geek out for a little while.
Finally, a regular car makes it on the show
The owner of this taxi was just fantastic. I love this more relaxed interview style.
I was saving this after the day I saw the upload and man, I wasn't disappointed. One of the best, if not the best episode ever from Mr. Regular.
Having owned a P71 retired detective Crown Vic out of Kansas City, I can relate to Nathaniel's obsessive knowledge of this rig - I went down the same path with learning every damned thing about my car, and all other Vics, for that matter.
Of all my cars that I have owned and lost (for one reason or another), I miss this most, and then my Olds Delta 88. My Vic rode great, was tough, and had presence. Not only that, it was comfortable, and had a monster trunk, as well as shitty fuel economy.
It was my very-own 6000 SUX, complete with a spotlight.
Well done on Brade Runnah, @RegularCars.
this review is amazing, we dont see often regular reviews where we can really see the guy talk about his car with passion, and this one is a special one too
Thanks! It's a real labor of love and passion, and I'll do my best to keep its story alive for as long as I can.
This is one of the most interesting videos to date. Even more so than any of the "Super" car based videos. It has to be the depth of the icon of NYC, something so common, yet so much depth of the stories and intricacies of what makes it exist.
They exist in the shadow realms, never to be learned about. Then a weirdo like me came into the picture!
This is amazing, my grandfather retired from driving NYC Cabs in ‘12 after 40yrs and kept his 3rd and final Ford Crown Vic that he still drives today- this brings back many memories.
I love these old Crown Vic cabs, but the prices just made me take the train every time I was in New York.
Yeah, I almost never took the cabs there. The trains go everywhere. The only time I took while I lived there was when I was too shitfaced to even consider taking the train
This summer, the 100th anniversary of Checker motor cars was celebrated in Kalamazoo. For cars that were so plentiful in their day, relatively few exist, having been worked to death. 1950s and earlier models (the art-deco 1930s models looked amazing) are extremely rare, with no known survivors of some models, between work fatigue and wartime scrap drives. One of only two Y8 models known to exist is a 1937 cab that was converted into a wrecker.
As someone who was born in NYC in the 70s, the Checker A11 is my taxi obsession, but I'm really happy to see and hear this young man's devotion to preserving this Crown Vic. I saw car and owner in person at the Greenwich Concours d'Lemons and they made me smile big.
I believe I remember talking to you, and it was a pleasure to allow me to speak to you about it. I'm looking to do something similar to the 100th for Checker, when the last Crown Vic comes off the road this December.
Awesome review, guys! Such love for these rear-wheel drive V8 powered sedans. It's a shame they stopped making them.
I also own a 2011 Crown Victoria, but mine's a Police Interceptor. It currently has over 103,500 miles. Bought it back in November of 2021 when it had 93, 245 miles on it.
This has proven to be one of my favorite videos you’ve uploaded. I could listen to that dude tell me taxi stuff all damn day.
Thanks for this one.
Thanks man, I’ll be reviewing more stuff on my YT channel about this car in the coming weeks. Hope you join me!
This was an EXCELLENT video! This gentleman’s knowledge of NYC’s Taxi & Limousine Commission is impressive. The differences between a civilian, P71 & this is amazing. I recently purchased a retired 2005 DE State Police P71 Crown Victoria and in researching the differences between the 3 is amazing. Rear A/C? How cool is that (pardon the pun)…
When i saw its a 33 min review i was a little confused, when Nathaniel kept going on about for more than a minute i was even more confused since this is not how a usual RCR video goes. But man o man i was so pleasantly surprised. What an awesome in depth video and such a treat for nerds!
Cool 😎 that he kept this exactly as it was when it was retired....In a way it makes it a rolling time capsule....
Absolutely! And it will stay like this until I roll in my grave!
@@NathanielTabora What a bizarre coincidence. You have the same name as the man in the video! It's almost as if... you are him. NB there's a stone stuck in the grill at 20:05, it might not be visible in daylight because of the shadow.
What a well spoken young man, love to see people keeping the history of NY alive, super cool.
This is the most fascinating RCR in a long time. I had no idea a P7A was a thing. I love my P7B and if I weren't so bloody tall I'd want one of these too lol
Saw one of these on 4/1/2024. West side Highway. Couldn’t believe my eyes. Plate was 6D76h. I believe it’s only 1 of 2 that are still in service.
I've been driving a 2004 crown vic for 2 years and it's my second favorite car I've ever owned only behind my old 2005 focus st 5 spd manual.
What a great video! How sad that a car that works so hard it’s whole career is banished from the very streets it served. I had a P71 and thought I knew a lot about the platform. Nathaniel takes it to a new level. I’m so impressed with his depth of knowledge in an area few civilians know anything about. This was both informative and emotional. Great work guys!
Thanks, means a lot! There’s still a lot to learn, and more to discover. This review means a lot to me, thanks RCR!
@@NathanielTabora
Thank you for sharing not only your car but your wealth of knowledge!!!
I drove those cabs back in Iowa City around 2010, ours would run up 300K miles because the city had no real rules about mileage and time of service. Ours would run literally 24/7 unless getting worked on. Fairly comfy when you have to work 12 hour shifts, it's amazing how much wear and tear a car can take and keep going if you keep the basic maintenance up.
IC yellow cab?
@@Rawmilkandzerchers yep, forever ago.
This guy is an absolute encyclopedia of this vehicle, and he’s only 19! Imagine being 19 an having the time and passion to investigate, research, and memorize so much about outdated systems that have no possibility of function for himself. And, imagine being a 19 year old that looks like a 38 year old.
And physically feeing like a 65 retiree with arthritis too… Thanks! It was a labor of love and I intend to keep going as long as I can!
An absolute Chad among men ✊️
@@NathanielTabora Ya know, it probably wouldn't be hard to set up an arduino-based control system to emulate the functions of the deactivated control unit.
I absolutely love when people have so much passion and knowledge to preserve the history of things that often are just forgotten about. Nathaniel did some impressive research for this! I Trying to dig up the stories of old objects can be really interesting
As someone who's born and raised in a 10,000 population town in Southern Missouri, this is incredibly fascinating. We have taxis in Northern Arkansas and Southern Missouri, but they charge $20 one way to go anywhere within the city limits of the 10,000 population town the taxi service is based in. If you have to use a taxi to get to and from work everyday out here in the sticks, you're paying over $100 a week for someone with a recent criminal traffic record to drive you around in a 20 year old minivan. Public transportation needs to be more accessible outside the major east coast cities.
I had no idea there was such a thing as a Taxi Nerd. This guy rocks.
I worked for one of the 3 companies that originally competed to install those systems. TAXI TECH was the only one of the 3 to use the Ingenico credit card pad. It was actually one of the Ingenico engineers they hired to design and set up the system. I won't give his name out in the comments, but you could start there for more info.
Thanks for the tip Scott! Actually I was doing some research and Taxi Tech folded quite a ways back, and were absorbed by one of the two main suppliers today. Very interesting, I’ll have to keep digging!
the owner of this car is a really great car reviewer himself, he said he's is only around 20 years old also, very mature and well spoken for his age.
You said in this review it’s not the iconic checker cab or even the Seinfeld era caprice, but for many of us older Gen Zers and younger millennials who grew up in the tri state area this *is* our checker cab. This and the Town Car instantly bring back childhood memories for me.
Amazing review! Me and my family used to visit my great uncle who lived in NYC in the 2000s, and we would take taxis over the times we visited from central Manhattan to his apartment and back. And the final time I took a taxi like this was a return trip from Mexico to Newark NJ, and it was 1AM and our family hopped into a '95 to '97-ish crown vic taxi to head home. The weather was damp, but we sat comfortably in what has been, my final time in a taxi like this.
Rode in one of these when I came to the US in 05. The leather seats were sticky, and covered in a white glaze, on the doors there were brown splashes which looked like vomit, and it all reeked of that leather smell, cigarettes, cheap perfume, and the subway sandwich the driver was eating.
Longer story is we ended up taking the cap from La Guardia to a sketchy bus stop somewhere in Brooklyn at 1am, and we took a Greyhound to Philly where the guy who would give us a job, and place to live would drive us to Jersey City... yeah talk about sketch. A guy picks us up in a blacked out Audi coked the fuck up, and we go west. We actually ended up in Harrisburg instead of Jersey where we ended up being slave labor for a Wyndham hotel or they'd deport us. Had to live in a small, 1 bedroom apartment with 4 other familes. That lasted for 8 or so months.
I am so sorry you had to go through that.
Crazy, where are you from originally, if you don't mind asking?
Holy shit, I've been to Harrisburg many times due to a job I had. I was driving truck for swift at the time and they have a huge terminal there. It was a slave wage job, but not literally slavery...
@@ThePussukka Hungary
@@ChannelNotFound Alright interesting, I hope you're having a good life in the US
greetings from your "cousins" in Finland
"Even this old girl will meet her end. As all cars do....it's too bad she won't live, but then again , who does?"
Jesus RCR talk about getting me emotional and existential. But I truly felt it. For me, A person who has always seen cars as living things, as mechanical pets. Pets that can grow with it us. Be loyal to us. Pets that we can share a symbiotic relationship with. It really made me sympathise with the panther bodies. The very last of their kind. And they won't be celebrated when they retire. And some cars won't get the retirement farm they deserve after years of servitude. More than likely crushed as their parts won't be seen as suitable even for spares. I hope whatever panther cabs are for sale out there. That they meet suitable enthusiasts who will enjoy them for what they are and use them as cars instead of tools.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain...
I’ve had 5 of the p71 vics and there is truly nothing like them 😢 and beautifully said
The Crown Vic is too iconic of a car to be treated so disposably. There will definitely be a few left in the future.
We were sad to see our old Saab 9-3 go for scrap after 170k miles (a fair few miles for a car in Britain or Ireland) but it should help keep some other Saabs on the road for a while longer, given that Saab owners are more likely to want to keep them on the road.
@@alastairward2774 I currently own a 2008 Honda civic that has nearly 240k miles. I bought it when it just cracked 200. The past year I've replaced some big parts which other people would have considered scrapping the car instead of repairing (head gasket, alternator,coil packs. As well as all the regular service items). Many people asked me would I not be better buying a newer car. Financially it probably would have made Sense to get a newer car or one with less mileage. But the thing is this car did 200k miles while being poorly maintained and mistreated by it's previous owners. All it needed was a little tlc which I enjoy doing and I have a car that will do another 200k. There obviously comes a point where enough is enough. When a car is rusted out or needs an entire drivetrain swap and you can't do it yourself so your mechanic is going to charge an arm and a leg. Then it doesn't make sense unless it's truly special.
But then again I recently watched a video covering what cars broke down the most under 3rd party warranties. the newer cars suffer from huge/expensive electrical and fueling issues costing 1000s. So you tell me what makes sense. Spending 1-2k on a car that's accomplished over 200k miles or spending 5+k on a car that's barely cracked 30k
I love this guy. His knowledge and enthusiasm is wonderful.
Thanks! Love her to death and back, hope to do more with this as time goes on!
I already love Crown Vics after owning a retired P71, but this is a whole new level, and really cool. I wish the video was longer. My parents taught me about taxi medallions when I was young, and that people worked very hard to get and maintain them. This is so cool to see a slice of not just the business, but also about the business in NYC. Thank you for this awesome video!
I definitely remember these. Some of them also had red light up buttons for the rear AC. This was around the late 90s early 2000s. Much better time and much better real American cars still. A lot of the Crown Vics in New York WERE old cop cars. Many had the hole where the spotlight was on the drivers door and roof holes plugged
This channel always surprises me how poetic a car reviewer can be. Also: the Blade Runner references were awesome
This was the most informative 30 minutes I’ve experienced on RUclips since…well, ever. RCR is my only subscribed channel I automatically play when they show up in my notifications as reading the description just delays valuable viewing time. Thanks for sharing.
Got to be one of the best reviews you've done Mr. Regular. Thanks to you and Nathaniel for a fantastic and informative video!
Thanks for the kind words!
The long discussion about rates with Roman chillin in the background is such a cozy vibe.
A 33 minute review of a taxi cab that made me both laugh and get choked up. All while also learning. You Guys are amazing. Thank you.