Carry on Cabby

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No transport enthusiast will be unfamiliar with the Austin 12/4 ‘High Lot’ and ‘LowLoader’ taxis, once as integral a part of the London streetscape as the red double-decker and pinstriped men with bowler hats and umbrellas (and eventually, of course, immortalised on celluloid courtesy of the Carry On team). Most of us, however, will remember them only as landaulets with Strachan, Vincent or Jones bodies. There were exceptions, though, and one has thankfully just been restored.

William Gowan arrived in London from SouthAfrica in 1930 and very soon patented his own design of a cab body for improved safety. The Cape body, as he called it, had curved sliding doors for the passenger compartment which opened into the centre of the body, so passengers did not have to open their doors into the flow of traffic. Short-sightedly, Gowan overlooked the fact that a passenger may wish to speak with the driver without having to cross the compartment and open the door, and that the driver may not appreciate how the design quirk left him even more exposed to the weather.

One of two survivors, this example was restored from a pile of parts over nine months last year. Michael Ware, still scouring the land for remarkable motoring resurrections, brings the story up to date in the January issue of The Automobile, on sale now.

Words by Zack Stiling. Photographs by Tony Baker.

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