NC London Cab

It is getting cold in North Carolina (nights as cold as the teens (F) sometimes). I left Sir Fin out in the driveway all day and remembered to put him back in the garage after it was already about 24 degrees F. When he started, it sounded very sluggish, coughed a bunch, then ran rough. I got him into the garage, but he left a little present.

Oil barfing

First a foot-wide oil dump, then a squiggly pattern.

Oil Trail

All the way into the garage.

So I check the location and it appears the oil filter seal had hardened from the cold and oil shot out around it. After a refill and a warm up, he is back to normal. One more thing Sir Fin doesn’t like: cold weather.

Right after the LVTA puts an article about Sir Finley in their international newsletter, some punks hacked this website and ALL was lost! I don’t understand why someone would do that, but just like you can’t keep a good cab down, I’ve rebuilt some of it.

Lesson learned: make your password incredibly complicated rather than something guessable. Ouch.

These are items I found in the cab that were accidentally left there before I got it. Most of these were only accessible after removing the dash or back seat.

A. Speedometer connector found stuck in dash wiring.
B. Electrical connector
C. Eyeglass nosepiece under driver’s seat
D. 1 pence coin behind back seat
E. 20 pence coin behind back seat
F. Safety pin under driver’s seat
G. Small plastic ruler under driver’s seat
Not shown: 1989 American penny behind back seat trim

Let me first say that Sir Fin is a daily driver, not a show car. He has a long way to go before I would consider him show quality. So when I heard about a British Car Show in town, I thought it would be fun to go see what it was about and just share my car with others. Thanks to my wife for letting me attend a car show on our anniversary! That has to be the definition of true love.

On May 16, 2009, I drove Sir Fin to a local mall parking lot at about 8:30 AM. I entered him into the show and parked where they told me. He was entered into the “British: Other” class. Most cars there were in the MG or Triumph classes. I parked between an 84 Rolls Royce and a kit Cobra (not sure why he was there). Other cars in the class were an 82 Rolls, a 67 Sunbeam, a Delorean, and a few others.

I stood there between 8:30 and 12:30 showing my car to people and letting them sit in the back. Most cars had a “Don’t touch” sign. My sign said “Please DO touch”. After all Sir Fin has been through in his life, what could you do to it? So about 50 people got to sit in a London Cab, most for the first time ever. Everyone loved him! The MG Car club members that put on the show even invited me to join their club. After all, there is no local club for London Cabs! I loved sharing him and showing people what a unique and awesome character he is.

Here are some pictures of the cars in my class:

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Here are some other cool cars at the show (not in my class):

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My favorite was the 52 Jaguar on the left. Incredible!

Here is the funny part: I won first in class! They mailed me a plaque since I had to leave early for a football match. Here is my prize:

Quite a day for old Sir Fin!

Sir Finley hosted his first wedding on May 2, 2009. My nephew was married to a wonderful woman that day. They asked me to drive them from the Church to the reception and from the reception home. At the rehearsal dinner, they presented me with these gifts:

On the left is a model they ordered from the UK. Thing is, the model is carved out of COAL! Best lump of coal I ever received. On the right is a used book on London Cabs published in 1973 (before Sir Fin was even made). It has a library stamp of “Iona and Ken Hepper” that looks like a notary ring. It contains interesting stories of cab wars and “box-ins”. Apparently, the mere mention of the term “mini-cab” pissed people off.

A big thanks to B and C for including me and Sir Fin in their grand event. Here are some pictures of the day.

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We made the 100 mile journey 6 hours before the wedding just in case problems occurred.  To the contrary, he performed flawlessly all the way there, during, and back. Sir Fin was spotless after finding a charity car wash the morning of. With a warm temp that day of 83 degrees, the journey was windows-down. The couple seemed very happy with their unique conveyance. We placed flowers and just a few window clings so as not to over-do it. I had just finished placing 6″ speakers in the back deck so they could hear the custom mp3 playlist as they rode. I created a custom jump-seat ad that looked just like their wedding announcement. They will get that back as a gift once we get it framed. All-in-all a great day!

Sir Finley has a wedding scheduled for early May. We’ve been working hard to get ready. We’ll drive from the wedding to the reception and from the reception to ?. Posting mech pictures soon and day-of pictures afterwards.

It happened that a local high school hosted a regional Winter Guard (flag twirling choreographed show) event on February 14, 2009. Sir Finley volunteered to pick up and drop off the judges from their hotel. Saturday morning, 5 people (4 in the back and 1 in front) got to ride the 10 miles to the school. Then Sir Finley went on a Starbucks run, then took the judges back to the hotel that evening. Everything went off without a hitch and the judges got a ride in the most unique vehicle around. Well, there was one incident. The front passenger door decided not to unlock, so one judge had to crawl out the driver’s door. Just more uniqueness, right?

These pictures show Sir Finley in action or posing in what appears to be working order!

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