There are only two real ‘Yellow Cabs’ driving around in all of New York

Think “New York” and you probably immediately think of big, yellow sedans rolling through the streets in droves. To this day, you can still find posters at places like Ikea and

Anyone who often visits New York knows that the ‘Yellow Cab’ has not been a sedan by definition for a long time. In 2011, the car world was shocked by the choice of the Nissan NV200, a small van, as the ‘vehicle of choice’ for New York taxi companies. In the end, that soup was not eaten that hot and anyone who raises a hand in Manhattan now runs a good chance of ending up in the backseat of a hybrid Toyota. Still yellow, yes, but no Crown Victoria.

And that, although explainable, is still a shame. The Ford Crown Victoria is, if possible, even more American than a Mustang and for many decades it served not only as a taxi, but also as a police car and of course as a civilian means of transport. Such a ‘Crown Vic’ is also extremely traditional from a technical point of view, with a ladder chassis as a basis, suspension and damping with the firmness of half-skimmed yoghurt and a lazy, but torquey V8 in the enormous nose.

The last generation of the Crown Victoria was in production virtually unchanged from 1998 to 2011 and was in many ways very similar to its predecessor, which fulfilled the same important social roles from 1991 onwards. That role was so great that Ford even developed and built special versions for the police and taxi markets. In recent years, the versions for taxi purposes were considerably longer than regular Crown Victorias, so that rear passengers got a lot of legroom.

Only two more

Now, in November 2023, we are driving according to it a recent article in The New York Times only two Ford Crown Victorias remain as taxis in New York. That is of course incredibly little in the total of such a city of millions, but it is actually special that they are still there at all. After all, the last copy came off the production line twelve years ago and that is a very long time to serve as a taxi even for such a sturdy, apparently indestructible tank. Moreover, it is simply not allowed, because there appears to be a rule that states that taxis can only drive as such for seven years. The two existing taxis are said to have both taken advantage of an exception during the corona pandemic, which made it possible to extend the life of the taxis somewhat due to the pandemic. However, both cars are now well past their expiration date and both drivers, with whom the newspaper also spoke, are awaiting a formal slap on the fingers. One hopes to postpone the purchase of a new taxi until he has sufficient budget for it, the other hopes to be able to drive the Crown Victoria to his upcoming retirement.

550,000 miles

The cars in question, not the ones in the photos above, are from 2011 and 2013 respectively. The latter was therefore registered very late, because as mentioned, no Crown Vics were produced after 2011. It will come as no surprise that these cars have covered quite a few miles in twelve and ten years: one now has 491,000 miles, the other even at 550,000. Yes: the equivalent of 790,000 km and 885,000 kilometers, a very large part of which is in the city. We take our hats off to this and become a little sad at the thought that these last real ‘Yellow Cabs’ will soon be taken off the road.