Carbodies cars for sale

Overview

Carbodies built the London taxi. The FX4 shape it began producing in 1958 stayed in production, in recognisable form, for four decades and became one of the most globally identifiable vehicles ever made.

History

Robert "Bobby" Jones founded Carbodies in Coventry in 1919 as a coachbuilder, producing standardised bodies for makers including MG and Alvis, and moving to larger premises on Holyhead Road in 1928. During the Second World War it built military vehicle bodies and aircraft components.

Post-war it won the contract for the Austin FX3 taxi body and, from 1958, built the FX4. Jones sold to the BSA Group in 1954; Manganese Bronze Holdings acquired the firm in 1973. It became London Taxis International in 1992 and produced the TX1 (1997), TXII (2002) and TX4 (2007). Voluntary administration followed in October 2012 after a steering component fault, and Geely bought the assets in February 2013, rebranding the operation as the London EV Company in 2017.