British taxi turns heads, saves gas

 

By ELIZABETH HARMON
The Independent

 

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Brenda Dahlfors’ solution to fuel economy isn’t a Prius. It’s a Wendolene.
Since last fall, Dahlfors has been turning heads as she cruises around town in an authentic 1980 British taxicab, which resembles a black PT Cruiser on steroids. The car’s name, Wendolene, is posted on front and rear oblong, European-style license plates and comes from a character in the British film series “Wallace and Grommet.”
The seven-passenger taxi has a roomy, leather-covered rear bench, jump seats, an intercom and an unusually comfortable right-side driver’s seat.
“It was made for a driver to sit in all day,” said Dahlfors, adding that driving from what is normally the passenger side wasn’t hard to get used to.
A plastic pocket attached to the inside of the windshield contains a few British coins the new owners found between the seats.
Dahlfors purchased the car online in December, following a trip to England with her husband, Tom. While in London, Tom fell in love with vintage British taxis.
“We’d be standing in the rain, and he’d let a newer cab go by because he wanted to ride in an old one,” said Brenda.
“I loved the boxy style, the character of the car,” said Tom, who owns two other British cars, a 1980 MGB and a 1953 MGTD.
After the couple returned home, Tom mentioned to several friends how much he liked vintage British taxis. At about the same time, Brenda was considering trading in her 14-miles-per-gallon Chevy Trailblazer for something with better gas mileage. When a friend discovered Wendolene, whose diesel engine gets a tidy 30 mpg, for sale on eBay it provided a solution for both of them.
“I told her she needed something unique,” said Tom.
“I said fine, as long as I could use it as my everyday car,” said Brenda.
Wendolene was manufactured around 1980 by London Taxi International and was used as a taxi in Blackpool, England, a London suburb, until it was purchased and shipped to the U.S. by a Pennsylvania woman. The cab has almost 300,000 miles on it but is built to go 500,000 or even one million miles, Brenda said.
The couple’s two large dogs find it easy to climb in and out of the back seat, and the taxi’s narrow tires make executing tight turns and parallel parking remarkably easy. But Wendolene does not like the extreme cold of the Midwest and stays in the garage when the roads are snowy. Going through fast-food drive-thrus is also a challenge because the driver’s seat is far from the pick-up window.
“My husband is kidding me that he’s going to get me one of those things they use to slide pizzas in and out of the oven,” said Brenda.
But the advantages of tooling around McHenry County in Wendolene outweigh the hassle of having to park and go inside Dunkin’ Donuts. Brenda said when she drives to work at the University of Illinois Extension Office or to run errands, her car attracts attention.
“I have such a good view all around me, and I can see people’s faces when I drive by. I get a lot of thumbs up and lots of smiles. People who know me honk when they see me,” said Brenda.
And while Wendolene is still a bit of a curiosity and a mystery around Woodstock, it will soon have proof of legal resident status right above the taillight — an Illinois vanity license plate that says “UK TAXI.”

 

This article was published in the March 5, 2008 edition of The Woodstock Independent.