Welcome to the London Vintage Taxi Association's website

Founded in 1978, the London Vintage Taxi Association is the only club in the world dedicated to preserving historic London
taxicabs and their commercial vehicle and private hire variants.

About the LVTA

Where our members are

We have members around the world, represented by:

  • A central committee in the UK and regional reps around England, Wales, and Scotland.
  • A mainland Europe representative, fluent in several languages.
  • A dedicated North American section, administered by club officers based the USA.

What we do as a club

Most of us own, restore and preserve historic London taxicabs of all ages. Some of us exhibit them at various classic vehicle shows throughout the year, whilst others hire their cabs out for weddings and for film and TV work. Some members do not own historic taxicabs but belong to the club because they enjoy the vehicles and their history.

What we provide for our members

With such a wide base of knowledge and experience, we can offer perhaps the greatest depth of service and technical assistance for anyone restoring and maintaining old taxicabs of all ages that you will find anywhere. Some of our members are active in the London cab trade, as drivers or mechanics, whilst others have run old London cabs for decades.

We publish a high-quality full colour, glossy bi-monthly magazine, Vintage Taxi, which we believe is the world's only magazine dedicated to old London taxis.

We offer discounts on spare parts from various commercial suppliers of taxi parts.


Technical assistance

Technical assistance is available on line both through Website Members' Area and by phone, mail or email from our technical experts. 
Our on line Members' Area offers:

  • A buy and sell page
  • A tech help forum
  • Technical help articles
  • Lists of parts suppliers by make
  • Printable London fare tables for free download and printing
  • Workshop manuals and parts books for most makes of cab for free download

NEW - LVTA AGM reports now available for viewing by members in the members' area 

Access to the Members' Area is for paid members only - find out how to join the LVTA


Join before you buy

If you want to buy an old London taxi, we strongly urge you to join us and take advantage of the expertise our members have. There are some vehicles offered for sale that are not always what the vendor claims them to be, and sometimes are offered at ridiculously high prices. Whilst we do not offer valuation or inspection services, we can tell you whether the vehicle is what it is supposed to be and often say whether the asking price is realistic. We only offer this service to members, so do consider the membership fee as an investment and a good way of saving you a lot of money and heartache.

We do not, out of fairness to our paid up members, provide technical advice, help with obtaining original vehicle index numbers or any other of our specialist services to non-members.

Members have exclusive access to the Members' Area, where they can find:

  • Technical articles from back issues of Vintage Taxi
  • Lists of parts suppliers by make
  • Printable London fare tables for free download and printing
  • Workshop manuals and parts books for most makes of cab for free download

Access to the Members' Area is for paid members only - find out how to join the LVTA


LVTA Shop

We have an extensive range of taxi related items for sale on line in the LVTA Shop .

New out are:

  • New type reproduction PCO licence plates
  • High quality reproduction Driver's Handbooks for
  • Beardmore MkVII
  • Fairway & Fairway Driver

Coming soon are:

  • Reproduction bottom hose for Austin 12/4 taxi (members purchase only)
  • High quality reproduction Driver's Handbooks for:
  • LTI TX1, TXII & TX4
  • Austin FX3
  • Austin 12/4

Because of  the reduction in air traffic that resulted from Covid-19 travel restrictions, postage rates to overseas destinations, particularly the USA have been subject to huge increases. However, we have only passed on minimal increases in mailing costs steady and are subsidising some prices wherever appropriate.


What we can offer writers, researchers and family historians

If you are a family historian, a writer or researcher, we can answer quite a wide range of questions about the London taxi and its history. Please use our Contact Page to get in touch with us.


Do I need a special licence to own or drive a retired London taxi?

You don't need any special licence to own or drive a classic London taxi - just a normal driving licence. Once the vehicles are taken out of service, they require only the normal vehicle insurance and safety certification for the country in which they are kept, and to comply with whatever regulations may apply to historic vehicles.
Only when the vehicles are used for public hire (taxi work) do they and the drivers need to be properly licensed as taxis and be insured for public hire and reward. 
We should add that you may not drive a retired (i. e. unlicensed) London taxi in a bus lane where licensed taxis are permitted, nor to use it for taxi work. You may of course hire them out for weddings, proms, film or TV work, provided they have appropriate insurance.


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If you are an LVTA member, join our exclusive Members Only page

If you are not a members, but like old London taxis, join our Friends page