By default, the “most Autopian taxi” is our Nissan NV200, currently trekking across the country with your usual Cold Start author Jason Torchinsky at the helm. But what would constitute The Ultimate Autopian Taxi, if we had set out to find such a thing?
I imagine the ideal candidate would be a machine that met the requirements of people-moving with a solution as brilliant as it is idiotic; be highly unconventional in appearance and either extremely small or absurdly large; and have failed miserably in the market.
With those criteria in mind, it took me .34 of a second to conclude The Ultimate Autopian Taxi is a 1968 Jetway 700 limo.
Today, any airport-based rental car agency or airport-servicing hotel will likely fill its taxi-bus needs with a full-sized van cab-chassis outfitted with a shuttle bus body. It’s the most logical and economical choice, and if you’ve ever flown anywhere ever, you’ve almost certainly ridden in one.
As for the least logical and economical option, stretching a standard sedan or station wagon and doubling its door count seems like the perfect bad idea, but that was apparently the logic of bygone days. Firms like Armbruster-Stageway chopped full-sized American cars in half to make six- and eight-door limousines to transport from nine to twelve passengers and their luggage, though the standard trunk meant that much of the cargo these Mad Men-era jet-setting passengers toted likely ended up on the roof.
The stagecoach in the company’s logo calls back Armbruster’s beginnings in 1887 as builders of horse-drawn “holdup-proof coaches” with secret compartments that Jesse James-style bandits ostensibly couldn’t find.
The firm continued with these concoctions up until at least the mid-seventies as these Pontiacs prove:
Armbruster was not alone. Jason has already written about the Checker wagon with many doors, the Aerobus. Meanwhile, two Arkansas businessmen named Waldo Cotner and Robert Bevington did good business converting Oldsmobiles into ambulances and hearses, and when they saw the massive front-wheel-drive 1966 Toronado they must have realized that a long limo that didn’t need a driveshaft the length of a drilling rig shaft might be a good idea.
Cotner and Bevington’s company had been acquired in 1964 by milk truck-and-school bus-maker Divco-Wayne Corporation, and they wanted nothing to do with the Toronado concept. Cotner and Bevington decided to leave to pursue their dream and founded American Quality Coachworks in 1968, their first (and ultimately only) product being the Jetway 707 airport limo. However, their plan was to make a whole series of front-drive vehicles like ambulances and hearses.
Funny observation: the image above looks like it was originally a snap of a 1967 car, and an artist at AQC modified the front end with the 1968 nose!
With no driveshaft hump, a raised roof, and a large cargo area, the Jetway seems like a winner on paper; enough so that GM appears to have followed the same formula for their 1973 GMC Motorhome. Still, the Jetway wasn’t cheap, and the gloriously outrageous appearance must have been an acquired taste.
I don’t know when I became convinced that this was the Greatest Motor Vehicle Of All Time, but I somehow remember being single-digits old and seeing black-painted ones in my Washington, D.C. hometown and having my young mind explode. This appearance on 17th Street near the White House that I just discovered in All The President’s Men seems to confirm their existence in that time period.
Apparently, there was a remake made of the Beatle’s film Sargent Peppers Lonely Heart’s Club Band that starred, of all things, the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton. This stinker featured a Jetway 707 with the roof cut off – probably the best part of the movie (11 percent on Rotten Tomatoes).
AQC didn’t last long before going bankrupt; production numbers are all over the map, with some claiming nearly 150 were made while more reliable sources claim around 52 were built. Armbruster finally hit the end of the road in 1990, though the name has been revived. One of the last appearances of this odd type of vehicle was done by Chicago’s Limousine Werks on a Buick “whale” wagon in the mid-nineties.
Still, it’s the Jetway 707 that we want. There can’t be many left (estimates are about nine), but you see them for sale from time to time, like this one that appeared a few years back.
Another one with odd “Centipede” rocker panel graphics showed up not long ago. This was spotted here on the Woodward Dream Cruise years back but has obviously fallen into disrepair since.
This one appears to have been acquired by Cleveland Power & Performance for a possible restoration, and he gives a pretty nice history and walkaround if you’re interested.
It’s Sunday as I write this, so I can’t reach out to see if more work on the Centipede ever commenced. If they’ve given up and gone back to profitable and more ubiquitous Mustang-and-Chevelle restorations, it would be an ideal Autopian cross-country steed in its current condition (well, put down some plywood where the floor was). Hey, if we made a “Broughan D’Elegance” level of membership for twelve lucky members at a grand or two a pop to “invest” in next summer’s trip for a ride-along in this thing, maybe we could convince the Powers That Be to take a Jetway on.
That’s a really, really stupid idea, yet very Autopian.
That Limousing Werks Roadmaster wagon is hot! They made a small number of Roadmaster sedans, too.
Totally dig this article and I have a very faint memory of an airport shuttle from Honolulu Airport to that Rainbow sided hotel on Waikiki was about 1982 or 1983. I recall riding in this vehicle that looked like a car in Richard Scarry book with a bunch of doors, not sure if was a Suburban or one of these. I remember being amazed by it, weird car and awesome. Had ashtrays at each row too, because 80s and smoking. Oh yeah (checks notes) still into random weird stuff to this day. Probably a long shot, but any ideas where I might find old photos of it at HNL airport?
Thanks for the link to my Dream Cruise photo. It’s funny that a site I read daily randomly found one of my images for an article.
I’ve also written about my uncle’s ’66 8-door Chrysler Newport. He owned a limousine business, and we used to run gamblers from a tavern in Staten Island up to Saratoga Raceway.
The runs were often sold out, but when there was a seat available I’d ride along and receive an education, through a near-solid mist of second-hand smoke, from all the bettors studying their “Tele” (Telegram).
I learned enough not to be sucked into gambling, and the $ .25-cent tips for opening doors (count ’em) added up. I’d also run for coffee and cigarettes (if the vendor would sell to a 14-year old) and pretty much had a blast!
As I’ve written before, I saw one of these custom Toronados way back in the late sixties. I was just a kid, and coming out of The Cherry Hill Inn in New Jersey, and there it sat in all its glory!
It was white with splashy red lettering down advertising the inn it serviced. It was really quite impressive, glamorous, even.
I’ve never seen another like it.
Personally I think a small CUV with x6 doors and enough power under the hood would be a good people mover. I think I’d like that more than a larger SUV with a third row or a minivan.
Along Hiway 20 between Marysville and Grass Valley CA is a home? that has several extended-length airport-type vehicles. I drive by occasionally and haven’t been brave enough to drive down their driveway to ask about them. Very inline with this post. I can’t spot them on Google maps, so can’t provide anything more.
4191 CA-20 Marysville, CA 95901
per Google Maps, street view, an 8 door green TravelAll?
That’s the place! Your Googlefu is much stronger than mine. Well done!
Needs more roof tent…maybe four, with the entrances staggered on both sides?
You are forgetting one thing. That Jetway 700 is painted the wrong colour. Young man, in the Autopian household ALL TAXIS MUST BE YELLOW.
Those things are so cool! And I always wanted a wagon that could haul 24′ sheets of plywood with the tailgate closed. 🙂
I actually had a ride to Logan Airport in something like this as a little kid with my Mom 50 years ago. First time I ever flew.
The AQC 707 looks like my parents’ Vista Cruiser on steroids. It would have settled all the “she’s touching my side” and “it’s my turn to sit in the way way back” squabbles, plus we wouldn’t have needed 2 car top luggage carriers.
Counterpoint: the Rumpler Tropfenwagen would be the ultimate Autopian taxi bus (if stretched, as the Tropfenwagen typically seated only four to seven people)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Rumpler_Tropfenwagen.jpg
But only 2 Tropfenwagens are known to exist (most of the remaining stock was used and philistinely destroyed in the 1927 film Metropolis) so the Jetway is dirt-common by comparison.
There’s a modern variant of this that I see often in Vegas. They stretch a Ford Expedition (older versions used an Excursion) body and drop it on an F-650 medium truck chassis. There’s a limo version with only two rear doors, but I’ve also seen 8-door versions.
Okay, sorry, my former copyeditor’s pickiness is coming out here:
Lemme fix that for you, Your Excellency:
And for what it’s worth, there was no earlier Sgt. Pepper’s movie to accompany the album (unlike, say, Help! or Magical Mystery Tour). This ’70s horror appears to be an original creation.
I would’ve loved to be the ashtray supplier. Ca-ching!
Who wouldn’t want an 8 door, 15 passenger Toronado wagon?
Sure beats an old Dodge Grand Caravan with a lifted rear end!
Don’t try to take it up or down the W-road in Chattanooga.
There was one of these big wagons tucked on to the side of a building in the Rosecrans area of San Diego for many years. I saw it for many many years, but it disappeared after 2020.
Here you can see it in 2018. https://www.google.com/maps/@32.7449428,-117.2109602,3a,75y,26.49h,83.82t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1ssewTTM_wMKTNt8_CHsmGzQ!2e0!5s20180301T000000!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D6.177793026280426%26panoid%3DsewTTM_wMKTNt8_CHsmGzQ%26yaw%3D26.490147294758223!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDYxNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
(Address 3104 Rosecrans Pl, San Diego)
Looking through old Street View photos, it went under cover in 2020 and that was the last time it was seen.
Nice find! They’re still out there.
When I was a kid I got a “ride” (they let us sit in it) in the American Dream limo. It’s still one of the weirdest and wildest memories of my life. Oh the cocaine 80s.
Do you mean that stretched world record Eldorado?
I sure do! The 26 wheel monster with a pool, putting range and helipad
That thing is awesome, now take us to the drive-thru, Jeeves!
You’d have to stop four times to get orders from each row.
Last row pays.
I’m doing something here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52LJaWDdG9c
https://youtu.be/Eh8Fet_YMEk?feature=shared
SNL did it a few years ago. In a sketch that was three mins too long (as usual)
Imagine Jason’s entire taxi odyssey with this thing swapped in. Rolling off some ridiculous oversized flatbed into a tree. Jason’s friend fashioning a plexiglass back window. Otto rattling around in the way, way, way back with Jason’s vintage tech. Crossing the desert surrounded by all those acres of glass. It would be even more epic in every way.
Imagine Jaon’s driveway with one of these crammed into it
Imagine this in Jason’s driveway, with the seats taken out and the Changli, the Pao, and the 2CV all driven up inside and parked in one of these…
“Apparently, there was a remake made of the Beatle’s film Sargent Peppers Lonely Heart’s Club Band that starred, of all things, the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton.”
Growing up in the UK my parents had this abomination of a soundtrack in LP format and until I was about 10 years old I thought the Beetles were named Robyn, Barry and Maurice. Thanks for bringing that repressed memory back Mr Bishop.
“Remake”? There was never a “make”.. Not sure what Bishop was thinking of but this abomination was not related to the Beatles in any way other than using the name and some music.
They also converted Suburbans into airport taxi-limo-buses. I’d take a ’60-66 Suburban one of these instead of any of the photographed ones.
And Internationals. There were a bunch of these floating around the IH world a few decades ago; I don’t know what ever became of them. This one showed up on BarnFinds six years ago.
I remember seeing a stretched Suburban somewhere in Connecticut in the late ’80s or very early ’90s. Child-me was in awe of the thing; it was bright yellow and had four doors on each side.
Why exactly where these a thing instead of a 12-15 passenger bus? Or is that why they are no longer a thing; most people already knew that except everyone at Armbruster?
The idea of executives or professionals riding in a school-bus like truck was unthinkable back in the sixties
Don Draper and Roger Sterling ain’t riding in no can/bus
Obviously not a school bus. But why not something like a shrunken PD4501, or New Look, or…
All of these are a amazing to party in,loud ass music, disco balls, cocaine, alcohol and naked bodies……..
Don’t forget the baby oil!
Useless, overdone, want it.