You remember our hapless $800, 375,000-mile ex-New York City taxi, don’t you? Sure you do. Yellow, Nissan, kind of banged up, absolutely filthy, considered a biohazard, worked like a dog for a decade of hard NYC taxi labor? You know it. We bought it as part of a sponsorship deal with Copart, and even in our short time owning it, it hasn’t had it easy. Our car-rescuing demigod Stephen Walter Gossin had a crack at it first, and he made some initial progress on getting it back in shape. Keep in mind, this is a vehicle that a Nissan dealership said would need over $14,000 worth of repairs to be roadworthy, and spending that kind of money on this steaming pile is only just slightly more likely to happen than my next fart becoming sentient and curating an Alexander Calder retrospective at the Whitney.
My Autopian co-founder David Tracy, a man more used to automotive lost causes than St. Jude, came down to North Carolina to wrench on this thing in hopes of resurrecting it. David and I spent a solid week wrenching and hammering on the taxi, and we got it in running shape, incredibly.
Oh, wait! I almost forgot: before David came down to help me work on it, a miserable tow truck screw-up launched the poor cab into a tree, smashing the rear doors:
What I’m saying is that this 2014 Nissan NV200 taxi has lived a hard life of constant toil, and every one of those hard 375,000 miles left its mark on this beast. If a magic horse were to appear and grant this cab the power of speech, I’m pretty sure it would just beg for the sweet release of death; this cab wanted nothing more than to stay in that junkyard and quietly yield to the cold yet comforting blanket of death, where there were no more fares to run, no more traffic to JFK, no more smacking wheels into curbs, no more pain.
We did not listen.
No, instead, we resurrected this cab, telling the Grim Reaper in charge of Nissans and Infinitis (and some Renaults) not today. This hardworking taxi needs a proper send-off, and we’re going to give it just that, with a trip all the way across this great nation of ours! Oh, and the first leg of the trip is from North Carolina to NYC; if you look on the cab, you’ll see I’m contractually obligated to take anyone to JFK for a flat rate of $70, so if you need a ride to JFK from Chapel Hill on June 17 or so, let me know.
The cab runs. There’s no air conditioning working yet, but I’m going to see what I can do there, and it needs a little suspension work, but other than that, I think it’s mechanically as good as it’s going to get. What may be a bigger concern is how absolutely disgusting the interior is:
There’s a reason there was a biohazard sticker on this thing. Because it was hazardous, biologically. So I’ll need to get that all nice and cleaned up. And maybe try to repair those seats.
Oh! And just for fun, I’m going to fill in the hole in the back where the taxi-advertising monitor thing was with something much better: some genuine 1980s 8-bit computing hardware!
I have an Atari 600xl – complete with 16K of RAM! – to mount in the back with that little screen there. My kid Otto is coming with me on the trip, so he needs some way to play Pole Position and Frogger and Donkey Kong and maybe learn how to program in BASIC, right? So I’ll have to install that.
This trip is not just about seeing if this cab will make it – we want to try and see as many of you as we can! So, with that in mind, here’s our planned route, and all our stops:
So, we’re going to hit the Mid-America VW Funfest in Effingham, Illinois, and we’re going to have reader meetups in Columbus at Der Dutchman Cruise-In, Lawrence, Kansas, and Denver! I’ll be gambling for next month’s payroll in Vegas, and then we finally should hit LA by the 24th, Nissan-gods willing. So, please, come see us! I’ll try to remember to bring some stickers and shirts and stuff if I have any here to give out! There are no hard plans other than going to the Der Dutchman Cruise-In, attending the VW Funfest in Effingham, and probably doing breakfast in Lawrence, so let us know if there are any other events along the way.
Just be wary of the road madness that I likely will be affected by. It’s powerful.
Oh, and one last detail! Look what we got for the cab:
A working taximeter! So, while we take this trip, we’re going to finally find out how much it would cost to take a NYC taxi all the way across the country! You know you’re curious!
Is this a bad idea? Probably, yeah! A really bad one! But we’re going to do it, anyway! I hope to see you out there on the road, and hopefully whatever tears are in my eyes will be ones of joy, and not ones of misery because I decided to drive a should-have-been-dead taxi across the freaking country like an idiot.
I am totally calling it “Left Virginia” from now on.
They’re trying to make up for that name by leaning right
Hmmmm. Lawrence, KS is about 4 hours away. It says breakfast, so what time would that be?
Glory-be – the first Autopian Denver Meetup! And the Forney Museum of Transportation has a station wagon exhibit this year: https://www.forneymuseum.org/index.html
Depending on what time you arrive, perhaps we could all meet there. How many Autopian Staff and family members are coming on the trip? As long as it’s just a few, I’ll even spring for your entry fees. (Edit: it seems like it’s just you and Otto – so no problem!)
Keep us in the loop about your arrival and departure schedules for each stopping point, which will definitely not be impacted in any way by the inherent reliability of this trusty vehicle.
Rods and bodz is worth checking out too.
I suppose most of us will be brining tools as well to the meetup because you never know.
Haven’t been there, but it looks neat. Sadly, it looks like this is also the last summer to visit them, since they’re closing down as of July.
And yes, I always brine my tools – gives ’em more flavor 🙂
To your point, it’s probably a good idea to bring some along just in case Jason needs some assistance.
Where dis you see that they were closing? They just barely moved into their new building and that would be a shame.
https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/791745911/rodz-bodz-movie-car-museum-set-to-close-end-of-summer-2025
But maybe this was overcome by events. Did they move in the past few months (since March 2025)?
They have not, and I don’t even see that announcement on their own site. More reason to meet up there before it disappears.
A state named I da ho, hilarious Torch, never change.
well, I’ll wave as you pass through Utah.
Represent! Thank you.
Ha, I’d lament that you’re all bypassing the glorious state of Franklin but the more I think about it the better I think it might be to put as much distance as possible between here and that roving metric ton o’ biohazard (especially with the ostensible Secretary of Health and Human Services absolutely eviscerating the department.)
Darn,
I was hoping it would show back up at the monthly C&C in Wilmington.
Dangit, I’ll be in L.A. the day before you arrive.
This buggy needs to have a lap of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, don’t you think?
Ah, can you all at least be upfront about how much the Copart fees & whatnot actually added to the initial winning $800 bid? Didn’t it end up costing somewhere well north of $2,000??
I can’t recall but Matt has all of that. I don’t think it was that bad?
Sure. The one trick is that we needed to use a third-party broker (which Copart made easy) because it was a California LLC buying an NJ-registered car we were going to then title in Montana. In many cases, you won’t need to use a broker, and we probably could have cheated and used a CA dealer license, but we wanted to do it straight up:
So that’s $1691, but if I’d have just bought it and sold it to the Autopian (which might have been smarter) you can knock off the $299 so it’s $1,392.
After USAA used a scammy third party that did fake comps, Copart then tried to snatch my truck before I even gave them information to do comps, or was informed they wanted to save money by totaling it!
I’m still driving it, and still don’t have a settlement.
I didn’t let Copart even know where my truck was located.
All the insurance companies use “unbiased” (they lie, since the valuation company ONLY works for the insurance industry) third party corporations to do comps these days. They are very clever with their numbers and how they deduct for mileage and features. I had the unfortunate job doing total loss for 1.5 years and quit as soon as I could. A soul sucking job. I will never work for insurance again. I thought it might be cool since I know and love cars. Nope.
Any opinion on independent appraisers?
Thanks, Jason & Matt. To be sure, auctions do usually have fees but it’s interesting to note how the fees themselves were more than half of the winning bid. So, yeah, this particular vehicle ended up having its total cost of acquisition be more than double its winning bid, not to mention having to deal with all the damage caused by Copart using forklifts *after* the auction, i.e., damaging something that was no longer theirs, as well as these tow truck/car transporter mishaps. All in all, with the unnecessary damages incurred after purchase thanks to aforementioned parties, it did indeed end up being well north of $2,000…
Also, I might be mistaken in my recollection but didn’t the first article(s) in this series say that one of the reasons for partnering with Copart was to demonstrate how one could fix up their Copart purchases with parts also sourced from Copart? So far it looks like you all have been getting parts elsewhere instead? And, as documented in today’s Cold Start, that’s indeed remarkably impressive what Andy did with the plexiglass for the back window!! Mind blown… Good to know how skillfully such kludges can be done; such knowledge might come in handy, at least as a stopgap measure, for me *and* other readers with projects that have windows made of unobtainum.
Any chance I can talk you into coming up through the Delmarva peninsula (via US 13) on your way to NYC, so I can see this ridiculous thing first-hand?
(not its real name)
Maybe this will be the thing that finally kills them all and I can wriggle out of this Rodius deal and take control of The Autopian for myself.
Rodius deal? Would that be anything like a Faustian deal? Ha.
(In fact that’s what this whole NYC taxicab project actually is, a Faustian deal, partnering with a company whose founder and chair, namely Willis Johnson, has been actively engaged in politics aimed at aggressively disenfranchising so many people including some of the Autopian’s very own staff & some of us readers.)
Anyhow, driving the Rodius might actually be a better deal than riding in that biohazardmobile.
Big missed opportunity not naming Montana, Montana LLC
I wish there had been a little more notice! I’m traveling to NYC from Raleigh on the 18th aboard Amtrak’s Carolinian. I certainly hope I don’t pass you on the way.
This will be an adventure to remember for Otto! Have fun.
Good news Jason, that flat fee only applies to journeys between JFK and Manhattan.
Better news: for journeys from Connecticut/Suffolk/New Jersey/north and west of Westchester County, the price is negotiated between passenger and driver at the start of the trip.
Even betterer news: the museum is in Brooklyn, so you can charge even more than you would have for a trip to JFK.
I’m not saying you have to rip off Otto, but if a kid from Chapel Hill to NYC, but if Otto really wants to see the Big Apple he should get the full experience, and leave the city with an empty wallet.
You know all that PPE you should have worn during the Chang li (ahem) repair? Double it for this cleanup.
Suggest you buy or rent a ozone generator, tape-up the obvious holes in the fuselage, and run the O3 generator for two hours. Do not allow anything you want to live in the cab while running the generator. After two hours, open every orifice and let it stand for a few hours. You may need to repeat.
Of course, remove as much crud from the cab before you begin. You may want to tear out the carpeting and replace it with a layer of closed-cell foam (for sound deadening) and top it with whatever obnoxiously styled and colored throw-rug you can find.
The splotches on the vinyl upholstry could be mildew, but it’s hard to tell. Hit those with bleach-water and wipe before running the ozone generator. Aerosolized mildew is bad news.
I’ll second the ozone. It works wonders.
Aside from bleach water, you can also use vinegar. I’d hit every. single. surface. with one of the two.
Another good one is chlorine dioxide. Get the tablets and follow the instructions.
Ah. Great. I’ll be in the Denver area this weekend as staff at the Lemons race at High Plains Raceway. Well, maybe next time.
Add a US map on the back like the RVs to show which states the Taxi has been to
At first I laughed because you depicted AK and HI despite having zero chance of incorporating those states in your journey. Then I got sad because the entirety of the northern and southern thirds of the country are similarly excluded and you may as well have left off all the civilized states including mine. Sad trombone for Pacific Northwest.
Have fun! Looking forward to reading about your
ordealshenanigansadventure.And the Motor City.
Columbus is about a 3 hour drive for me….
If it (or you guys) manage to survive that long, make sure to swing back through the I-20 corridor and hit Atlanta :p
I’m sorry for your loss.
There got ready for this torture I mean trip.
I’d rather drive the Rodius. Adrian got off easy.
I’d rather be run over by the Rodius than drive this thing, I think.
I’m not sure what disinfectant brothels use, but buy a drum of that.
Fire is also avaliable unless elmo patented it.
I wish I could get off of work that day and get down to Effingham, it’s quite a hike from the north part of the state. :/
That’s going to be an awesome trip!