Hello, I bought this 25 Fordor earler this spring in Iowa and finally starting to get it assembled. It was completely disasembled,I mean every nut and bolt.I've rebuilt the motor including the babbitts. Rebuild the rearend,It had a broken pinnion tooth.Replaced the babbit thrust washers with the roller bearings. All new spring bushings, front axle bushings.
The wood is all there and in good shape except the top wood is all sagging. At least I have a good pattern to make new. Of coarse all the window regulators are all bad and can't find replacements.
I'm going to make it in to a taxi. It will be painted yellow from the middle of the doors up. Then black on the rest. The wheels will be black but the split rim will be yellow. Here's some pic's of where I started and where I'm at right now.
Mark Atkins.

Looking good Mark I have a picture of a Centerdoor Taxi I'll send you I saw at the 100th back in 2003. It might give you an idea or 2...

Hello Mark,

I can relate to what you are getting involved with, having been there with our 24 some twenty plus years ago. They are a nice looking car and you will get a lot of enjoyment from it. All the very best, John

How do you find anything in such a neat shop?

Taxi Cabs weren't yellow back then but I guess whatever works for you. New York didn't "require" taxi cabs to be yellow until 1967. Up to that point, they could have been any color but yellow was hard to come by in 1925. It took chrome oxide and was very expensive to make yellow paint.

Ken,

I believe you are correct that Ford USA did not offer a yellow colored Taxi back in the 1925 model year. But looking on the web I found the following that seems to give Mark a good option for painting his "cab" in several different color combinations. Not to mention the beautiful 1911 Torpedo Roadster that was painted in yellow -- not original -- but what the owner desired. We have a lot of freedom with our cars and that is great.

Mark -- please see: From: the Yellow Cab web site at: http://www.yellowcabchicago.com/our-history
Yellow Cab was founded by John Hertz in 1915 with surplus used cars from his car dealership, and we are now the oldest and largest continuously operating cab company in North America. Hertz had experts determine that yellow was the most visible color, and he painted all of his taxicabs yellow, starting a tradition that continues today. When Hertz left the cab business in 1929 to start his rental car company he adopted the color yellow into his signage, and it remains a part of the Hertz Rent-a Car logo today.

And Wikipedia (hey -- they are easy to find) has some yellow colored cabs in NY NY even earlier. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Cab

And Coachbuilt site with “yellow taxis” at: http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/y/yellow_cab/yellow_cab.htm

And Checker also used some yellow. So while Ford USA avoided colors during the black era, taxies and probably Fords used as Taxis were painted by someone in colors other than just black.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 Model T ford touring cut off and made into a pickup truck and l907 Model S Runabout. Sumter SC.

Ken,
I’m not trying to be authentic; I’m making it my car. It’s just paint.
Steve McClelland, thanks for the pic's.
Hap, Thanks very informative.
Steve, I just put the floor down a couple of months ago.It's vinyl it was cheeper than epoxy and if I mess one up, I just take it up and put another one down.