Curvy Betsey draws adoration

MARTIN DE RUYTER/The Nelson Mail

PROUD OWNER: Marianne Hart Biggs, of Redwood Valley, with her former London black cab.

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A black cab isn't your usual London souvenir, but for car enthusiast Marianne Hart Biggs it was just the ticket.

"In my six years in London I spent so much time in black cabs. I couldn't bring home the Tube," she jokes.

Mrs Hart Biggs, an executive assistant at WHK Accountants, bought the old London taxi on Trade Me a year ago.

The 1968 Austin – "She's 42 so she's [a] cougar" – is in original condition except for being powered by a Nissan SD22 diesel engine.

Despite her new engine she still makes the traditional clicking sound for which black cabs are renowned.

Mrs Hart Biggs said the cab was affectionately known as Betsey because of her curves.

It was used as a wedding car through Mrs Hart Bigg's business The Black Cab Company.

The Redwoods Valley resident also has plans to use her to run tours.

"We are really busy this wedding season and are booked every Saturday through the rest of the year."

She bought the cab from a man in Taupo who had decided to become a Seventh Day Adventist.

His new faith meant he had to sell his Saturday business, so he put his three black cabs up for sale. "His change in religion was my good fortune."

Mrs Hart Biggs said that while she went online looking specifically for a black cab she hadn't expected to find one, so was stoked to see Betsey listed for $10,000, down from the $25,000 the seller wanted a year ago.

She first rang the bank to sort out the finances and then rang her diesel mechanic husband, Glen Biggs, to tell him she wanted to buy the cab.

"He said, 'Where are you going to get the money from?' I said, 'Don't worry; I've already got that sorted."'

The sight of the old cab on the road also attracts heaps of grins, toots and comments.

"I've had potential brides chase me down the street and English people chase me through the carpark. People just wave at me constantly."

The vehicle also attracts plenty of comment from other people keen to reminisce about their links with black cabs.

One story she's heard a few times is about an identity, Wacka Anderson, who supposedly used the vehicle to feed out to his animals on his farm.

Betsey is not the only black cab in Nelson; another vehicle, nicknamed Lenny, is owned by Brightwater man Rob Grey.

Mrs Hart Biggs usually drives to work in a Ford Courier ute, but it is off the road due to being caught up in a car crash at the Lansdowne Rd Appleby Straight intersection a week ago.

Mrs Hart Biggs is a long-time car enthusiast, and the black cab isn't the only vehicle with London roots she is keen to own. "I would like to get a London bus, a Routemaster – that's in the grand plan one day."

- © Fairfax NZ News