Sid James, Sir Laurence Olivier, and the Duke of Edinburgh all drove London taxis around the capital for the sake of anonymity. Nubar Gulbenkian, the Turkish-born Armenian oil magnate, is probably still the most famous Austin FX4 exponent, although keeping a low profile was not part of the remit for this eccentric Harrow- and Cambridge-educated Anglophile; and it appears unlikely that he ever took the wheel himself.
Born in 1896, Nubar Sarkis Gulbenkian inherited part of his fortune from his miserly father Calouste, whom Nubar famously sued for $10million when he once refused to pay for his son's $4.50 chicken lunch out of petty cash. When Calouste died in 1955, most of his legacy went into a Portugal-based foundation, but the younger Gulbenkian had inherited all of his father's business acumen and accumulated an independent fortune that easily funded his lavish lifestyle.
Like Lady Docker or journalist Gilbert Harding, this socialite, gourmet and committed womaniser appears utterly irrelevant to 21st-century sensibilities. Yet his exploits - and his many witticisms - captured the post-war public imagination, and he was famous enough in his day to be interviewed by John Freeman for the BBC's Face to Face in 1959.
The legacy of Nubar Gulbenkian's bespoke automobiles has kept his name on the radar over the years since his 1972 demise. Evidently having engineered a day off school, I can clearly recall seeing his coachbuilt Austin on the afternoon magazine programme Pebble Mill at One circa 1973, just before it was auctioned: it made an impressive £6500.
The taxi that Gulbenkian commissioned was bodied - by FLM Panelcraft of Battersea in the style of a horse-drawn brougham, complete with carriage lamps above the doors and faux wicker appliqué along the flanks. From the windscreen backwards, it was designed like a miniature limousine featuring some definite overtones of a Victorian hansom cab.
This story is from the June 2024 edition of Classic & Sports Car.
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This story is from the June 2024 edition of Classic & Sports Car.
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