History’s Great Cab Rides

Back in the late 80s, I paid my way through university by driving taxis. I always enjoyed the long drives the most, because they paid the highest fares and gave me an excuse to get out of the city. For the record, the longest round trip I ever had was six hours. This pales in comparison to the trip that Douglas Guldeniz took earlier this year from New York to Arizona. However, even Douglas would have to tip his hat to Charlie Heard, whose longest trip covered a distance of 7000 miles and took three months to complete! Heard was sitting at his rank when he was approached by wealthy widow Ada Beal who asked him if he would like to take her and two companions to Darwin, which is on the other side of the Australian continent. The only thing that prevented Heard from agreeing to the trip immediately was that he had to check with his wife if he could take the job. What makes this even more remarkable is that Heard’s taxi was a 1928 Hudson soft top and the trip took place in 1930, when a large part of the journey would have been on Australia’s outback tracks that modern 4wds can still struggle to cope with. This trip still holds the record for the world’s longest continuous taxi ride. Interestingly Heard only suffered one punctured tire for the entire trip and used 505 gallons of petrol. Get the full story here.