It's a long taxi ride from New York to Port
Shire people
Next time you see a New York taxi driving around the streets of Port Douglas, give the driver a wave.
Owned by local fisherman David Lewkowski, the cab is the real deal - it was imported to Townsville by the previous owner.
“The fella that bought it, he went to America, he found this, he bought it and imported it into Australia.”
The car has been rebuilt with a 350 chevy engine and converted to right-hand drive, which is necessary if you want to drive it commercially.
Dave has no immediate plans to turn the taxi into a commercial venture, but has been fielding a few requests to help out at school formals and weddings.
The 1981 checker marathon, a car made in the US from the 1950s to early 80s, has been lovingly restored.
“He put a lot of money into it.”
The result is a top ride that turns heads wherever it goes - there is believed to be less than a dozen of its type in Australia.
“(It’s) ridiculous, people just stop and stare.
“Some of them don’t actually get to wave, they just go: They put their hand up and they don’t know whether to wave or not.”
“Going down the highway when I was bringing it back from Townsville, roadworks stopped.
“The fat controller under the first one, he radioed to all the rest, all the machines stopped and all the heads popped out from behind all the cars,” Dave says.
And one time at Mossman markets there was a crowd of people gathered around looking and taking selfies when Dave started the engine up.
“Blub. blub, blub, it was making its noise, and this old lady, she must’ve been about 85 years old, she comes bobbling up to the side window, looks me in the eye, and says ‘feed it mate, just f**king feed it’.
“I just couldn’t believe the words that came out of her mouth,” he says.
“I pissed myself laughing.”