Would You Say ‘I do’ to This Wacky British Wedding Car?

• This fancy-pants wedding car looks vintage but has workhorse mechanicals.
• Built to look like a 1930s limo, it’s actually a London taxi underneath.
• Experience your special day without having to worry about breakdowns (apart, perhaps, from a bridesmaid or two).

A wedding can be a simple affair, or it can be a spectacle, filled with fancy dress, enormous flower arrangements, and an extremely fussy ring-bearer toddler dressed up like Winston Churchill. If you're planning the latter, or if you run
a company that does, have we got the ride for you.

This 1996 Imperial Landaulette wedding car just popped up on Bring A Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos). Its maximum pomp-and-circumstance exterior is paired with faithful mechanicals. On the outside, it's an anachronistic motor carriage, complete with a folding landau top for the happy couple to wave as they disappear out of view. Underneath, it's a London Taxi.

Why would anyone build such a thing? Well, if a century-old wedding car suffers a mechanical failure because it's, well, a century old, the unlucky chauffeur risks facing the wrath of Bridezilla. Or Groomzilla, as weddings can be equal-opportunity stressful.

Here, the underpinnings are from an Austin FX4 Fairway Driver London taxi cab, with Nissan-sourced diesel power and a four-speed automatic. Like taxicabs all over the world, these cars were built to take constant abuse, so cruising between the chapel and the reception should be a breeze.

Everything outside of the chassis and powertrain on this car is coachbuilt and highly ornamented. The rear features oval opera windows and the aforementioned folding roof section; the interior is finished in white tufted leather with rhinestone buttons; and there's an onboard holder for a bucket of ice with a champagne bottle in it.

The naturally aspirated 2.7-liter is good for around 85 horsepower or so, sending power to the rear wheels through that four-speed automatic. Not a machine to chase down runaway brides, but you should be so lucky if your own bonds of matrimony last as long as this engine will. This is the Dolly Parton and Carl Dean of cars.

If you're running a livery service that provides the usual Lincolns or Cadillacs for weddings, something like this Landaulette might stand out as a unique option in the fleet. It's unusual for sure, but this combo of fancy looks and faithful engineering behind the scenes really takes the three-tiered cake.

The auction ends on September 8.

Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki's half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels.