Katz's London Cabs: The Story of an Enterprising Cornell Student

There are better things you could be doing this summer. You could be earning two dollars a day shining shoes or going around to cool places so you can drop names this fall. Or maybe things are okay, but they could be better.

Some people really are doing good things around Boston this summer. Bruce Katz, for instance, is making thousands this summer and having fun. He travels around the East Coast, meets the really cool people (if business is good), and works on cars which he really grooves.

He's importing London taxi cabs and selling them to people with $1800 on their hands or businesses like banks. Now why didn't you think of that?

Possibly because you didn't have the money to go to England last summer. Or even if you did have enough money to go to England last summer you didn't have enough money left to take a taxi? Or more likely because you really aren't imaginative? If you were, you wouldn't be around this place.

Katz is imaginative and doesn't enjoy boring places. He imports the cabs for less than $800, spends a few days refurbishing each, and then sells each for about $1800.

If you're thinking of buying one, it's worth it. They are big, black, roomy sophisticated autos which attract everyone's attention.

"I think the yellowy, ornamented, American cabs are hideous," Katz says, "a cab ride in England is still a respectable and enjoyable experience. The taxi is a pleasure to ride in, and the English cabbie is still very much the gentleman." Katz, a Cornell senior in engineering, is obviously interested in the quality of American life outside of the petty profit of a thousand dollars he's making on each.

How does a twenty-one year old student become involved in the importing business?

He came up with the idea last summer while working in London for the summer. Katz had always admired the aristocratic lines of the London hacks, but it wasn't until late last summer when he had a few weeks to go camping in the north of England that he had the time and the money to act.

Instead of buying motorcycles like many American students, Katz and another friend decided to invest in a London taxi which, with its roomy interior and relatively low price, would be ideal for camping. At the end of his trip, he decided to ship the cab home. "As I figured I could either sell it or use it for transportation for the rock band I manage during the winter at Cornell," Katz recalls.

Katz and his band "The Gross National Product" used the cab around Ithaca, New York during the winter. In June he decided that he wanted to sell it.

For five days the Cornell senior drove around to the best places in Boston trying to sell the cab. After four lean days, the Cornell senior got two offers. He sold the cab to one asker and while the second waited he cabled London for six more.

The cabs have the kind of appeal that is hard to equal. Heads turn whenever he drives by. Katz has sold his black Austin cabs to banks, restaurants, men's clothing stores ,and a few individuals on a spur-of-the-moment basis.

Its been that kind of summer for Bruce Katz, who has imagination and money.