Auto News 5

The most famous image of a New York City taxicab is probably the opening of the TV series Taxi, in which, through five seasons and endless cable repeats, Judd Hirsch piloted a yellow cab across the Queensboro Bridge. Drive your cab across that bridge for real and you end up at Dynamic Auto Repair, right off the bridge in Long Island City, where thousands of taxis are repaired and maintained each year. Dynamic was founded a decade ago by three brothers from Corona: William (pictured above), Junior, and Gio Ibanez. The shop stands next to one of the city's largest fleets, whose 300-some taxis mean a steady stream of work. "These cars run twenty-four hours a day, and the shocks and tires take a beating," says William, who directs the place. "You've got to change the oil every two weeks or these cars won't last." At shift changes, the cars gather like cattle in a feed lot. Guys yell at the drivers to hurry up the swap. Wounded cars come in for work. "It gets really crazy and chaotic," William says. The windows of Dynamic's two big garage doors are frosted with grime. Inside are eyeless yellow shells of Ford Crown Victorias up on lifts and car doors tilted against the walls. At one time, almost all taxis were Crown Vics, but today there are also hybrid Ford Escapes, Nissan Altimas, and Toyota Camrys.

In 1996, Subaru's second year selling the Legacy Outback, the marketing team delivered a killer calling card for the earliest incarnation of the modern crossover: "The World's First Sport Utility Wagon." Playing to the era's penchant for SUVs, Subaru produced a vehicle that could swallow all the gear and manage any terrain that the American family adventure would throw at it. Unlike the burgeoning mob of SUVs, though, it promised the comfort of a car because it was unencumbered by their unwieldy dimensions and big-displacement thirst. It was an ideal compromise. Subaru of America's then-president, George Muller, taunted the traditional sport-utes with a simple truth: "We can make our cars look like trucks better than they can make their trucks behave like cars."