London Taxi


Dave Gorman, in his TV show "Life Is Goodish", swapped the body tops of vtech® Toot-Toot Drivers® toys with the bases from different vehicles (including some foreign language models), thus changing the programmed messages and sounds.

The bases contain the sound generators, and are identical apart from some minor colour differences.

He then substituted them for models belonging to his friends' children.

Inspired by a recent repeat of the TV show, I Googled and found that the vtech® range also includes a London Taxi toy (£8.50 from Argos):



Although reprogramming the original module is beyond me, replacing it with a £2.50 ISD1820 sound module (that contains a more "authentic" London cabbie soundtrack) was not:


Although this obscene message version is not intended for use by children, you could create ones that encouraged better behaviour, or that simply traumatized the little bastards by making them think that their toys were haunted.

Also, the model shown was reinstalled in the display packaging as it is a gift for an adult friend, and absolutely not because it will be placed on the shelf of any shop that incurs my future wrath.

Anorak Bit

The toy can be easily disassembled with a screwdriver, the electronic module removed and then replaced with the ISD1820 module:


The module has it's own microphone to record the message (up to 10 seconds), and runs off the 3 Volt supply of the toy.

A 10 second message could let the cabbie fully "explain" that he doesn't go south of the river after 22:00.


The "PLAYE" function (pin "PE") is triggered to play the complete message even if the button is only briefly pressed. There is a ribbon cable from the toy's screen, and the striped lead is the one you connect to the "PE" pin. This also illuminates the toy's windscreen LED, but this is hard to see in the video due to the lighting.

For simplicity (and to be always ready for action in an office environment), the toy does not need an on-off switch as the sound module has an auto power-down mode. This also supports the original toy's "Try Me" mode.