Oh, how the look of Bermuda's taxis -- and the business itself -- have changed over the years.

Remember the convertible taxis with the fringed tops which were so popular among tourists in the 1950s, '60s and '70s, when Bermuda's road were less crowded and the pace much slower? An important part of the Island's tourism was lost forever when the last of those cabs went off the road in the early 1980s.

Now it is a case of out with the old and in with the new as passengers are shuttled around the Island in far more comfort, more than likely a six-seater van with airconditioning.

"But back in the day, 1950s to late '70s, the open top taxis were such a big hit that the Department of Tourism used them to sell the Island to potential visitors, much like they do now with the mopeds.

Mr. Nevis Barboza's Cortina (T1611) was the last convertible taxi on the road.

He sold it and bought a more modern space wagon while the new owner of the convertible kept it for one more year before it went off the road for good.

"I kept it on the road as long as I could but after a while it wasn't feasible,'' said Mr Barboza, who also owned two other convertible taxis, a Hillman and a Ford Counsel. These days the four-seater cabs are nearing extinction, just like the convertibles before them.

"That was the last convertible on the road,'' Mr Barboza says of his old red and white taxi. He even used that cab to drive son Adam and his friends to their high school graduation prom.

"They were custom made. They were actually sedans and they cut the tops off in England and the chassis was reinforced. I got rid of that one and got a space wagon which I had for seven years.

"During that time I had two cars, a hard top for the winter and that particular one for the summer.'' For the last nine years Mr. Barboza has been driving around Bermuda's roads on an even more confortable Mitsubishi van which seats six.

"Things were changing and you had to go along with the programme or be left out,'' said Mr. Barboza, resigning himself to the fact that change in inevitable. "It's changed for the better.'' Even so, Mr. Barboza does have some fond memories of his convertibles which were used to transport some notable personalities like boxer Muhammad Ali, whom Olive Trott asked him to collect at the Airport, and actors Charlton Heston and Robert Newton. His car also appeared in movies, including Chapter Two, for a honeymoon sequence shot here when another taxi driver, Kingsley Simmons, drove the car. The other movie was Ivory Ape which shot a scene at Trinity Church.

"I drove President Truman's daughter Margaret and they used to rent a house in Tucker's Town whenever they came here,'' explained Mr. Barboza. Mr.

Barboza's Cortina also drove Miss Bermuda, Angelita Diaz, to the Airport the day she departed for the Miss Universe contest in 1983 after a sendoff from St. George's Mayor Norman Roberts. "If you wanted to make money you had to have an open top car,'' the veteran driver said of the appeal of that type of car back then.

Changing times for the Island's taxi drivers "I've seen times at Hamilton Princess when people (tourists) would ask for a fringed top car, and if they requested it that's what you gave them. They were unique to Bermuda.

"Some of the people who I drive now say `when we were here last time we had the taxi with the surrey top on it'. The first guy who really started it (fringed tops) was Claude Terceira who had a taxi service at Riddell's Bay and had about six taxis.'' Nowadays, not having a six-seater might not be a smart investment, which cab drivers are finding out, as a different type of tourist prefer air conditioned air to the warm Bermuda breezes.

"Some people won't get into a cab this time of year for touring if it doesn't have air conditioning,'' Mr. Barboza revealed.

"But in those days you didn't know the difference. There are still a couple of old Toyota's on the road that don't have air conditioning, but all the new cars have that as standard equipment.'' Mr. Barboza has been a taxi driver for 50 years, 45 of those with his own cab.

In that time he has seen steady change.

"In those days there was a different type of tourist,'' he suggests.

"When the cruise ships came here you couldn't stay on the ship, you had to get off the ship and stay in a hotel. In those days people would come and stay 10 days or two weeks. Today they'll stay four days in a hotel.

"I can recall a family would come from Connecticut and rent a house and I would do all their taxi work while they were here.'' Mr. Barboza has clear memories of how he got into the taxi business half a century ago.

"I was working for the transport board when they had an office at Hamilton Hotel and when they started issuing out taxi permits the first fellas who got permits were war veterans and carriage drivers,'' he recalled.

"The first one I drove in my spare time was Dolly Smatt's, a war veteran, whose car was 1147.'' Those cars, while popular, clearly had some disadvantages, like being cramped for both the passengers and luggage.

"We always had to carry a piece of rope for luggage and piece of canvas in case it rained,'' said Mr. Barboza, referring to the small trunk.

"The trunk had to stay up somehow. In those days that was the way it was and people put up with it.'' Even the meters in the taxis are much more sophisticated than the ones that had a spring in it and had to be cranked. Before that the drivers had to determine the cost of the fare by first determining the distance travelled by the speedometer. And the dispatching system has also improved ten-fold.

"In those days (1950s to early '60s) a five-hour tour for 5, or $14.10, but now a three-hour tour you get $90 for one to four people and for five or six people a three hour tour is $126,'' explained Mr. Barboza.

"Today people don't want to take long tours, it's even tough to sell them a three-hour tour. In those days the hotels used to sell the three-hour tour around Harrington Sound... the Aquarium, Perfume Factory and Crystal Caves.

"Then, if you went into St. George's it was a five-hour tour. In those days we didn't have the cruise ships doing what they are doing today, stopping at all the ports, which is taking a lot of tours from the taxis.'' Added Mr. Barboza: "Today a five-hour tour is very rare. Hotels don't sell individual taxi tours anymore.'' Back then the dispatch service operated out of the hotels and the drivers had to pay dues to be able to operate out of a certain hotel, five shillings extra for the fringed top cars because of their popularity which translated into more business.

"Guys had concessions at the hotels and we had to pay dues in those days,'' explained Mr. Barboza, noting that the concession holders usually owned several taxis.

"Whoever had the concession you had to pay them 35 shillings a week. Even his drivers had to pay him.

"Whoever had the concession had to pay the doorman and we had to pay him. It was bad but in those days you didn't know the difference.

"Your number had to be registered in order to `hack' from there. You took your turn in the line but if you weren't a regular paying guy you couldn't take a job out of there.'' Unlike the cars which have radios today -- even cellular phones -- back then they had neither and a person wanting a taxi had to call one of the dispatching services at the hotels.

"Bermudiana took care of Spanish Point, Fairylands, Point Shares,'' Mr Barboza remembers.

He also recalls Trott's Taxi Service having a dispatching office in a barn on Par-La-Ville Road close to where the trains used to run. Cabs would park at the dispatching office, waiting for calls to come in.

"They used to have a board at the dispatching office and when you came in you put your (car) number on the board and waited for your turn,'' the veteran driver stated.

"They had the dispatching services all over the place, in Harris Bay, St.

George's, Castle Harbour.'' Now you won't find a car without a radio and the taxi owners -- individual businessmen -- are even advertising their services in the yellow pages of the phone book in an attempt to boost business.

"In those days we also never had the exempted companies and that's pushing a lot of work towards the taxis, too,'' he states.

And despite common belief, owning a cab is not a lucrative business, with so many extra costs to pay out including $5 for a gallon of gas. On top of that the business is seasonal.

"I pay Radio Cabs $97.50 a month for my radio,'' Mr. Barboza revealed.

"It's a seasonal business, but now guys are working seven days a week, putting in 60-70 hours a week to try to make a living so that when winter comes you are using that money to live off.

"I don't take a vacation in the summer, I work. Not everybody is cut out to do this type of work.'' Picture by Tony Cordeiro Bigger and better: Veteran taxi driver Nevis Barboza with his six-seater cab which is the norm on Bermuda's roads these days. His Cortina was the last of the co- vertible taxis on the road.

Collection Bermuda Archives Days gone by: Two popular modes of transportation for tours years ago, Eddie Lawrence's Austin taxi with a fringed top and the horse and buggy. In the background is Gibbs Hill Lighthouse.

Last on the road: Nevis Barboza's Cortina was the last of the convertible taxis on the road in the 1980s Collection Bermuda Archives Panoramic view: Tourists enjoy a view overlooking Riddell's Bay on a tour in `Sweets' Mello's open top Hillman.

Travelling in style: Miss Bermuda 1983, Angelita Diaz, meets with St. George's Mayor Norman Roberts before travelling to the Airport in Nevis Barboza's Cortina.