@houstonchron · Houston Chronicle
Saved 2026-05-15 · Posted 2025-06-01 · Status: New
If you lived in Houston between 1968 and 2005, the odds are good the first time you sat behind the wheel of a car was at the Antique Taxi ride at Six Flags AstroWorld. Though long gone with the rest of the park, four Houstonians are slowly restoring the cars designed to look like early-20th century automobiles to driveable conditions.
“This is how Houstonians learned to drive,” said Dale Kirkland, 69, one of the restorers, in a phone interview. “Everyone has a story. That’s what’s fun.”
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📝: Jef Rouner / Houston Chronicle correspondent
📸: Kirk Sides / Houston Chronicle photographer
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Comments (15)
Oh WOW!!! I remember those! Astroworld was such an awesome place way back in 1975 when I went. Living in the New Orleans area and taking a vacation to Houston was like going to a modern city. Awestruck from the moment we got there until we left.
How cool is that!!! Id love to find one and redo it as well.
😢oh how I miss this
That’s so cool keeping Astroworld alive, those car is how we learn to drive lol
I have a photo with my grandma in one of those cars.
I really felt like I learned to drive in those 😢
Hear me out: we could do an engine swap…
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I bought the Taxi ride sign at the Astroworld auction around 2005. It ‘s still hanging at my house!
Love this ❤️
Ohhhhhhh priceless ❤️ The memories!!
90 percent of kids who grew up in houston in the 80s learned how to drive on those cars😍 the horn is the best it could be heard all over
Gen X in SE Texas learned how to drive in those things! That’s cool!
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That was the first ride my dad took me on our first time at Astroworld in the 80s!