 Weymann's Ltd and then Metro-Cammell-Weymann had built the Beardmore Mk 7 taxi until 1966, it was not a surprise that they sought to replace it with their own design, rather more that it took them so long to get a replacement into production.The basic design of the vehicle dated back at least as far as 1970 when a prototype was caught in Westminster undergoing London trials.The overall profile of the vehicle closely matched that of the Metrocab as launched 17 years later, although the original front grill, taken from a 1970 Ford Cortina Mk II, was superseded by a more contemporary design by the time the vehicle entered production using headlamps and grille from the Ford Granada Mk 2.