Our Gang / Little Rascals made this terrific taxi... donkey powered, a pusher really, with innovation in everything it does

 the license plate is a 1917 New York

  the below plate is a 1927 California plate

The driver heard a yell for a taxi, and he reaches up to activate the brake to slow down

 below are the many different controls the driver has, you can see he pulls the choke

 and here you can see how the mule power is stopped... they close off the food that mule eats. No food, and the mule stops walking toward it. When the lid is lifted, the food is available, and the mule walks toward it, moving the taxi

the fuel level indicator was a float on the water supply of the mule.

Meanwhile in the engine bay, Stimey (the black kid before Buckwheat) is making engine noise by rolling a cam against the "ingine" stick

 Here you can see Stimey in the engine bay... with a pump, starter, that ingine, and the radio

 When they pulled the radio string, Stimey started singing, saying he was Tony Wons... I happen to have a dozen books by Tony Wons... and was surprised to hear this. It places the movie from 1929 to 1943 I think, as that is the last year of Tony Wons' scrapbook I have. They are very good

 After singing he played the kazoo

 You can almost make out the paddle that smacked the mules butt, and made him walk faster. It's hinged at the top of the spare tire pile on his back, at the upper left corner of this photo

 Above is the "Fare Master" that indicated how many pennies they were charging to go to a destination

Here is the short piece from the 20 minute short movie "Free Wheeling"

And here is the full movie, and the taxis scene starts at the 5: 32 minute mark, and then skip to 8:48 for the refueling of the donkey, and 12:01 for the drunk donkey driving