In 1979, just before midnight on New Year’s Eve, Jack Padberg parked his taxi at 52nd Street and Broadway. It was far enough from Times Square to avoid the crowd but near enough that he could still watch the ball drop.

David Meyer, in a cab of his own, tried for a similar view — but instead found himself surrounded by revelers, who lifted the old Dodge off the ground, Mr. Meyer still in it, while chanting: “Taxi! Taxi! Taxi!”

This was one of many stories shared between the best friends and former cabdrivers one evening last fall, after Mr. Meyer, 67, had helped Mr. Padberg, 75, move into a rehabilitation facility for older people.

A series of falls and surgeries had left Mr. Padberg — a former soldier and aspiring actor who moved to New York in 1969 with nothing but a suitcase and a 1958 Buick convertible — weak and incapable of performing most daily tasks. Mr. Meyer made it his mission to help his friend recover.