Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. automobile.

1901		L.A. Times 1 Jan. n.p.: What happened to McLeod will not encourage the inhuman practice of checking mobes.
1903		E.W. Townsend Sure 21: I was followed by most of de bikes, mobes and fast horses of Westchester County.

2. a mobile phone; also attrib.

1999		Guardian Rev. 14 Aug. 12: I urge readers not to follow the example of the man who clubbed a mobe user to death in Hamburg last week.
2000		Guardian 14 Jan. 32: Then [...] the bleedin’ mobe starts up.