(first posted 9/20/2013) If you hadn’t seen the title, and I told you I had found a rare 1966 Beijing Sedan (aka: “The East Glows”) or a GAZ-13 “Chaika” would you believe me? Maybe, if you were under a certain age and hadn’t lived in a big city with lots of taxi cabs, or were just gullible. OK, the Checker is iconic. But there’s something so distinctively un-Detroit about this Checker; well, lets just say that it’s all too obvious that Harley Earl, Virgil Exner or planned obsolescence had nothing to do with it. Which probably explains the name Marathon as well as why this 1967 is still being driven by its original owners.
It looks a crappy commie imitation of a real American car, drafted by a civil engineer while gazing at some car ads in old US magazines and assembled by political prisoners in a little brick factory to fulfill the specialized fleet needs of the party bosses. Paint it black, put a couple of red flags on the front fenders, and no one under thirty-five will be the wiser. Welcome to Checker-land, the car that snubbed its nose at Detroit, and perpetually made money doing so, right to its end.
Maybe my overactive imagination is running loose again, and I’m barking up the wrong tree, because the Checker sedan is of course known as the ultimateNYC taxi cab, where they were once virtually uncontested in their role, as well as in so many other cities. And plenty of regular taxi riders there still bemoan their passing. With their tall roof, totally flat floors, sofa seating and unlimited leg room, anyone who has ever ridden in one will forever curse the low and cramped sedans that took their place. But Checkers were sold to the public too.
Checker motors was founded in 1922 to build taxis and commercial limousines, and built its rep by their sheer ruggedness (In-depth Checker Automotive History here). Never taking their eye off that market made them tailor made for the job, and beloved by their owners and riders.
Times Square 1941
The American equivalent of the London Taxi, Checkers survived despite their somewhat higher cost because of their solid construction and communality of simple parts. Engines, transmissions and all drive train and mechanical parts were bought from suppliers, leaving Checker to build frame and body and to assemble the whole indestructible lump.
In 1955, an all new Checker was developed in the advanced styling studios (a corner of the factory partitioned off with drapes). The new A8 was designed to meet Manhattan’s new taxi regulations, and featured independent suspension on the front for the first time. Not that it made the Checker famous for its ride, however. The suspension engineering department lived in the janitor’s closet.
Interior space was always the highlight of the Checkers, and the Superba/Marathon’s tall roof, totally flat floor and two folding jump seats meant that up to five patrons could be accommodated in the rear compartment alone. Guess who got the jump seats? The pretty young lady. Beats sitting in the guys’ laps, anyway.
Here’s one of Checker’s many female chassis engineers, pointing out the finer details of Checker’s legendary X-reinforced frame, the source of its ruggedness and flat floor.
The Marathon was built in a little factory in Kalamazoo MI the old fashioned way, the process never really changing since the first Checkers rolled off the lines in the the twenties. In its best year ever, 1962, exactly 8,173 Checkers rolled off the lines there, most of course heading for the taxi fleets of NYC and elsewhere.
But they were available to private buyers too, at least since 1959.
The long-wheelbase Custom Limousine went after private limo market. This was before the NYC “black car” hired cars came in existence; they would have been perfect in that role.
And of course there were the famous Aerobuses, in both 9 and 12 passenger versions (CC here).
Until 1959 Checkers were powered only by the same Continental 226 CID sixes that purred under the hoods of Kaiser-Fraziers, and the Willys of yore. Starting that year, there was also an optional OHV version of that Continental 226 six. In 1964, Checker started buying engines from Chevrolet; the ubiquitous 230/250 sixes and the ever-changing palette of small block V8s.
In the very last few years, from 1980-1982, the SBC 229 CID V6 and even the Olds diesel V8 was available. As attractive as a diesel Checker cab sounds, that was the wrong choice. The Nissan six cylinder diesel that the IH Scout used would have been the killer app here. But by that time it was too late anyway, when total production those last years barely reached 2k units.
This 1967 Marathon wagon was bought new by its devoted owners, who are now in their eighties, and drive as a team: she navigates (“turn coming ahead!”), he does the actual control inputs.
And since this hardly lightweight wagon lacks power steering and has a three-speed manual on the column, the driver said it wasn’t exactly getting any easier to drive. He noticed my xBox, and took quite a bit of interest in it (“does it have power steering?”). I’ve always said the xBox was the ultimate cab, especially if it had a slightly bigger trunk. Now it just needs a new front clip with that Checker retro styling, and a longer-travel suspension.
But it would be hard for these owners to part with their beloved Marathon; it’s taken them all over the NA continent, with numerous trips to Mexico and Canada. I sure can’t imagining parting with such a long-term partner in travel.
And that dash board! Does it not live up to its name more perfectly than just about anything that’s ever not come out of a small factory in England? Alright, I know it’s just wood grain on a steel panel, but its sheer utter simplicity is just what one would ask for in the ultimate long-life vehicle. A handful of off-the-shelf SW gauges and that awesome radio blank plate! Yes, they don’t make them like they used to, but Checker sure gave it a try for as long as they could.
Our next door neighbors in Towson had a Marathon wagon exactly like this (how unnecessary was that!; they all look exactly like this). it was a pragmatic decision, despite god knows where the nearest Checker dealer might have been. Did they even have “dealers”? they only sold a few hundred civilian Marathons per year. Anyway, it made sense for him, because he had a severe obesity problem; he was the first four hundred pounder I had ever seen. The ease of getting in and out of the tall Checker was what sold him. He eventually replaced it with the biggest GM sedan he could buy, a 1972 Buick, but it was painful watching him getting himself in and out of that.
photo credit: Kevin Martin
I had a friend who drove an elderly Checker taxi in Iowa City, and sometimes I was bored enough that he would let me ride along in the front seat, telling his fares that I was a “trainee”. And one day, when he was really hung over, we swapped positions on the front seat, and he became the “trainer”. It drove pretty much exactly as you would expect: ponderous. But the visibility was superb. More like piloting a pickup than a sedan, in more ways than. But then that’s what the Checker really was: A sedan-bodied truck.
Makes you wonder why Checker didn’t build any pickup versions.Maybe it would have been considered too denigrating.
After some twenty years, the Marathon’s s age was showing, and sales started a steady drop after 1970. What really creamed it was that the Big Three practically gave away big fleet cars during the two energy crisis years, and meanwhile Checkers were just getting more expensive. In its last year, 1982, a Marathon listed for a bit over $11k, while an Impala’s MSRP was $7900. Don’t ask what the taxi fleets were paying; probably closer to $5k. The Checker was checkmated.
In march of 1977, former GM President Ed Cole bought 50% of Checker for $6 million and began plans to build a completely new car for a new era. His concept was to build the new taxi, called Galva I, essentially a lengthened VW Rabbit. His untimely death some 90 days later death at the controls of his personal airplane was tragic. But work continued based on the VW protoype, although further testing found it to be unsatisfactory, with structural weaknesses.
There is no known image available of the Checker Rabbit; this one above is a similar concept built by the Wayne bus company. It too did not move past the prototype stage.
In 1981, four years later, Checker founder’s son David Markin revived a similar concept, this time based on GM’s new X Car Citation platform. Like the VW, it was initially a stretched Citation, as seen above. But once again, for various reasons that was not deemed a viable solution, undoubtedly because they would have been dependent on the Citation’s on-going production. As it is, the Citation’s lifespan was pretty short.
So a completely new body was conceived and styled, called the Galva II. The wooden body buck is seen above. To bring this idea into full development and production would have cost many millions, and Markin soon pulled the plug, at least in part due to the nasty recession of 1981, which would also be the beginning of the end for Checker’s Marathon.
But the end is not yet in sight for this particular Checker Marathon.
Update: In October 2020. I found this Checker parked at a retirement home. That made 53 years of ownership at that point.
Checker historical pictures courtesy Drivermatic’s Flickr Photostream
Related CC posts:
Automotive History of Checker Motors
My Checkered Career with Checker Cabs
I wonder if anyone has ever entered the Peking to Paris rally with one of these?
Amazing car and article. My father worked at O’hare Airport and as a result we flew a lot. Much time was spent at airports and I saw a lot of these guys in service. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen one without some sort of body damage or all its original wheelcovers.
For the longest, I never knew what the original wheel trim was on these. Nearly all had a mishmash of Pontiac, Buick, Oldsmobile, Chevy, Ford, Mercury, Chrysler, Plymouth, Dodge, etc. wheelcovers installed. Most had a different cover on each wheel.
I’m happy to say I’ve ridden in these as a child and was amazed at how much room they have. The above ad does not capture the vastness of the arena-sized passenger compartment.
I wonder what the future holds for this most perfect example when its owners can no longer drive it. It belongs in a museum.
The offspring of a Studebaker and an International Travelall! I love it! I could so drive one of these every day. This one is in amazing condition. I wonder how many miles it has on it, with all of the travels under its belt. That ad touting 200,000 mile engineering was pretty impressive back in the 1960s, when conventional wisdom figured a regular car was pretty well used up by 80,000 miles.
I wonder why Checker was so focused on FWD for a Marathon replacement? It would have seemed that they could design a new RWD model for so much less money, that would have also been cheaper to build back then. Even now, FWD stuff like minivans have only recently been seen in decent numbers in cab fleets, with old RWD Panthers still serving in that role. Really, knowing what I know now, I don’t see Ed Cole as a good fit for a little niche company like Checker. Had he lived, I don’t think it would have worked out so well.
I wish I’d asked. As well as look under the hood. They were just getting ready to pull out of the parking lot when I accosted them, and they were very nice about getting out again and letting me shoot it. But In my haste, there were a few things missed.
I took a crop of that dash to see the odometer: 34,148. Too bad odos back than didn’t show the next digit.
Regarding Ed Cole and the FWD revival attempt:it was right after the energy crisis II, and gas prices were predicted to keep going up. So given the ex-GM guy that he was, he decided the future for Checker was in a GM X-body! That design was all Citation under the skin.
Of course the Citation got off to a rocky start….but its A-body successors have turned out to be quite long-lived.
Using FWD would have allowed Checker to keep the 7 passenger configuration with a smaller foot print, it would have been like a minivan sedan, there were mini-van versions of the X-body on the table, but they never went past the design stage. I imagine that GM would have probably lent their expertise to update Checkers production, which was like a medieval blacksmith shop compared to a modern car plant in 1982. So there would have been savings from that, producing the FWD Checker wouldn’t have been that hard, I imagine that GM would have shipped over complete front sub-frames with engines and transaxles and they would have just slapped them into FWD Checkers.
I think that the FWD Checker was supposed to have replaceable plastic body panels too, shades of Saturn?
It’s an absolute shame Ed Cole was killed, which cemented the death of the FWD Checker (as well as the whole company). It could have been a completely different ballgame if Cole had gotten a minivan-like FWD Checker into production before Iacocca and his minivan revolutionized the industry.
Of course, in hindsight, maybe it wasn’t such a hot idea, after all, since the FWD Checker would have used GM X-car mechanicals, and that surely would have made the Chrysler minivan (which wasn’t exactly a quality powerhouse) look like a Toyota in comparison.
An X-car-based FWD Checker likely would have obliterated the company’s legendary reputation for longevity, so maybe things worked out for the best with Checker enjoying a quiet, peaceful passing with their reputation intact.
I too, love that dash and steering wheel. Cool find Paul!
My memory of the Checker comes from Mission:Impossible (the TV show, not the Tom Cruise vanity pieces), where they did yeoman work filling in for some (fill-in-the-Eastern-Bloc-country) secret police of governmental vehicle. Everything the Commies could have wanted in a car, but with build quality, too!
Lee Iacocca asks “where is the sizzle”? These cars have to appeal to ones practical side. There is not one ounce of style in the things.
Hey, they would have been stylish in the early fifties!
Ironically that mockup of the would-be Ed Cole FWD Checker has styling that looks like it was lifted bodily from Iacocca’s Dodge 400.
I just went looking for an article in a car mag (probably C/D, possibly R&T) circa 1980, about the civilian-dress Marathon. It had a photo of a real live pony or other small horse standing up in the car’s back seat area, with its head sticking out the window. Closest I could find was this picture, also via C/D, of a Checker full of sheep. Lots of vehicles can carry a sheet of plywood, but how many can carry a flock? From what I remember, the mag summarized the literal marathon that is Marathon ownership thus: “You’ll get sick of driving it long before it will ever give out on you.”
More from my Checkered memory: In the early ’90s, the weekly newspaper The New York Observer ran an item or two on Manhattan’s rapidly-vanishing Checker cab population. In the first article, the city was down to eight functioning Checkers; a couple of years later that figure had been reduced to two. They said the few remaining Checkers were never empty: as soon as one passenger would get out, another would get in — even if they hadn’t been looking for a cab. The drivers reported endless fares climbing aboard and saying things like, “I don’t really need to go anywhere, but I haven’t been in a real New York cab since forever, so just drive me around for awhile.”
One thing that bothered me was that they were still using them in new movies as the defacto NYC cab when in reality it was impossible to even find a Checker in service.
I’m fairly sure the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission exempted the last few Checkers from having to be withdrawn from service at a certain point.
When I lived in NYC in the mid-2000s, there was a cab company garage in Queens that still had a Checker cab parked out front – I assume just to “class up the joint.”
Some Checkers here from a August 1979 photo in NYC.
This green station wagon has its original license plates from new, Oregon and California being two of the very few states where such a thing is possible.
“stayed perfectly true to its brand (ideals), for better or for worse, right to the bitter end.” I see no fault in that.
The modern London Taxi works quite well and keeps much of the charm of the original. I always thought the modern minivan would be a worthy successor to the Checker taxi if some attention was paid to making its basic structure and drive train more robust. If one doesn’t think a FWD vehicle can be robust I submit the late 1960’s Oldsmobile Toronado and Cadillac Eldorado not to mention the GMC Motorhome of the 1970’s.
Too bad clean diesel technology could not have come along a bit sooner also. Though in 1982 a 5-cylinder Mercedes-Benz turbo (or not) diesel would have worked very well in 1982. Ask anyone who was in West Germany at the time.
I’ve lived in the Houston area nearly all my life (actually born here 53 years ago) and do not recall seeing any Checkers used as taxis. These days minivans (robust or not) and Panthers are what one is most likely to see shuttling between the two airports and the business centers. Few people here use taxis for any other purpose.
I do see a few Checkers in private hands though and they are owned and operated by Bohemians and a few architect acquaintances of mine. Architects love out-of-the-ordinary means of transportation. I’m partial to the original Jeep Wagoneers. Rust isn’t a problem here unless one keeps an automobile near the coast and doesn’t ever wash off the salt spray. The Checkers I know of are either in very nice condition (one even appears to be restored – red with a white top, really nice) or “funky.” None look like true beaters.
As many readers know there is an outfit near George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Houston’s north side that stocks parts (owners were able to get scads of parts from Ireland when operations ceased there) and assembles “new” DeLoreans. As far as I know the business is doing well. I wonder if something similar could be done with Checker automobiles. Drive line components would be a cinch (I would not be surprised to learn that GM sells as many crate engines and transmissions as some of its less popular car lines). One would only need to find a source to stamp those bolt on fenders. Replacement bumpers could be sourced from the same place that makes guardrails for the highway department. 🙂
Unfortunately, going back is not usually the way to solve today’s problems. The taxi industry wouldn’t be interested in the Checker as it would be too hard on fuel and simply too large. It also would not pass modern safety standards. Even if by some miracle all the mods needed to bring the car up to modern standards were possible, the cost would be prohibitive. The only way to do it would be to find NOS Checker chassis and that would be, in my opinion, impossible.
The Metrocab is a cool car but it is also not a cheap car. Taxi fares in London are what make the investment in such expensive units possible. A one mile taxi ride in London can easily top $12. That’s more than double what it would cost here in Vancouver.
The new version of the Checker is the MV-1 that was made by VPG in Mishawaka, Indiana. They stopped production after 3k units or so due to cash flow reasons, and the DOE refused to front them more money.
As of last week, AM General bought the DOE loan and plans to restart production. An update to replace the Ford 4.6 with a newer engine that is still being made, and they should be good to go.
I had heard that they had shut down, didn’t hear that AM General was going to re-start production, this should be a good fit for AMG.
AM General was apparently building the cars under contract, so the tooled up factory is actually their own. Now, AM General is in the process of purchasing the assets of the old company as well as the DOE loan and is making preparations to restart production. Now I don’t feel so bad about not photographing the one I saw in a Steak N Shake parking lot, as it will no longer be the orphan Curbside Classic that it was looking to become. I have not seen any info about a new powertrain, so maybe the Ford 4.6 and 4 speed auto is still available for purchase, at least for now.
The Ford 4.6 is really not a good power plant for today’s market, unless it were configured to run on CNG. The fuel bills would just be too high.
I think they were going for cheap and durable and chose the setup straight out of the Ford E series van. The VPG website (which is still up) lists a factory-installed CNG option. The other consideration is that the MV-1 is probably less expensive to run than anything else that taxi or transit companies use that is wheelchair accessible.
I think this thing was originally conceived around the old S-Blazer chassis with a 4.3 V6, but somewhere along the way it became a mix of Ford components.
Then it is kind of re-inventing the wheel. Standards mini-vans are converted to wheel-chair access all the time. Here anyway, they are set up to run on LPG. It also doesn’t make sense to have your entire fleet set up for wheelchair access as the number of calls you actually take is quite low. In a fleet of 15 cars, we only did one. More wouldn’t have paid.
The MV-1 looks like a classic committee product. As someone from a taxi background, I wouldn’t touch it. It seems obvious nobody from the taxi industry was consulted about it.
Their original proposed product was to be built on a GM based chassis and power train however somewhere along the line they more or less started over to come up with the MV1 fitted with a Ford power train.
The 4.6 was chosen no doubt in part due to their unmatched durability and the familiarity. When operated on CNG a 4.6 in a Crown Vic has a lower fuel cost than a Prius in many areas thanks to the much lower cost of fuel. It probably uses a little more fuel in this application but it should still have a very low fuel cost and unmatched low cost of maintenance and repairs.
No one said that any taxi company would necessarily use only these in their fleet but for a wheel chair solution they were much cheaper than a converted conventional minivan that has been converted.
These MV-1s are all over New Haven, CT for some reason. I’d actually like to take a ride in one, just to see if it’s any good as a cab.
I also think of these as modern Checkers… except they’re so willfully ugly. I wonder if Checkers also seemed like stylistic abominations in 1967, and if an MV-1 will ever be as cool as a Checker.
There used to be a place in Middlefield Ohio-
http://www.checkertaxistand.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&catid=2&id=1867&Itemid=110
Dunno uf it’s still there.
I really have to congratulate this gent for driving a car like this with 3 on the tree and no power steering. It must be a real handful to park that baby, since it isn’t exactly a lightweight.
My dad once looked into buying Checker cars for our taxi company. The cars were very expensive. I remember my dad pricing them out in 1978. Even with a fleet order, we were at $15,000 a unit. That was about double what a loaded Impala cost new in those days. We were buying used GM stuff for $1000 to turn into taxis. As good a unit as the Checker was, dad couldn’t make the numbers work.
He parked in such a way to make getting out quite easy again, with the car still at an angle and the wheels still turned. He just backed out the same way, and then straightened up to drive off. I find myself doing the exact same thing with my 66 F100: I pick and choose my parking spots where it will require the least effort. Just easier that way.
Rode in an Aerobus in the seventies or possibly eighties. Kennedy airport in N.Y. Asked the driver about the engine and he swore it was a continental. Looked like a sbc, he said. Cannot find any evidence that continental ever made a v8, let alone for a checker. Continental made the original rambler american (whatever it was called) engine. It was a flathead six and I can only find fours and sixes attributed to them.
I greatly respect anything that will run forever. I guess that’s why Nissan and Toyota got my attention so quickly. I couldn’t afford one of these checkers new and the used ones seemed to become small town taxis when they got older.
The Aerobus never came with the Continental six; it was too big for that. It used the old Chrysler poly 318 V8 until 1965, then switched to Chevy 327 and 350 V8s. Cab drivers don’t have a clue….
The Rambler six had nothing to do with the Continental six. Nash/Rambler/AMC designed their own engines. I know all flathead sixes tend to look a bit similar from the outside, but looks ca be deceiving.
Indeed, many cab drivers haven’t a clue. My dad used to say, “If you are looking for a Nobel Prize winner, chances are he’s not driving a cab!”
Phillip Glass drove a NYC cab though.
You are absolutely right about the driver having no clue. He thought he had a continental 350-V8, not a six. According to Wikipedia Checker used 283 chev engines and then went to the 350. I see no mention of the poly 318 anywhere which means nothing. What I saw did not have aerobus broken out just checkers in general.
With regard to the continental in the rambler american. Curiously enough Continental may not have equipped ramblers but they did make engines for Hudson prior to the twenties. The object of my prior statement was probably a Henry J remembered through a filter of senility. I knew owners of each. I thought it was the rambler but Wiki agrees with you. Whichever it was he bragged a lot about about being able to hit 70 in second gear. I do not remember ever riding in either one of them.
After reading the corporate history, I wonder if that is the origin the term : a “Checkered past”
“With their tall roof, totally flat floors, sofa seating and unlimited leg room, anyone who has ever ridden in one will forever curse the low and cramped sedans that took their place.” What a contrast to the Lincoln Town Car livery vehicles I frequently ride in when working in NYC. You are thrown down and back in the seat in a way that makes entering and exiting difficult. I’ve never ridden in a Checker; the seating position sounds great. However, if it was a “sedan-based truck” was the ride quality a weak point?
I don’t remember any complaint s about their ride, but undoubtedly not as good as an air-suspension Lincoln TC. My memories of riding in them was when I was young, and ride quality wasn’t such a big deal in my mind. They handled potholes well enough.
My first ride in a NYC Checker taxi was 30 years ago, I was surprised to see how much room was back there. It was positively cathedral like. It swallowed up three corn-fed Ohio boys with no problems. Had we known how good a ride it was, we would have waited for more of them instead of just grabbing whatever cab came down the street…
The other surprise was how well the car rode over the cratered streets of Manhattan. We later had rides in contemporary Plymouth and Chevy taxis, and they literally crashed over the pot holes. The Chevy sounded the worst. I have to imagine that B-body’s V6 was horribly strained ferrying the three corn-fed boys from Ohio and their combined luggage. Plus, every bump we hit, it sounded as if a fender or bumper was shaking loose. To its credit, nothing fell off the Chevy, but it sure didn’t sound good…
Where I grew up, cabs were usually midsized sedans. The only Checker I ever saw in town was always driven by some Sisters of the Holy Cross, who dressed in full habit. So, the Checker is forever a nunmobile to me.
Travis Bickle likes this article
If anyone wants a glimpse at what building a Checker was like, see the 1978 movie “Blue Collar” with Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel and Yaphett Kotto, its revolves around factory workers that plan to break into their UAW local office and rob the safe, more or less, but no major manufacturer would let them film on their line, except for Checker. There are many scenes filmed on the Checker line.
Checker manufacturing still continued as a component maker until 2009 or so, they made steel substructures for GM.
I really like that 1971 “Checker Survival Plan” ad, the text reads like, “look we know the country is going to shit, here’s a barrier to keep you from being shot, robbed or stabbed by a dirty junkie” Love, Checker.
How many other makers can boast about a bullet resistant barrier?
One of my bucket list cars (owning one I mean) but I highly doubt I’ll ever have the cash to snag a private Marathon while they still exist. Give me the Chevy V8 and automatic and I’ll take a sedan please… 🙂
If I was feeling really ornery I’d de-badge it and paint it to look like a soviet block machine.
In re: the Checker vs. the xB: It’s not hard for me to imagine Toyota offering some kind of quasi-Checker front clip for the Yaris bB/Scion xB, at least for the Japanese domestic market. I don’t think they ever did, of course, but at around the same time the bB came out, there was also the Yaris WiLL Vi that looked an awful lot like a Citroën 2CV…
An interesting question is, where did they sell Checkers?
Were there Checker dealers?
Come on down to Bob Smiths AMC, Checker, International, Bricklin super store!
In the late seventies I saw a Checker dealership on Connecticut Avenue in Washington DC. DeWitt’s at 465 N. Main St. In Akron, Ohio advertised themselves as an AMC and Checker dealer but closed in 1978 or 1979.
Think there was one in suburban Pgh. Down Dormont direction comes to mind. They sold other makes too I think.
Mostly forgotten today is that in the late ’70s and early ’80s — just as Checkers started disappearing off New York streets — the local taxi industry tried their luck running some diesel Peugeots, first the bent-at-both ends 404 (shown), then the sleeker 405. For longevity, the less-than-robust Pugs proved to be the Anti-Checker: NYC’s mean (to cars) streets and punishing driving conditions (try finding a Yellow Cab there without at least ONE dent or other evidence of collision) destroyed them all in short order. Also, the locals did not take to them, and they are not fondly remembered. I’m sure the Peugeots delivered much better fuel economy than the Checkers, but they would have been at a distinct disadvantage in every other department.
I’ve seen these in the background of some photos of the era, yeah I imagine these must have lasted as long as an ice cream hammer.
They’re still revered as taxis in Africa today. I suspect it was much the same thing that bedeviled non-taxi 504s in the US: unfamiliarity. I can just imagine how the mechanics that had been working on Checkers and such for decades took to the Peugeots. Not.
Actually what done them in in NY…no automatic.
The cab operator in Fort Wayne, Indiana tried a fleet of Pugs also. Same result.
Correction: When I said “404 (shown), then the sleeker 405”, I meant 504 and 505. Je suis désolé, je vous prie d’excuser mon erreur.
My boss bought a new sedan in 1963. It was huge inside. In addition, being an “early adopter” he showed up one day not too long after he bought the Checker with a wimpy running light right in the middle of the grille . . .
When I lived in Honolulu, state house member Neil Abercrombie had a checker with the advertising board on the trunk. It advertised, you guessed it, Neil Abercrombie. The cab was yellow and also had is picture and name on the sides.
Today he is Governor Abercrombie. I wonder if he still has the Checker?
If I could have a Checker it would be the A8, as I’m averse to quad headlights.
“If I could have a Checker it would be the A8, as I’m averse to quad headlights.”
Ironically, your screen-name evokes an Olds that never had anything but quad headlights. A model that even debuted the same year (1958) as quads.
Myself, I’m only averse to quads on the later C-1 Corvettes, and other smallish two-seaters. On such a diminutive vehicle, four seems like too many. Conversely, on a really big car, two seems like too few.
“Ironically, your screen-name evokes an Olds that never had anything but quad headlights. A model that even debuted the same year (1958) as quads. ”
That’s a good point. I might have to change my screen name.
OMG the memories are flooding back… to answer the question “Did they even have “dealers”?”, yes indeed they did. In the late Sixties my father bought into a Checker (as well as Saab and Renault) dealer located in Lakewood, Ohio. As a car-crazed young lad I spent much time there and had pretty much the run of the place. My dad even bought our large family one new Checker, a tan ’69 Marathon with a 4bbl 350 and a Turbo 350. Totally opposite of his usual frugal way of doing things. We also had several other Checkers, including at least 4 (!) Aerobuses, a ’63 A9E limo, and a ’67 six/stick Marathon. They were such awesome vacation cars… on long road trips my 3 brothers and I would play with our Hot Wheels and Matchboxes on that flat floor while cruising down the highway, and when we got tired the was plenty of room in the back for all of us to stretch out. Someday when I have the garage space I’ll have one of my own…
And BTW, in the late Sixties one could get a Perkins diesel-powered Checker, I rode up with my dad one winter day in ’68 to bring a dark blue Marathon back for a customer. I remember that thing clattering like nothing my young ears had never heard before 😀
I grew up riding in these and I’ve always wanted one.
I see that green Checker quite often here in Eugene, Oregon. Most of the time it is being driven!
My dad bought a Marathon as family car in Oakland, Ca. in 1970. It was bought from Dick Dye Imports who also sold Citrons and Triumphs. The car is ’68 that sat on the lot in east Oakland for 2 years before my dad got it. It took us al over Ca. for many years. I took my drivers test in it at the Clairmont DMV office in Oakland, I got a perfect 100 points. It has a Chevy 307 with the old proper bumpers and big overiders. It has right now about 280K + miles on the original engine, red interior. My mom did a lot of driving for us kids and for the various teams and organizations we participated in as kids. She drove us many places for the rowing team my brother and I were on, it was perfect car for that. Five or so tall rowers and sweep oars on a rack on the roof. All our kit in the trunk. The car now sits in my garage, I’m unable to get it back on the road due to a $$ problem. It takes up space but it is space also so it contains all my camp kit and other items. What it needs mostly is brake shoes, any advice on where to get these would be great. I mostly keep it because it was the car of my youth and looks dead to the white Marathon on your banner home page. To make it look that way again would be dream come true. I took the only remaining Dick Dye Imports license plate frame and put it on my new (2003) truck to honor the memory of those days and that car.
Looks like they have them here: http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/search/Brake+Pads+&+Shoes/C0068/C0009.oap?model=Marathon&vi=1494176&year=1968&make=Checker
Nearly every Checker part was an off-the-shelf part. Only the body was unique. The engine is usually a Chevy engine, some suspension parts are Ford parts and so on. So Checker parts are not uncommon at all! I’d go to RockAuto for that stuff; they’ve got a very good website that lets you drill down on the available parts quite quickly.
The Checkermotorcars.com home page. I forgot I got switched to this site. My dad had a Austin Devon D40 (?) after the war. This site is where I saw color photos of it for the first time. Never seen one in the flesh.
Again, nice article, but some major inaccuracies regarding Ed Cole. Ed Cole passed away in May of 1977 he had nothing to do with the Galva II project depicted in this article from 1982. Shortly after Cole’s arrival at Checker, along with the Victor Potapkin and VW of North America a stretched VW concept was developed as a replacement for the A11. The project continued on after Coles death and was later killed by CEO David Markin after the VW test mule failed the Chciago test loop test. Coles project was not based on a Chevy Citation.
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I’d love to buy at least one Checker before I die….
-Nate
That streeeeeetched Citation looks pretty neat!
A good friend of mine’s parents had 2 Checker Marathons, I know his dad’s was a ’65 & I think the other H er was a 73 or 74. The 65 was bone stock, a Chevy 250 & 3 on the tree. His older brother had gotten from his dad, juiced up the 6 cylinder with a 4 bbl, cam & header, painted it nitro yellow green, with chrome Keystones, it really stood out. His dad went with a bone stock ’76 Nova, special order, 250 & 3 on the tree. The newer Marathon was a brown daily driver, Chevy 350 & Turbo 400, his dad often said it would pass everything but the gas station ! Made several trips with him & the family, was also a standout. Huge rear seat area, 5+ body trunk. Remember they took a lot of ribbing about driving taxis.
Driving that huge/heavy wagon with a std transmission, no power steering must be torture!