Thank you Kevin, for getting the Checker ball rolling. It forces me to finally get around to the Checker Aerobus we found on our vacation to Glacier National Park last year, parked in front of the splendid Glacier Park Lodge. It’s still in use, to shuttle folks from the East Glacier train station nearby, which is a popular way to get there. It’s how Glacier was developed in the first place, by the Great Northern Railroad. Maybe it should be called the Trainobus.
The Aerobus was built from 1962 through 1975, although Checker had built similar long-wheelbase wagons back in the forties and fifties. There were two versions, this eight-door, twelve-passenger version being by far the most common.
The nine passenger was only built through 1969, and finding pictures of one is almost impossible. As the ad points out, the Aerobus was not a “stretch” Checker Marathon, but almost a wholly different vehicle.
The Aerubus sat high on a specially designed frame and heavy duty suspension, with all the components engineered and sized for the tough tasks it was designed for: for businesses, institutions, resorts, service firms, schools…even big families! I wish; each of us kids could have had their own full seat on our family vacations.
Aerobuses also had different power trains from the Marathon. Unlike them, they never had the Continental six, or the later Chevy six or 283 V8. Up until 1965, Aerobuses came with Chrysler’s polysphere 318 V8 and Torqueflite, a combination already well proven in motor homes. After 1965, Chevy 327 and 350 V8s were on tap, presumably with the TurboHydramatic. But this being Glacier, with its famously steep Going to the Sun Road, these babies have a four speed manual with floor shift. That’s why the famous Glacier tour buses are called jammers, for all the downshifting they had to do to keep their brakes from cooking.
And I have to assume it’s a heavy-duty truck transmission with a granny low gear, based on the sign. Only use for pulling stumps or climbing the side of cliffs.
Yes, that’s where I would have liked to be on family trips, as far away from the grumpy driver as possible. “What? I can’t hear you back here!” Although an automatic would have been more appropriate for him. The relatives visiting from Austria would have been suitably impressed.
So I’ve finally gotten around to the Aerobus.What else have I meant to do and not gotten around to this past year? Oh, right; build a house. Minor detail. Hey, we finally excavated for it this week.
Oh, and I never did do the write-up on the 1937 White Glacier sightseeing buses. And about a hundred or more other cars. And now that September is here, my favorite vacation month, I’m just brimming with desire to hit the road again; where to this time?
If all those seats somehow folded flat you could use that thing to build a house and haul the crew!
I am now picturing one with a modern pick up truck diesel and modern transmission…
I can also see this example making it to 100 years old and still being in service.
I love that the 9 passenger version still weighs less than 4500 lbs.
These vehicles were a highlight of my national park vacation last summer. As I recall, the Checker was either owned or bought by a long time lodge manager. The ’37 Ford buses were almost completely rebuilt by Ford, placed on Class A chassis, and have flex fuel engines and automatic transmissions. Obviously, my recollections are a bit fuzzy; hopefully others can fill in the details. While taking a day long tour in one of the buses I chatted up the driver while the other passengers were scouring a gift shop along the way and he told me about the restoration process. The bus rode stiff but had very few rattles. I rammed my knee on the robe bar of the seat ahead of mine every time I got on that bus.
The drivers, or jammers, as they’re called, are assigned one bus for the tourist season, and they take meticulous care of them. At night the buses are all lined up in a row, which made for several great photos, including one I’ve uploaded. Yellowstone has a fleet of similar buses, painted yellow, but the red Glacier fleet is spectacular.
Sorry, the photo was too large to upload. Here’s a smaller version.
Rode in one of these when flying into Kennedy in NY. Driver said it had a copy of a chevy 350 made by someone else. I think he told me continental. I expect it was an actual Chev with different valve covers. I have no reason to think the driver was up to date on anything but addresses. Whatever the engine was, it toted one of these oversized cabs around very well and I was impressed.
Phsssss……only 235 inches long?
Meeting one of those buses on the Going to the Sun Road is a real joy
i have seen these at the airports.i always assumed they were stretched. i am amazed to learn that they were a production vehicle.
It just hit me, why those things failed….as in the end, they did.
The seating position.
No center aisle…that’s a given. But…all the seats facing forward…towards a hired driver who cares little for the scenery.
Through that little passenger-car-profile windshield. Any of you, in the past…go on a family trip through beautiful lands, while occupying the BACK seat of a STATION WAGON?
There IS no scenery…other than what goes by the side window. Not like a tour bus with the front panoramic glass. Not even like a front seat, which with three behind seats, nobody can expect to have.
Once again, Checker misread the market.
The main mission of these was airport shuttle duty. Scenery wasn’t really a priority.
In the days before 15 passenger vans these were the only game in town for such duty, along with stretched production cars from Stageway Coach, of Fort Smith, Arkansas.
“…even big families!”
Like the family my sister lived with on exchange in Germany – they had a 15-seat Mercedes Sprinter bus as their only family vehicle.
What an interesting story, sounds like an interesting part of the world too.