Years ago my mother-in-law was going through some items on a bookshelf and this Checker brochure emerged. It has since been on my bookshelf, also hidden from view, but some spring cleaning returned it from its dormancy. So it only seems right to share this little nugget.
My wife’s grandfather acquired this brochure from West End Motors located at 276 DeBaliviere Avenue in St. Louis. With this being the 40th Anniversary Checker, it means this brochure was printed in 1962.
A quick search shows an empty lot with a few trees at the address given for West End Motors. It was near Forest Park, the location of the 1903-04 World’s Fair, where a number of notable things happened, such as Dr. Pepper being introduced to a wider market and the 1904 Summer Olympics.
What you are seeing was all printed on one large piece of thick paper with a centerfold of sorts in the middle. Scanning such a document was a challenge.
This and the prior picture are the front of the centerfold (or perhaps 2/3 fold) area seen inside.
There is no mention of the taxi industry anywhere in this brochure. The picture seen here comes the closest to acknowledging company history when it says “billions of test miles in Checker fleets all over the world…”.
Obviously the intent of this brochure was to lure a retail buyer away from something typical and into purchasing a Checker. It may have worked to a degree as 1962 was Checker’s best year between 1960 and their ceasing automobile operations in 1982. While my Encyclopedia of American Cars does not give a breakout between retail and taxi production for all years, 1962 saw Checker selling 8,173 cars of all varieties.
For the few years of the given twenty-two year timeframe where private sales were disclosed, the peak private sales volume was 1,056 in 1966. At such a volume, any sale is an incremental sale for Checker.
Between this and the prior picture (the verbiage is split) it says Checker has “over 200 riding, styling, and mechanical improvements”. My question, and not to be mean about it, is over what period of time did these 200 changes occur?
This is on the rear side of the interior fold.
One interesting observation is Checker’s use of the word “limousine” throughout this brochure. This wasn’t a bad idea. If one wanted the roominess of a large sedan, with more visual restraint than found with a typical limousine, a Checker wasn’t a bad idea. It was certainly durable enough for nearly any type of use.
Checker would later become quite adept at exploiting niche markets, with the Medi-Car perhaps being the best example. This brochure does a good job of illustrating Checker’s early foray into finding these markets.
Whether it’s a product of its time or simply some deceptively good writing, this entire brochure conveys a sense of optimism while highlighting Checker’s distinctive and sometimes unique traits.
Part of the optimism, or perhaps my falling prey to the brochure sixty years later, is the variety of backgrounds Checker has used to feature their cars. Somehow, it all seems to work. But I’ve also been staring at this brochure for a while.
In particular, this wagon conveys a sense of dignified purpose.
Leaving no stone unturned, Checker brings up its advantages to European cars, with a testimonial seen here about how the ride comfort bests any of the biggies from across the pond.
On a different note, Checker touts their headroom for those over six feet in height. Being just under six feet in height, and having driven a small sampling of 1960s vintage cars, the statement about extra headroom in a Checker has me curious.
This portion of the brochure gives the best contrast between expectations of new car owners in the 1960s versus contemporary times.
In more testimonials, one owner suspects his Checker won’t need an engine overhaul for eight to ten years. Another is happy his Checker is running as good with 30,000 miles as it did when new. Not expecting overhauls within a decade and continued smooth running at modest mileage accumulation are almost givens today; any current manufacturer would likely cringe about receiving what is now faint praise.
Here is the rear cover where all the specifics can be found.
Most interesting is Checker having two available engines. With both were six-cylinder units of identical displacement sourced from Continental, one is a 141 gross horsepower overhead valve engine with the other is an 80 horsepower flathead engine. The overhead valve engine has an 18 ft-lb advantage in torque.
The options list is fascinating, covering the ground from an oil filter to an electric rear seat in the wagon.
A dozen different exterior colors were available but that doesn’t mean there was variety. Three shades of gray, two blues, and two greens compliment the typical black, beige, red, and white.
Part of me believes this brochure captures Checker’s best efforts. Their product wasn’t yet tremendously out of style, they were actively pursuing the retail market, and they were celebrating a milestone anniversary. I’m really happy my wife’s grandfather picked up this brochure so long ago.
Related reading:
I’ve long been intrigued by the Checker, and there’s a lot about the car that appeals to me… and would have served my needs well had life gone according to plan (marriage and possibly a large-ish family were once going to be the next step).
It’s hard to pick an era, but I’ve always leaned toward the 1970-72 models, which seemed to have the best combination of powertrain, brakes, safety equipment… but before they went to the slambang 5mph bumpers and dumbed down the instrumentation for 1973. I’d be quite tempted at a 1982 *if* they had gone with a 6.2L diesel and 700R4 transmission. But one of these 1962’s probably wouldn’t be too shabby with the overhead valvified 226 and overdrive, as well as a few of the myriad options. Decisions, decisions…
The station wagons must have sold in small numbers.
If I was a car-buying adult back then, I would have been very interested in one of these.
Durable, roomy, and exotic for a civilian car.
Limo- room without looking like a limo.
Almost no tumblehome.
A black wagon (with AC!) would be great.
I’m not sure about the ‘exotic for a civilian car’; it looks like a common taxicab more than any other vehicle. That, alone, would be enough for the vast majority of luxury car consumers to look elsewhere for their personal transportation.
A pity because, otherwise, it very well could qualify as a long-lived, deluxe ride for someone of means, particularly if they had a chauffeur. In effect, a taxicab at their personal beck and call.
I meant it would be uncommon to be -not- used as a cab.
Count me as another with a long fascination with Checker. I am surprised that private sales were only about 1000 a year – I knew the number was low but not that low. That last page is great – who might have figured that you could get a red Checker with a floor shift. I love this brochure!
Cars like this and the International Travelall always appealed to my practical side. I don’t know why, but the idea of flat floors has always been something I was drawn to – maybe because it was so unusual my entire life. I always remembered words of an old guy whose idea of a perfect car included the ability to clean the floor with a whisk broom.
In retrospect, It is kind of interesting that Checker never made a play to be represented by mainstream dealers – the product certainly would never have been in competition with anyone else. International dealers could have offered a car, Studebaker or AMC dealers could have offered a full-sized vehicle, and even Chry-Ply dealers could have offered an unusual niche vehicle.
The mention of Studebaker brings up a potential explanation as to the reason 1962 was the high point in Checker sales. It was no secret that Studebaker was winding down operations so many of those former owners might have decided to switch to a Checker.
On top of that, in automotive terms, 1962 is most remembered for the Chrysler downsizing debacle when sales of their cars tanked. Some of those former Mopar owners might, too, have went to a Checker.
In effect, both Studebaker and Chrysler may have been the reason all other auto manufacturers saw a big boost in sales for 1962. It was also the year that GM saw it’s peak in its share of the auto market at just over 50%.
Our neighbor in Chicago bought one in 1964, replacing his 1955 or 1956 New Yorker, so you might have something there.
His satisfaction with it encouraged my father to buy one in 1968. While the neighbor’s was a Marathon, ours was a stripper Superba with a Chevy 307, column shift 3 speed, Track-Loc axle, air conditioning and an AM/FM radio.
It ended up becoming my car in high school.
Around the time of this brochure, the crossing guard at my elementary school quit the job to open a taxi company in our town. My mom didn’t have her own car at the time, so one day when I was feeling unwell and needed to see the pediatrician we had reason to call on Peggy’s cab company. She had equipped herself with a Checker, and 8-year-old me was astounded by the space in the back seat. I made a point of flipping up one of the jump seats for the short ride to the clinic.
I’m not aware of there having been any Checker dealers within an easy drive of our house, so Checker wasn’t on the itinerary for the marathon Saturday-hit-every-dealer-for brochures-to-keep-me-occupied my dad and I did at new-model intro. We also went to the New York Auto Show every spring, and that was my opportunity to acquaint myself with and pick up brochures for Checker and various imported brands. I too was fascinated by the Checker and never had any idea they sold so few at retail.
I’m not sure if I think Checker is a car for a poodle. Perhaps a spaniel or a rugged French bulldog. A sturdy dog for a sturdy car. Not disparaging poodles at all, they are a good sporting dog. That little white one is groomed a bit too nicely.
I guess I just can’t shake the taxicab utilitarian image of Checkers.
This is indeed a great find.
Checker is more a car for a pony.
Someone was driving a civilian Checker around Morris Plains NJ in the early 80s–it really stood out!
Non-taxi sales to the general public were so low–should have been better. Classic example of the difference between “What the public says it wants” vs. “What they actually buy.” The complaints then were “Cars are too low, chromey, planned obsolescence, poorly assembled, hard to service, poor gas mileage, not roomy enough, etc., etc. So Checker provides a car with the supposedly desired virtues, and no one signs on the dotted line. They want a new Mustang, or an Impala, or even a Volkswagen, not this stogy tank which is so “un-cool”. What will the neighbors think?
A 1962 Checker Marathon sedan retailed at $2650; about the same as a Chevy Impala 4-door w/ a six. So the price was competitive. 141 HP pulling 3450 lbs. gives it about the same performance as a typical full-size six cyl. sedan from the Big Three. Maybe the lack of dealers was part of the problem?
I remember Checker had small ads in the back of some magazines, perhaps National Geographic. One could send off for a free brochure, if you provided your name and address. I did so, when I was about ten years old, maybe 1967. Those were the days of listed phone numbers, so a motivated salesman found our number and called our house, asking for Mr. XXXX . My dad, who had no interest in cars and had probably never heard of Checker, at least not without being paired with word “cab” as in “Checker Cab”, was not pleased. The brochure was nothing fancy, just a small postcard. Long gone unfortunately.
Neighbors of my Grandparents’ who lived in Clayton. Purchased a new Checker Sedan in 62. I remember it was a shiny Black and looked a bit more Limousine to my then 10 yr old self. Made my Grandfather’s 61 Lincoln look a but more lithe and sporty, and was more like my Grandmothers 56 Plymouth, which she adored and refused to part with. Height, and width was similar, though the checker seemed a little longer. The neighbors on the other side had a 61 Imperial. when all three cars were outside, the styling differences were very obvious.
Interesting that the prospectus for the civilian version does not list yellow as an available exterior color. That was likely one of the Checker factory’s higher volume colors.
Maybe your wife’s grandfather was attracted to West End Motors by an ad like this one… “Now everyone can own a limousine!”
The limousine aspect in the brochure (and the ad below) is interesting. The brochure image seems to show an airport, so I guess equating the Checker to airport limos was far preferable than to taxicabs. (I assume airport limos were considered rather upscale in the early 1960s.)
This was a great brochure to look through – I’m glad it made it off the bookshelf.
Also, I found this little picture from your scans to be one of the best images from all of Brochuredom:
Marie’s grandfather apparently had a interesting spectrum of automotive tastes. Two other brochures turned up with the Checker brochure. One for an early ’70s Plymouth Duster and for a ’75 or so Ford Granada.
The only car of his anyone remembers is his green ’71 Maverick.
I did briefly mention him in a long ago post about a ’68 Galaxie. That piece was not fiction and the Clarence in the part with the skunk was him.
Poodles and Checkers are the perfect marketing mismatch. But it could be worse.
’62 was the year of the SuperSport. Everyone included CHECKERED flags in their badges. It’s a natural! Checker GT (Gran Taxismo), with a hemi, rally stripes, and spoiler. Checker 2+2, with the rear doors welded shut and only the jump seats in the back.
“Oil Filter”…on the options list? Does this maybe mean an oil-bath air cleaner? Surely an oil filter (as such) was standard equipment, no?
Many of those old engine designs still used a “partial flow” oil filter. I just looked it up, and the last year of the old Chevy six (1962) bragged that the “new” partial flow filter was standard. It had been optional in 1961. I checked Studebaker and they still offered an oil filter as an accessory as late as 1962. There was a new “full flow” redesign on the V8 engines for 1963 and an oil filter was standard.
In the early years of the aughts I briefly owned a 1972 Checker that had been originally
ordered for private use. It had a GM Industrial products 350, and was excellent at doing
normal car jobs in a comfortable fashion. Very easy to work on due to basic construction
and space to access components.
One of my great uncles had a “civilian” Checker in the 70s and 80s. His was probably a late 70s model with a vinyl roof and little opera windows in place of the large rear quarter windows for a Brougham effect. Given its relative youth it was probably Chevy powered with a TH350 automatic. In contrast his brother drove a late 60s Mercedes 280 W114.
Presumably sales for these were not expected to be to any one who wasn’t into the private hire business, even if the fleet was just 1 car? I’m guessing that rear legroom aside, buying a Checker offered no comparative advantages over many others for normal typical use?
Private buyers were the target here. The Checker offered a number of unique features that other cars didn’t. Our next door neighbors had a Checker; he was obese and it was much easier for him to get in and out of a Checker than the typical low American car. Some buyers liked the lack of annual model changes and the reputation for being durable.
It is amazing Checker could plod on with a good year selling 8,173 cars at relatively modest prices. Granted, they were not invested in their own drive trains, and just stamping out the same body over and again is nowhere near as complicated as running a volume multi-line automaker. Chevy alone could sell 20,000 cars in a week. There was no economy of scale at Checker.
Amazing that these were less than 200 inches in length. Downright svelte compared to many contemporary cars, let alone the 230 inch land yachts of the early seventies. Pretty good space utilization.
Remember seeing some “not taxi” Checker’s on the road round wstrn PA. One family in our small town had a 70’s era one. Was a blue sdn.Recall seeing it as late as 1984-85.
In between eating, sleeping and making a living, it took me 4 days to do this ridiculous illustration based on one ridiculous conceit: that my daily driver, a 1998 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight has nearly identical dimensions to the 1962 Checker Marathon. Both are within half an inch of 200″ long; both weigh 3400 lbs. The big difference (besides height) is the Checker’s 10″ longer wheelbase — 120″ v 110.8″.
At least some of that is because the olds is front wheel drive.
From there, it was a short hop to imagining what the Checker might have looked like if it was pulled, rather than pushed down the road.
Image attached: Checker v Oldsmobile
It didn’t attach. Images that are above a certain size are rejected. Reducing it to max 1200 pixels width is the solution.