(first posted 8/25/2012) It’s time 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?
As evident from this photo, the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors could have built that era’s Toronado both as a 4 Door Sedan and a 4 Door Station Wagon as well INMO albeit about as large as its RWD Delta 88 and 98 Regency siblings.
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.
I remember riding in vehicles like that to and from airports. I especially liked the Chrysler airport limousines. Those things were much more comfortable and smoother riding than the vans which are now being used. It’s too bad that they are no longer made.
When Ford shut down the Mercury Division, I thought that it would have been better if they gave existing Ford platforms some unique sheet metal and made Mercury the commercial car division. Taxi’s, limousines, funeral vehicles, purpose built for each application. With the commercial car business under the Mercury banner, the brand equity in Ford and Lincoln isn’t tarnished like it was with the Panther platform.
I logged quite a bit of time in one of these Aerobus Checkers in ’68 ~ ’70 in New Hampshire .
Roomy and comfy , quiet like a Caddy .
The view was great, just turn your head to the side =8-) .
When I was last in Glacier National Park in 1989, those sweet old tour coaches had Ford i6 engines with carbys .
I _LOVE_ the black / red paint scheme ! .
-Nate
-Nate
There were a couple of these “buses” parked next to a gas station near our popular zoo when I was a kid. They really jumped out at me circa 1972 – all those doors and ’50s styling.
Neat vehicles for their purpose, but the name Aerobus is a bit hard to fathom. There just isn’t anything Aero about a Checker Marathon based vehicle!
Super Marathon sounds perfect – has implications about length, which this vehicle has in spades.
I’m pretty sure the “Aero” part doesn’t refer to aerodynamics, but to the fact that this runs back-and-forth to the AeroPort.
Makes sense. I guess being too young to associate these with airports was where I lost the plot. Considering these could be used as hotel transports to just about any destination, the Aero is kind of limiting.
Back in the day, “airplane” was commonly spelled “aeroplane”.
Back when I could look out a window at Pittsburgh airport and see a flock of TWA Constellations.
Still is in the UK. My mother’s geography textbook from the ’30s also uses “aeroplane”
If they had called it “Airbus” wonder if it would have led to trademark disputes with the aircraft manufacturer of that name, which I think came later.
The advert makes it clear that the Aerobus was intended for use as an airport shuttle.
The only time I rode in a Checker Aerobus was forty years ago during my college days on a geology field trip. It was like riding in a 55 gallon oil drum with someone beating on it with ball-peen hammers, just a mass of rattles, bucking and knocking everyone around as it rode like the proverbial lumber wagon. After about 30 miles of that, all the doors would fly open when we stopped and everyone stagger out, even being young then, that Aerobus really took it out of your hide……
I remember a girl at primary school whose family had the 9-passenger Aerobus, but wasn’t enough of a gearhead at the time, or bold enough, to show an interest (I mean in the car). One doesn’t easily forget rarities like that.
Since then, the Ford E-series [Club] Wagon has often filled the Large Family niche, now out of production & being displaced by the Transit at dealers.
It’s 1972, and the TV series has been cancelled, and the Tuscon dealer near the “location” has this to unload:
Interesting “Aerobus 15” (April 1976):
One more of these (1977 now):
Mid-1960s mfr. specs:
Could you folks drive that on a regular driving licence or would you need a PSV/Bus licence for a twelve-seater ? Or would it vary from state to state ?
Current Federal law requires a commercial driver license when operating a commercial vehicle designed to carry 8 or more passengers—thus the proliferation of minivans and SUVs with 7 seats. A”P” ( for passenger) endorsement will also be required, along with a current biennial medical certification.
My alma-mater, a famous, University in Baltimore, hired me, 16 years of age, licensed for six months, on work-study, to drive their weekly shuttle to the Library of Congress, 15 passengers and inter-library loan books, in a Ford van. You mean I’d need a commercial drivers license now? That was one of the best school jobs I ever had!
[Phew – I just checked. CDL required for SIXTEEN or more passengers, not 8.]
Couldn’t believe it was 8 – there are 8-seat options in many minivans, and I think some configurations of the Chevy Suburban can hold 9
I stand corrected. My memory is as faulty as most politician’s, apparently.
That’s why the 15-passenger van is a thing. Biggest passenger capacity one can have without a CDL.
We call them 15-passenger vans, but in reality they are 14-passenger and 1 driver!
They were the standard bearer back in the day at Miami International Airport. I remember riding in one when I was 9 two days before my birthday. Our flight arrived late in the wee hours of the morning. There was one of those wild Miami thunderstorms. And this behemoth had kick ass a/c! The cold air came from ceiling vents like a hurricane of nice cold air. The company that had the airport limo/transportation out of Miami International was called RED TOP. They were a fixture at MIA until at least 1980 and I believe they used those Checker haulers even up through the disco era!
At 235 1/4 inches, the Aerobus is actually a hair SHORTER that the 1973 Imperial sedan, which measures out at 235 1/3 inches. Although the longer wheelbase would make the Checker a bit less maneuverable in city traffic.
Yes, we covered that here, but it only applies to the 8 pass version:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/vintage-ads-and-brochures/vintage-ad-checker-9-passenger-aerobus-shorter-than-a-73-imperial-coupe/
I’m one of those crazies who likes having BIG cars, and I got into the 6 and 8 door stretches in the late 1970s when I bought a 1965 Armbruster-Stageway 8 door Pontiac sedan [not wagon]. I bought it in Lancaster, PA, and I suspect it was one of the Hershey Boy’s School fleet of similar cars, but I sold it long before I learned about the Hershey School’s fleet.
I’ve had 2 of the Checker 8 door Aero’s, a 1971 Ford Ranch Wagon 6 door that had an opening hatch over the last [fold flat] rear seat. It was used by ABC news for a mobile TV camera during the 1972 Presidential election motorcade in Washington DC. It carried the film crew in the front 2 seat rows, and the entire back area was for electronic and power generator equipment [Lots of bolt holes in the back floor.] Sadly, by the time I got the wagon, the hatch had been crudely welded shut.
Almost forgot the 8 door 1978[?] Armbruster-Stageway Chrysler Town & Country wagon, gold with wood trim panels down all those doors! Ordered by a Silver Spring, MD Nursing Home to take elderly residents on day trips and outings, it’s the only 8 door I’ve ever seen with full power windows on each door, you should have seen the driver’s door panel and the thick wiring loom running from the front door post to the driver’s door! And yes, it had the famous Airtemp dual A/C system for station wagons, hanging from the back interior ceiling.
And the big Mother of them all was the Olds Toronado 9 door [it had a single side-hinged rear cargo door] That I bought from Executive limo service at Dulles Airport back in 1978. It wasn’t a high mileage vehicle at around 80,000, but that’s only because it was always broken down from air suspension and drive axle shaft failures, engine overheating problems, air conditioning systems [there were 3 that overtaxed the single compressor!], and lastly all the upper plexiglass windows [3 per side and one across the roof] leaked, but only in the rain! The fiberglass roof assembly flexed so badly that it was impossible to seal the windows.
I had high hopes of turning the Toronado limo into a “party wagon”, but gave up trying to make it run more than a few miles between breakdowns. I finally unloaded it on a guy who left a note on it, he actually paid me money to take it away!
So back to the Checker Aero-bus. Of all the similar vehicles I owned, the Checkers were the most reliable 6 & 8 doors I’ve ever known, and while others might think they were ‘tinny’ inside, mine were as quiet as a typical American wagon built in the same time frame.