Checker Motors, the builder of the iconic Checker Marathon, was not exempted from the increasing federal rules governing new automobiles. That meant a full complement of 5-mile bumpers, starting in 1974. Checker complied, and with a vigor. The only question is why Checker didn’t put bumpers like this on the taxis years earlier. It seems so obvious, if you’ve ever been in New York traffic, especially back in the day when taxi drivers seemed to be a bit less inhibited.
William Rubano found and posted this immaculate Marathon sedan. He’s labeled it “1976-1978”, presumably because he knows some tell-tale about this one to narrow it down to those years. I’m in no position to second guess him, but given the bumpers, it’s clearly a 1974 or later.
This is how they looked before the big bumpers arrived. And this little clip is full of superb pimpmobiles, so don’t miss it.
And with the new big bumpers, it’s invincible.
This one is sporting bumper over-riders, even. No wonder it’s in such pristine condition.
Well before the mandated bashers, in the late ’60s some Checkers were sporting water bumpers. I saw quite a few of them with those big puffy water-filled bumpers in NYC when I was there in 1973. They were a hot fad, for a few years. I’ve long wanted to do a post on them, but finding some good info on them is a bit iffy.
Quite a few city transit buses sported them too. Seems like just yesterday when these were a common sight.
Is it that steering column and steering wheel that dates this to 1976-1978? Our next door neighbor in Towson owned a civilian Marathon like this. He was an exceptionally large man, for back then in the mid ’60s, weighing some 400lbs. The Marathon made it easier to get in and out, unlike the low cars of the times. Not everyone was a fan of Detroit’s longer, lower, wider mantra. Most of all taxi riders, who all lamented the passing of the Checkers, as they were so roomy and easy to get in and out of.
Yes, the Checker is essentially a four door sedan SUV.
Related reading:
CC Checker 1967 Marathon: The Ultimate Long-Life Vehicle PN
CC Checker Marathon: The Brooklyn Bruiser W. Stopford
I see that Paul selected one of SF Muni’s very few Flxible diesels for his transit bus water bumper photo. There were ten of them, bought at the same time as nearly four hundred GM Fishbowls. They ran 1969-1991. The 4009 is preserved.
These always looked more like guard rails than bumpers to me…
The TV and film industry loved to use Checker cabs in NYC establishing shots for several years after most of them disappeared from actual New York City streets, because that’s what most people immediately recognized as New York taxicabs. They conveyed “You’re in New York!” in much the same way footage of double-decker red Routemaster buses say “You’re in London!”
Yup. For years I lived in West Harlem where the West Side Highway passes over some of the surface streets as in the photo attached. Film crews looking for a “noir-ish” setting for moody NYC scenes would frequently cordon off a block or two for filming. These were sometimes meant to be period scenes, but many were set in the present (this would be as late as 2013). There was quite often a Checker cab in the scenes I watched being filmed. Just to solidify the “New Yorkness” of it all. Needless to say, in real life there were none in actual service.
Yep, a famous “This is New York” scene.
I’m a big fan of Checkers. My parents bought a Marathon sedan new in 1968 for our family car. I6, 3 on the tree, manual steering and brakes. I’m amazed that my 5′ 1″ mother could even drive it. I can attest to the robustness of the old style chrome bumpers. On several occasions we used it to push our ’59 Ford Zephyr, which was often an adventure to start.
In the first half of the ’80s the Checker was my daily driver. Great car for a musician as ut could swallow a ton of gear. Late one night coming home from a gig I stalled out in a dicey West Philly neighborhood. A cop came by and gave me a push start with his squad car. Not a scratch on the bumpers from any of this abuse.
In the first vid, Lincoln Mark IV with an early 30’s Cadillac hood goddess. Edsel rolls in his grave, while Henry Leland smiles.
IIRC, Fed bumper standards: 1972–2.5 mph front, 1973–5 front, 2.5 rear, 1974–?–5 both. Or is that just what GM did on their large cars?
I’ve been wanting a tall sedan since my sister got the family ’56 Olds. What I don’t like about S/CUVs is the high step-in height.
I wonder if Cadillac stole their ’61-2 lower fins (skegs) from Lincoln.
We had a non-Marathon Checker bought new in 1968. It was an order meant for private car airport service, but the sale fell through, and we picked it up at the Checker garage in Chicago. It had a 307 V8, three on the tree, a lockable rear axle, and a meat locker A/C.
Power steering though, and with that giant wheel, you could steer with your pinkie. The giant steering wheel also allowed the immense body leverage sometimes necessary to help with those panic stops with the drum brakes!
Our next door neighbor in Chicago had one, and he too was a large man with a bad back, and its whole upright nature was the only thing that suited him. He clued us in to private sales.
And it too, was our “suv” of sorts. At the time, we were riding up north to our lake cottage in our VW Beetle, insufficient for any trip of length, or the hauling of supplies and materials. I always lobbied for wagons, but Dad felt them to be inferior and beneath the appearance he wished to project.
The sheer volume inside made up for that, similar inside to a minivan with the center row removed. Plus a huge trunk. With the ground clearance and locker, could could go just about anywhere. It was also possible for my sister and I to sleep in back on long trips. One on the rear seat, and one on the floor. (no drive tunnel)
It was my car from HS sophomore year on, and I was quite popular with the crowd that left campus for lunch, and pooling together to concerts, camp outs, etc. It died in the winter of Senior year, 1979, but was a lot of fun.
We had a non-Marathon Checker bought new in 1968.
FWIW, that actually was a Marathon. They all were, except for the Aerobus.
Paul, I beg to differ.
The Marathon had a much nicer interior and more chrome.
On the exterior you could tell, as the Marathons had separate reverse lights like the car featured, while the trade Checkers had the reverse light as the second (lower) tail light lamp in white.
The Marathon interiors were a mix of cloth and vinyl, while ours was all heavy duty vinyl and rubber flooring.
As I mentioned, this was a car service purchase that fell through. Our neighbor’s car WAS a “fancy” Marathon, but ours was not.
Think of Marathon as being the Brougham, or “civilian” model.
Ours was the basic “stripper” model, as those that were used for cabs.
You’re quite right. The low trim version was the “Superba”. I’d forgotten about that.
Back in 1986, I witnessed an accident where a Checker Marathon rear-ended an early-80s Chevy Caprice (it was part of a larger, more serious accident, and was neither the Checker or Caprice drivers’ fault). I remember being amazed that the Checker was essentially undamaged, while the Caprice sustained noticeable damage… definitely a memorable thing to see.
And I’ve never heard of those water-filled bumpers before — interesting idea. I wonder if these preceded water-filled highway barriers, or whether it was the other way around?
Our Checker was in an accident such as you describe. But this was with the old, classic bumpers. Dad was at a four way stop sign on a state highway, and one of the big Mustangs, a ‘72 or ‘73, plowed into him.
The Mustang was totaled and couldn’t be driven away. We drove away, with the trunk lid bungeed down. All that needed to be done was a replacement bumper and lower valance panel.
I have to believe water-filled bumpers would add lots of unnecessary weight.
But then so did all the 5mph bumper paraphernalia. Wonder which would have been heavier?
The water filled bumpers, at 8 pounds per gallon were a lot heavier. At least for a while. As I remember, each bumper held 5 gallons of liquid.
Many were drained of the 50/50 anti-freeze/water mixture by less-than-honorable people, who simply popped off the round plastic covers for the fill holes, and sucked out the mixture. At about $2.50/gallon back in the 1980s, that was over $6 in anti-freeze.
And when the Checker owner filled up the water bumpers with pure water, when the water froze and ruptured the bumpers, the water ran out as the temperature warmed up.
Just got back from Queens, a lot of New Yorkers use black rubber bumper protectors now. I have never seen them here in FL- took me a while to figure out.
I had a gigantic Pathfinder for a rental with terrible visibility. It had overly cautious proximity sensors, while the persistent mist and road film blurred out the camera system. I lightly tapped other cars a few times by accident. My New Yorker friend insisted that’s just the way one parks. Next rental is going to be a compact.
Never had the pleasure of riding in a Checker regrettably. I bet they have better visibility. Those bumpers must weigh something heavy.
Fran Lebowitz owns a 1979 Checker Marathon that she bought for $9000:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/nyregion/fran-lebowitz-in-her-checker-cab-nyc-characters.html
That’s an awesome article. You just have to love Fran Lebowitz.
This: Driving, she said, makes her nervous. “I just assume that every other car on the road, the person is crazy, and drunk, and has a gun,”
I can relate. I moved to Florida. I still use Uber and Lyft. It started as necessity because I didn’t initially own a car. It became a personal preference.
Water bumpers! I remember those on Toronto transit vehicles, (GM buses and PCC streetcars) as a little kid. I remember asking my mum what they were for, and she correctly described their construction and function.
BTW were they really water, or an antifreeze solution? Toronto has enough subzero weather to freeze the bumper contents, making them rock hard for three months each year, defeating their crash-absorbent properties. I presume NYC would have a similar problem. My guess is they’d be filled with a water/calcium chloride solution, like a tractor tire . Its inexpensive and easy to manage.
I well remember cabs with water bumpers too. Wonder what they used in them for anti-freeze?
The most ironic thing about Checkers that I have noticed: even Checker did a smoother job of switching to dual headlights than the 58 Studebaker.
Growing up in Kalamazoo, it was not that unusual to see civilian Checkers running around town, even fully broughamated ones with opera windows.
That car is a rolling identity crisis. Muscle car wheels, taxicab body, brougham roof, 1950s cruiser two-tone paint job.
It looks like a Soviet attempt at a Rolls Silver Shadow.
>>It looks like a Soviet attempt at a Rolls Silver Shadow.<<
Which is probably why the original "Mission Impossible" had a Checker in it's fleet to play a role in the EEPR.
Here's another brougham for you.
That’s a Winkoff Checker – a rogue dealer who sold a lot of “upfitted” Checkers. Checker would build them however he wanted, then he’d add a lil more…
That one is owned by a former Checker employee, and his wife, who he met while working at Checker. Identity crisis or not… it’s actually almost original as it was sold by it’s dealer, and thus part of auto history… 🙂
Checkers became iconic after they were no longer common. Street pix of NYC in the ’50s, and most TV shows and movies in the ’50s, showed DeSotos as the dominant cabs there.
When *did* Checkers pretty much dwindle to nothing in New York as taxis? The movies would likely have you believe it was quite a bit later than reality, right?
I wonder this too, I see pictures of NYC during the 70s and 80s with taxis abundantly Ford and Chevy full sizers with few checkers in sight, but I can think of quite a few TV shows and movies into the early 90s where Checkers were crazy common(more than just a vehicle a character directly encounters). I imagine there were stragglers, but in recent memory it seemed like panthers disappeared from duty virtually overnight after production ceased
Find the Checkers
Good question.
A while back I found where somebody had filmed themselves while driving around NYC in the early 1970s; I want to say 1973. The cabs were primarily Dodge, full- and mid-size, with a few Fords. I really don’t remember seeing any Checkers.
I should have posted that video here. It was a great watch.
I would say Checkers became an uncommon sight in the mid 80s. Basically however long a car was usually kept in the fleet after the final purchases in 1982.
With regards to Checkers being unseen at certain periods, I speculate that the Checker perhaps enjoyed a (relative) resurgence in the late 70s due the downsizing by the Big Three. Sure, you have Dodge Aspens and downsized Impala’s well-represented in media from that era, so fleets weren’t exclusively buying Checkers, but based on a tiny sample size and anecdotally, it seems you actually saw more Checkers in the early 80s than early 70s. But that again is total speculation, and whatever bump it was, obviously nothing that could change the fortunes of the company. But I do wonder if the checker ‘market share’ of the NYC taxi fleet did appreciably increase somewhere in the late 70s
Again, totally non-representative shots:
1979: numerous checkers among the taxis (i’d say at least half?, tougher to judge background cars)
https://kalasniblog.tumblr.com/post/168357925074/times-square-nueva-york-1979-m%C3%A1s-fotos
1980: checkers well represented on street shots. note towards the end there is a taxi garage/yard, no apparent checkers
1981: 6 cabs, no checkers. 4 Caprices? (or Impala) , 1 pre-downsized Ford, and 1 Peugot
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fifth_Avenue_and_Saint_Thomas_Church,_New_York_City,_1981.jpg
1982: Of 5 cabs, 3 are checkers, a Chrysler R body, and a refreshed Impala
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-may-1982new-yorkthe-helmsley-building230-park-avenueyellow-taxismanhattannew-171149993.html
Also 1982: the shot at 1:00. Of 6 cabs. 4 Checkers, 1 R body, and one what looks like an Impala
The vid has a few other shots with 1-2 taxi with no checkers
1983 multiple checkers in 1983 portion of vid, much more scarce in 1986 (2nd part of vid)
1984:
multiple checkers but clearly not the dominant cab (see 5:14)
1984: a few checkers
1985
at :57, a taxi garage, yard, no apparent checkers in foreground from my view
1985 didn’t see any checkers in this 5 min driving video though several cabs are seen (there’s also a part 1 not linked)
1986: 8+ cabs, none of the 6 foreground are checkers.
https://www.alamy.com/1986-view-of-times-square-nyc-usa-image188912215.html
1987: none of 5 foreground cabs appear to be checkers
https://www.alamy.com/stock-image-1987-historical-yellow-taxi-cabs-rockefeller-center-fifth-avenue-manhattan-168671950.html
“circa 1987” but later, as it looks like their is a restyle “whale” caprice, no checkers
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545a686fe4b059216c7cb8cc/1589557984693-ETGE88MP7OJE78BYF9JR/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kF0ERWPmRGDkp00Hdb9kJHB7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z4YTzHvnKhyp6Da-NYroOW3ZGjoBKy3azqku80C789l0oGwQPSn8VqSSM4mc7rOnoh97ieOOuT9p6fqVRpS3rNa8zcqnBeIs3X6dX2FL2s75A/CVB_558c.jpg?format=300w
circa date from: https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2020/5/15/well-be-back
I remember this from the mid 90s, Good Morning America did a segment on what at the time were the 8 remaining checker cabs in 1994
Great footage.
Yes, Impalas et al were outcompeting by the mid 80s. If CMC had the dominant cab on the market in 1982, presumably they wouldn’t have thrown in the towel on making cars.
There’s lore to how long they made them, but everyone in the room was aware that it was an aging chassis for the last ten years of production. There were internal efforts for a more modern chassis that never panned out.
” it seems you actually saw more Checkers in the early 80s than early 70s”
Partial explanation being more accumulated in the city. By the early 70s they had 10 years of them roaming around, by the 82 they had twenty years of them roaming around – not all the 60s cabs being on the road, obviously. Checkers were always on the road longer than their counterparts – partially due to build quality but also due to the likelihood of there being cheap parts kicking around.
This article talking about the last one to be retired says that it was down to 10 in service in 1993. https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/27/nyregion/last-new-york-checker-turns-off-its-meter-for-good.html So by the mid to late 80’s they had to be getting pretty rare already.
I’m assuming that the gas mileage of these things is terrible. And a not particularly great ride. I’ve been in one but I don’t remember.
My Checker Marathon had an I6 3 on the tree and overdrive. I once got 30 mpg on a 300 mile trip from Phildelphia to Boston. Around town without using the overdrive I got 20 mpg. I’m sure a V8 and automatic cut the mileage down, but no worse than comparably sized cars, and likely better than other vehicles with similar interior room.
My Checker with an inline 250 and 3 on the tree gets about 25 MPG but only goes 50 MPH. The ride is exceptional.
As I’ve mentioned on many other posts here, Dad bought a brand new Marathon in 1965. Black, silver interior, I6 3-speed with overdrive.
By 1972, it became mine to drive to high school. At the time I HATED it.
Dad died in 1986. My stepmom hung onto it until 1990 when it started nickel and diming her to death. She traded it at one of those dealer things where they give you $3000 for whatever you can push-pull-drag in.
By that time the car must have had well over 200,000 miles on it. It was almost totaled once and had been through a couple of repaints as well.
Checker production ran through the 1982 model year if I recall correctly.
My uncle drove a taxi in NYC in the early 1980s, so I have spent some time with Checkers as a kid. Always thought they made the perfect taxi. I think they should “re-issue” the Checker as the official New York taxi. Build it on a modern electric or hybrid CUV platform with the body changed just enough to meet regulations and not a bit more.
What do they call the person who handles continuity during the filming of a movie? In the first video as they drive down the big boulevard lined by trees in the background the cars are in order. Caddy, taxi, and Implala/Caprice. Then there is a quick cut to Bond in the taxi, the background has gotten a little hilly, with less trees and what car is that behind the taxi that you see through the rear window. That ain’t no Chevy much less American.
Best 5mph bumpers was the mgb. To anyone who grew up in the 80s and 90s the rubber bumper b looked better than the old chrome bumper b.
I was looking at this one, and thinking “Sunshine Cab Company, why does that ring a bell?”
A look at the card solved the mystery. When the series ended, the cab was returned to Checker, which was still in business, doing contract stamping work for GM. When Checker went toes up, the cab was bought and restored.
IIRC Checker remained in business fabricating parts for GM until the GM bankruptcy in 2009.
I do remember seeing the water bumpers on taxis in NYC in about 1972. Though I remember them on a variety of taxis. I do remember asking my Dad what those things were and he explained what they were. Seemed pretty cool to a young me and I always wanted to see them at work. So, thanks for the pic of one doing its job.
The Checker plant today. Looks about the same as Studebaker Plant #2 and AMC Kenosha assembly.
In high school in 1977-78, we got to tour Kenosha, 4 hours stem to stern, and it was a blast.
Part of a Humanities course, which also included us meeting Studs Terkel at the Goodman Theater, where they were formulating a musical from his best seller, “Working”, and sitting through his and the producer’s adding, cutting, discussing.
As for Kalamazoo, Checker Motor Company is used and featured in the movie “Blue Collar”:
On my first visit to NYC in 1984 I insisted to my parents that we skip the boring ford taxi and hop into a Checker cab down the line. The back seat leg room was amazingly expansive, like a limo, and it definitely felt like were riding higher than every other car on the street. That was the first and last time I ever rode in one—a decade later when I was spending time in NYC as a college student, they were all gone. Glad I had the chance to experience it.
In the mid 80`s, a friend used to ‘lease’ a Checker taxicab. When he went to visit his parents in Florida, or Monticello, NY he would let me drive it so he didn`t have to pay the lease fee for when he didn`t work. The cab was built like a battleship, and it didn`t have the partition between the front and back seats. However, after driving if for 12 hours a day, by back would just kill me from the bolt upright, non adjustable front seat.The car did NOT ride like a Cadillac!
Was this the last car to not have a “step-down” floorpan, with footwells recessed below the level of the frame rails where possible?
I think the bumpers on the lead photo car would have made it look a lot better if they’d been chromed as with the over riders. One of the other issues that detracted from the look of the Checker’s body, was the failure to address the stampings for the original bumpers. It’s very obvious, and is a really awkward look. In the company mindset of the time, I guess it was decided that there was no need for body modification. Still, it IS a nice looking civilian Checker. 🙂
I would argue the Checker Marathon is one of the most recognizable cars around the world by non-car nuts. Along with the VW Beetle and DMC Delorean. A small business could have a fleet of five or ten Checkers converted to electric and they would be worth their weight in gold for marketing purposes.