An American icon slowly faded away

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Princess Valiant

Princess Valiant

A.K.A. Rainy Day Auto
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The checker Taxi cab

when I was a teen in the early 2000s I would often watch re-runs of a TV show titled "Taxi" on nick at nite and I noticed the type of cars in the show. The main Taxi cabs used were visually similar to a 58 chevy IMO. when I finally figured out what kind of cars they are and I read up on the history of the car I found the story of the checker motor company.

A true American car company having its origins in Kalamazoo, MI. The company produced the Taxi cab also known as a Checker Marathon from 1960-1982. The amazing part is that the car kept the same shape and design the whole production run with only changes made to keep pace with federal safely standards.

Any car produced for that length of time while remaining pretty much the same basic car says much about the design and craftsmanship.

I can remember seeing one lone checker cab in the nearest city to me up to 2003 when the operator retired and the car retired with him to leave the streets to the much more modern appearing Ford crown Victoria.

Everyone I know who I showed a pic of a checker to would react the same "I remember those" yet few people I know really noticed their gradual disappearance.

A true testament to the American ability to produce a car with outstanding quality and durability

Remember these?......the cars that were part of millions of people's lives ......whether they noticed or not ;)
 

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I have ridden in those a many of times. Here in NYC, there slow disappearance was noted.
 
Don't know when was the last time I seen one still in service as a cab, but there still out there in private hands just not too many.

Seen a white one a few weeks ago that was really nice and who wouldn't want to get in this cab

View attachment image.jpg

Seen this at a car show, very cool

There was a limo checker on the east side of Indy when I was growing up with 4 doors ON EACH SIDE, think they were airport cars
 
Those things were built like tanks...................with the best/ longest lasting parts GM had to offer. tmm
 
View attachment image.jpg

Sorry had to make multiple post, don't know how to post more than one picture from the I pad

Rani, you sure have different taste, but hey, I always thought the checkers were cool cars, and they were very dependable

Watched taxi all the time, but it wasn't reruns......... LOL
 
In the '80's in Atlanta there was an older black lady named Pearl, in her off-white Checker she was a fixture outside the open-all-night clubs, I rode home in her taxi many times, often wondered whatever happened to her and her faithful Checker.
 
hacksaw said:
il stick with the checker ....:heart:
Click to expand...

I had an old Checker for about 2 weeks. I bought it from a guy in NJ, ( when I lived there), took it home and parked it in my drive way. It was a good running car, had a 283 Chevy/auto in it, and it was pretty much in tact.

Anyway, the car essentially sat in my drive way for about 10 or 12 days, and it still had the "For Sale" sign in the window. While I was out in my garage working on my Dart, a passer-by pulled into my driveway and asked "How much"?
I said, "How much for what"?
He said, "The Checker".
I told him to make an offer... It was more than twice what I paid for the car 2 weeks earlier, so, I sold it to him. lol
 
A 1966 Checker station wagon is available on eBay right now...

[ame="http://www.ebay.com/itm/Other-Makes-WAGON-RARE-1966-CHECKER-WAGON-CALIFORNIA-CAR-/131227965145?forcerrptr=true&hash=item1e8dcbd6d9&item=131227965145&pt=US_Cars_Trucks"]Other Makes Wagon | eBay[/ame]
 
Rani you should give a 58 Chevy more credit. The one in American Graffiti is beautiful.
 
daredevil said:
Rani you should give a 58 Chevy more credit. The one in American Graffiti is beautiful.
Click to expand...

The 58 Chevy was an excellent design study. The Checkers look nothing like it.

GM had some very sleek body designs in 1958, some of the 2 door Buicks, and the "4 door hardtops" (like the one in the video below)of the era.

Wonderful family sedans of the day with that "sporty look" of the day.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TpSWXG4P44"]CHROME QUEEN, 1958 BUICK SPECIAL - YouTube[/ame]


btw, here's a '58 Chevy... Doesn't look much like a Checker. ;)

 
Frankie said:
The 58 Chevy was an excellent design study. The Checkers look nothing like it.

GM had some very sleek body designs in 1958, some of the 2 door Buicks, and the "4 door hardtops" (like the one in the video below)of the era.

Wonderful family sedans of the day with that "sporty look" of the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TpSWXG4P44


btw, here's a '58 Chevy... Doesn't look much like a Checker. ;)

http://cimg.carsforsale.com/607987/213300A9-2C97-4902-9282-B6D6C8F22645_1.jpg
Click to expand...


Agreed....

There has been quite a few Checkers listed on ebay lately.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/eBay-Motors-/6000/i.html?_sop=3&_nkw=CHECKER&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc
 
If you really wanted a civilian model, you could get one. Kinda pricey.

They also made regular, non airport limos.

I rode in several in VA Beach and DC in the late 70s/early 80s.


Pretty sure the 58 gms were a stop gap design on the 55-57 basic platform, in order to try to compete with the longer, lower, less boxy 57 C/P/D line that outsold the 57 gms like hotcackes.

The 59 and 60 gms actually look like the 57 Mopars.

How often does that happen?
 
Frankie said:
The 58 Chevy was an excellent design study. The Checkers look nothing like it.

GM had some very sleek body designs in 1958, some of the 2 door Buicks, and the "4 door hardtops" (like the one in the video below)of the era.

Wonderful family sedans of the day with that "sporty look" of the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TpSWXG4P44


btw, here's a '58 Chevy... Doesn't look much like a Checker. ;)

<a href="http://cimg.carsforsale.com/607987/213300A9-2C97-4902-9282-B6D6C8F22645_1.jpg" target="_blank">
Click to expand...

I just meant the front end grille/headlight arrangement .......from far maybe. :tongue3:

the side view does not look anything like each other ....the checker was flat sided, plain and mostly boring.

The 58 chevy is a true work of art.

I should have clarified
 
RaniDart70 said:
I just meant the front end grille/headlight arrangement .......from far maybe. :tongue3:

the side view does not look anything like each other ....the checker was flat sided, plain and mostly boring.

The 58 chevy is a true work of art.

I should have clarified
Click to expand...

The front doesn't look the same, either, Rani. But, the headlights might have the same bezels.

The idea of the Checker was to build a spacious interior, with a flat floor, tons of leg room, with room for jump seats. It's purpose was to be a people mover.. It made for the perfect taxi.

The car sat on top of a full frame. High enough, in that there was no need for a drive shaft tunnel in the floor. Asa result, the floor was almost completely flat.

The seat was place in a position to the rear so that it did not encroach into the rear door opening. This allowed for an extraordinary amount of rear leg room, and the option for jump seats.

Further, many times, if you were carrying luggage it wasn't even necessary to put it in the trunk, as you can easily place it behind the front seat, and still have enough room in the back seat to stretch out comfortably.

It also had a VERY roomy trunk space.

The body styling was very utilitarian. It was designed to maximize interior space, legroom, shoulder room, headroom, etc. and it did just that. There weren't many changes to the body style, though this facilitated easy body maintenance over the years, and no need for retooling at the plant. There were some bumper restyles, though.

There were also a number of different engines used. The one I had had a Chevy 283 V8 in it.
There was also an 80 hp 226 cu.in. straight 6, wit a 122 option on the same engine. later in 1963 the std. engine remained at 80 hp, but the opt was upped to 141 hp.

In 1965 the std 6 cyl. engine went to 140 HP, and 2 V8's were added. Both were Chevy engines. the 283 with 195 hp. and the 237 with 250 hp.

In 67 the 283 was dropped,

1968 saw the 230 6 cyl at 140 hp, the addition of a Chevy 307 @ 200 hp, and the 327 @ 275 hp.

1969 saw the 6 cyl. upped in power to 155 hp, the return of the 327 @ 235 hp, and the addition of a Chevy 350, in lieu of the 327. The 350 was rated at 300 hp.

There were many other engine changes between 1970 and 1982finally ending up with a 229 V6 @ 110 hp. and V8's at 267 cubes with 115hp, and a 350 @ 105 hp.

Most cars were manual, but an automatic was available at extra cost $248.00 for the 3 speed auto, and an extra $108.00 if you wanted over drive.


Production #'s were pretty low, too... for example...

Including taxis

1960 - 6980 units.
1961- 5683
1962 - 8173
1963 - 7050
1964 - 6310
1965 - 6136
1966 - 5761
1967 - 5822
1968 - 5477
1969 - 5417
1970 - 397
1971 - 600
1972 - 850
1973 - 900
1974 - 950
1975 - 450
1976 - 400
1977 - 300
1978 - 300
1979 - 200
1980 - 250
1981 - 2950
1982 - 2000


Obviously the 11 model years from 197 to 1980 being the most collectible due to very low production numbers with the 1979 model being the lowest production year.


They were, probably, the best suited vehicle ever built to be a taxi. That was their purpose.
 
my room-mate has a civilian-spec 68 marathon. 327-4 with a dual range FMX borg warner transmission. goofy setup, the bell-housing unbolts from the FMX case, and its all cast iron. brakes are a Studebaker/Packard design, it has power brakes, A/C, and power steering. The frame is a full c-channel frame PLUS an X brace similar to 61-64 impalas. friggin BURLY. theres a cast-iron tag hot-riveted to the radiator support that starts with GN-104***, we wondered what it was for, and figured it out. Great Northern RR, and a batch code. totally explains why its missing the front bumper. The rear fender-well/side panels BOLT ON. so if one gets smashed, unbolt it and switch them out literally within 15 minutes, we did it. the coolest thing about all of this? it sat for 30 years, hes the third owner, and it was an ex rail car. here in western Montana this beastie was running the train rails from 68-81 when it was decommissioned, and driven as a daily until mid 83', then parked until he came along. heres a picture of one!
[URL="http://www.missabe.com/gallery2/d/920-2/checker"][URL="http://www.missabe.com/gallery2/d/920-2/checker"][URL="http://www.missabe.com/gallery2/d/920-2/checker"][/URL][/URL][/URL]
 
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