I picked up a new ride today. 1970 Checker A11 Cab...but it's not really a cab, it's just a car, and it's not the A12 Marathon, it has the cheaper Cab interior, etc. 250 Chevy straight six. Borg Warner Dual Range 3 speed automatic (what the Ford FMX is a copy of, but with a Chevy bellhousing!). Dana 44 3.31 rear end. The car is really solid, but has rust in the front floor...not serious, and it doesn't look like it went past the main floor sheet metal. Rockers, rear floor, etc all look pretty good. There's also just a bit of rust in the middle bottom front of the hood. I'll get a few more pictures tomorrow. View attachment 6247564 View attachment 6247565
Pretty cool! When I was in high school I worked in the shop of the local cab company. They had 200 Chevy caprice cabs that we maintained and a dozen “specialty cabs” that the used for advertising and events. One was a Checker Marathon New Year’s Eve was all hands on deck so even the old Checker was on duty that night. It was easy to work on once you figured out what was what. All the mechanical parts came from other manufacturers. It has a SBC and I think the ball joints were dodge. the company sold it and it was displayed in front of Planet Hollywood restaurant in Niagara Falls for at least 10 years. I wonder where it is now…
They are built like tanks. The suspension and drivetrain parts were all beefy and solid. Since it's OT and you've brought it here, you won't hear me say it often, but put a blown LS in it. Update the suspension with parts from the 300M Chrysler, or a upscale full size import luxury cruiser. Throw a tuner on it and program the electronics while leaving the body stock and you'll have a killer sleeper. Heck find an old In Service light for the roof and have fun. See if you can get it into the 10s. The 44 can handle a lot of ponies and some decent grip. Some creative swaps and rigging, you can have it done and not leave the 4 digit budget range.
Great score Jim. These are the two I owned, the white one was a 65, it was my dads car, with a 283, and the primered one was a 67 with a 327 and A.C., the Caddy ambulance was a 65 Miller Meteor. So cool that you bought the checker, they truly were built like tanks. Congratulations from Dennis.
That's the plan. My wife went with me to pick up the car today. We stopped for lunch just after loading it up...she said "you could make it into a race car" So of course I have all kinds of wild ideas. I have the makings of a decent 350, I have a 454 together and ready to go, another LS-7 half together, and some other parts. Anything goes... But I just checked and the six is the original numbers matching motor, so there's no way I could take it out
This has this picture https://hestiahelper.blogspot.com/2018/03/chevy-straight-six-engine-diagram.html The pic link has Crankshaft Coalition in it.
Sorry Jim, you've been nothing but kind to me, but https://www.aussiespeedshop.com/product/chevy-inline-250-292-supercharger-manifold/
Yeah, revive it as it is. They are good motors before the late 70s. That manifold isn't going to play well with the brakes either.
Well you could always put the 350 in for a while and rebuild the 6 and make it better, stronger, faster... Then you could start working on the other systems like the brakes, transmission, all the things that make it fun to drive. And when you get the most out of the 6 put it back together for a numbers matching fun car. Nope, go all in. Put the LS in it and supercharge it. Modern electronically controlled OD transmission, disk brakes, cruise control, stereo, AC and any other bells and whistles you want. Then throw on some 18 inch run flats and go rally till your hearts content. 10s would still be a very respectable goal for a tank.
I used to do alignments for a cab company on those. Built like a tank indeed. They were pretty spartan inside. Figure 8 drivers loved those aluminum bumpers. They could survive any impact. I know a local couple that has a restored NYC Medallion version.
Very cool. Looks pretty solid. I'm curious what a cut and buff would look like on that nice blue paint.
My "matching number six" comment was total sarcasm, in case you didn't figure it out Actual plan is to get the six going, as well as fixing the brakes, fuel, and cooling systems, then get it working as a decent driver. And have a few adventures with it that way. Then...do something a bit more wild. With 8 cylinders, most likely. Me too. But I'm pretty good at leaving old paint alone, there are too many other things that actually need attention. Oh...and it's not really nice blue paint. The car was originally a lighter shade of solid blue, and was sprayed over with the darker metallic blue. It's burned off in places, and the lacquer underneath is crazed in places also.
A little more tinkering. Put fluid in the brakes and bled them, they work. Of course they need new rubber parts before driving very far. And I got the hood latch to work. I might see if I can get the engine to run...then see if I want to explore the gas tank.... note how huge the front drums are! When I was younger, living in Tucson, on the way into town we'd often pass this place. This was when Checkers were still being made. I'm pretty sure this was the Tucson Checker dealership.
Just out of curiosity. did Chevy V8's in Checkers get their own valve covers with Checker stamped in them? Always interested t follow your builds Jim. Devin
good question! looks like they had blank covers...here's a 67 from the internet. Has the 283 style covers, without the Chevrolet script. Probably really rare parts.
Jim, I say get it running and driving, have some fun in some of the lemons stuff, then a V8, maybe a turbo or two and sick week bound…
Pretty darn neat there, Mr. Jim. Those things remind me of a Sherman road tank. 1970, already had some emissions can under the hood.
yeah, it has warm air for the carb, evaporative canister, Transmision Controlled Spark...but I think that's it. None of them really hurt things too much.
There is quite a bit of interesting history of the Checker cabs and the Checker Cab Manufacturing Corporation of Kalamazoo Michigan. I have this book in my library, so I thought I would add a few pages to share with the @squirrel fan club as he prepares the latest kick ass ride to go on another great adventure! Thanks from Dennis.
Back when I worked for House of Kolor in Minneapolis 1980-82, one of the bars in the area bought a new checker and had the interior made up to look like a limo. It had the Buick V6 in it I don’t remember what we did to it if I remember correctly it was burgundy and silver two tone.
The Jalopy Journal
