WHat is the Checkered Cab

What year make and model is and old school checkered cab ?

 

i think checker was around a long time. my shop teacher drove a 67 checker and they were around way after that.
did you wiki checker??

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checker_Motors_Corporation

 

1956 to 1982

 

damn all the way until 82 , thats when i was born .. I WANT ONE

 

There were Checker cabs back to the '20s, they were only sold to fleets though. Cars were sold to the public starting about 1958. But most any make of sedan was used as a taxi, DeSoto was common in the '40s, and I've seen old ads selling two and three year old fleet Fords, Plymouths, Dodges, Chevys and Studebakers for cheap prices in the late '50s.

 

they make a nice conversational ride. they had many different drivelines but mostly stayed with a body that many years parts would interchange. my shop teacher had a 327 chevy in it.

 

check out the 1936 in this thread...

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=360754&referrerid=31699

 

In the early 90s Arlo Guthrie had a Checker Limo.

 

The car is a Checker Marathon.

 

a town by me had one for a cop car.(bedford park il.) it was two tone brown. at the time it was the fastest one they had. early 80's

 

The cowl and doors on this truck came from a 1923 Checker.



http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=9715&pictureid=96052

 

http://www.checkertaxistand.com/option,com_classifieds/Itemid,27/


If this above site is any sample, you're timing may be right whereas it appears supply is higher than demand. Apparently the sliding price scale is somewhere in between 'wow and 'you have a lot of work to do' for the novelties, regardless.

 

didnt monster garage or one of those shows hot rod one?

 

I owned a 68 Checker Marathon wagon (non taxi) while going into college...Had a 327 with camel hump heads..turbo 400 and 9' rear. Stewart Warner gauges all factory stuff...We lowered it and threw some 56 Ford caps on it. The thing was a tank and ran great...Took it surfing all the time..the guy I bought it from thought it looked just like a 55 Nomad..needless to say we thought he was kinda a kook.....A funky wagon with some impressive parts...Looked right at home parked alongside all the college brats new Acuras and Hondas

 

I love checkers... Cars from the 80's that look like they're from the 50's...

 

I love Checkers and if I had the choice of taking a cab ride in a Checker vs. a late model Crown Vic, I'd jump in the classic Checker Cab. I think most folks would.
An enterprising Cab Co, would do well with a fleet of renovated Checkers. They would get the fare over all the other Taxi Co's.

I recall in the late 60's seeing a Checker Drivers Ed car outfitted with dual steering wheels!!!

The Checker tooling still exists. Wonder if we'll ever see Checker's or new replacement body stampings offered again?

Below from Wiki;


On June 9, 2009, Judge Gregg approved the sale of Checker Motors Corp. to the subsidiaries of two Canadian automotive suppliers, Narmco Group LLC and Van-Rob Inc.
The Narmco Group, based Windsor, Ontario, paid $650,000 for Checker's business of making stamped metal and welded assemblies for GM trucks and other vehicles. Van-Rob Inc., based in Aurora, Ontario, paid $950,000 for some of Checker's manufacturing equipment.
Christopher Grosman, an attorney representing Checker Motors, told Judge
The $1.6 million sale meant the end of the road for Checker. Approximately 125 Checker workers in Kalamazoo made parts until June 30, then the business was transferred to Canada.
At about the same time as Checker's closing, the notorious Ponzi scammer who committed the largest fraud in the US history at $65 billion, Bernie Madoff, started his 150 year prison sentence.
In July 2009, General Motors Corp paid $1.5 million dollars to Walker Tool & Dies for tools and dies that still remained on site at Checker. Walker Tool had liens on the tools, so payment was required in order to move the tools to Canada. The tooling was transferred to Canada to make the Buick Lacrosse"

 

screw the marathons, i want an AEROBUS!!!

 

Yeah, the Checker most of us remember premiered in 1956. When the body dies finally wore out, Checker didn't have $$$ for new ones AND the fed. safety requirements would have wiped out profit margin. So they finally quit.

BUT Checker went all the way back to the '20s.

 

We would look for the Checkers in the junk yards for the S&W gauges in them.

 

I'm not sure when exactly, but I believe Checker Motor Company closed up in the mid 80's if I remember right. I was a mechanic in the 70's working for a limo service that had busses and checkers. A 4 dr sedan and a streach..... 8 doors with a station wagon rear. It appeared to be a car, simple to work on.....these were early to mid 70's models. They were like working on a 55 chevy. They all had either a 250 cid 6 cyl chevy or a 350 V-8 chevy, dana 60 rears, gm fromt disc brakes, TH-400 or a junk ford FMX tranny. It looked like a checker was built using the best proven parts of other brands. A good solid car.

 

There's a good Checker display at the Gilmore museum in Kalamazoo. (Home of Checker Motor Co)

 

Old thread but I love checker marathons ..A guy at my work saved one from the crusher .

 

http://hartford.craigslist.org/cto/3344079868.html

 

Checkers in the 60s were Chev V8s, but the trans (auto) were FMX. The adaptor to hook them both together was used by Brooks Stevens for the early Excaliburs on Stude frames that came with automatic transmission. FMX was considered bulletproof by Checker.

 

I don't know if this has been posted but how about a Blown Hemi powered Checker....

 

I have an 83 year old friend that was a Mountlake Terrace Wash policeman He told me they had, I beileve 2 and they rolled one of them. Overall, they did not like them. One of them was the car no one wanted to drive IE: Last to leave the motor pool. Chuck

 

PS I would love to get a "checkered" hubcap for my collection!

 

Had a 66 with a 235 six couldnt kill that car, !

 

Here're some photos thru the years:

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/04/an-illustrated-history-of-checker-motors/