In 1976 Illinois elected a new governor who was 6’6” - “Big Jim” Thompson. He ordered a Checker for his official limousine since he needed lots of leg room. It was a great attention grabber too!
I'm 6'5"and could sit in the back with my legs straight out in front of me. You could also fit a bicycle in the back with the doors closed, or in the trunk with the lid down. The interior room was amazing.
Checker cabs I noticed that nobody is talking about the old fashion but wonderful front and rear end rubber water bumpers. They were terrific and actually worked at saving car damage on both vehicles from collision in NYC...The rubber water bucket each held about a gallon of water with 7-9 rubber containers on each bumper. Each bucket had a rubber cork on top and when colliding to hard the cork would pop letting out a geyser of water spray. So cool and great they were, to bad we don't have them now...I spoke to a retired NYC cabby out west and he had his own "checker cab"(retired) and we both laughed about seeing the buckets fill the air like "old faithful" in Yellowstone...He prided himself about putting two kid through college and buying two homes from driving checker cabs...
That was really good. The Checker looks like a vehicle that was built to requirements and fulfilled them just like the FX4. Small manufacturers always make the most interesting things and tend to fail because they are not greedy enough but tend to be more focused on making things well.
"Not greedy enough" Such a poor perspective. Did you know free enterprise was started by free people like you and I? I am typing from my little business shop about the size of what Henry Ford started in, and he did not have a CNC mill. The state stole your free enterprise son, and gave it to communism starting 40 years ago. But they destroyed Tucker, (a great automobile not allowed to compete, and all that opportunity gone.), a guy right after WW2, as Honda became a manufacturing Dynasty. Yep, Japan won WW2, if we were fighting for our liberty and free enterprise. You got sold out son,--but maybe you can get a job working for the state. They pay well,---until there is not enough free enterprise left to steal from. Oh---I hear those new biden IRS agents knocking on my shop door now. Looks like we are done.
It’s amazing to me that NYC was FLOODED with these....and now there are none. It always astounds me how a car could be so plentiful and then, seemingly overnight, they all vanish.
That's because the fleets only use their cabs for a year. There were 2 fleets in NYC that ran Checkers exclusively, Metro in Astoria and Midland in LIC. Metro had 150 taxis and Midland had 250. I worked for both fleets. In 1983 Metro bought 150 Chevys and sold or scrapped their Checkers. Midland was different they bought 600 Checkers in 1982 and stored them in New Jersey and kept putting brand new Checkers on the street as late as 1985, then went to Ford. But they never used a car for more than a year. Metro also had about 50 diesel Checkers out of a garage in Corona, Queens. In 2003 I bought a checker somebody had put an Oldsmobile 401 engine in it, I took one look and saw it was an old diesel Corona checker they took out the diesel engine.
Just like the video mentioned, the governing bodies (in New York City's case, the Taxi & Limousine Commission) mandated that taxis were only allowed to be so old before they were had to be retired. I lived in the NYC area until the 1990s, and I remember reading an article somewhere that the last few Checker cabs that were still in service were in such high demand by passengers, that people would deliberately wave off other taxis to get the Checker, or specifically ask for them when they phoned up the dispatcher. They may be gone, but they won't be forgotten.
Back in the day, in NYC, cab riders frequently would let many non-Checkers pass by until a Checker came along. Checkers were FAR more comfortable than any other cab on the road.
I have a 78 checker. 350 engine. I'm now in the beginning stages of replacing the entire fuel system from the cap to the carb. Then exhaust from the engine back. Once that's complete I will be replacing the suspension. All because I got the car for free and it has been garage kept, under a cover. So the body and motor/trans are in perfect condition. No dents, no swirl marks in the paint, chrome dress up kit under the hood. Complete with a/c. From what the previous owner said it has been in 4 movies. There's a lot of documentation in a box in the trunk. I haven't looked at it yet. He put around 20k into it from what he said. As for me, I will be driving it around occasionally on date night.
Great Memories.....Old Chicagoan.......riding in a Checker as a kid on the jump seat.......what an experience! I greatly appreciate the time you took to put this rolling history together. Give yourself a double fare.
In addition to being the Celery Capital of the world for many decades, a large grower of mint, Gibson Guitars, The Upjohn Drug Co. (now Pfizer) and more, we had been so fortunate in Kalamazoo to have the world-famous Checker Cab, built exclusively here in town. So many innovations inside what looked like an ugly duckling. since 1976, I remember it well. From a little town of 75,000, Kalamazoo capitalized on a tough Dutch Christian work ethic, as well as hosting a unique Michigan automobile "anointing" as it were. Those were the days
It was so sad seeing the plant being demolished. I remember seeing cars going around the test track as a kid in the '70s. I also remember seeing the train cars full of car frames lined up at the plant on Mosel Ave.
Taxi cab . They and Volkswagen beetle were very numerous till the 90's. Like the English cabbie they were roomy with a high ceiling. They should have never changed
Back in the mid 70’s my uncle bought a retired checker cab. He gave it a rattle can paint job in electric blue metallic, including the steel wheels which were devoid of hubcaps. My father, making fun of the paint job, dubbed it “The Blue Max”. It was referred to as such by the whole family until it’s demise years later. I remember riding in it many times. I also rode in many Checker cabs in the 80’s while attending school in NYC. Only now can really appreciate what an almost perfect car it was. The trunk space and room inside was insane. Easy access to all mechanicals, solid, and really reasonably stylish overall.
What's a Checker? Probably the very best car that was ever made. Big roomy, can see out of it without hindrance, powerful enough without the engine screaming away trying to get somewhere. Plus the style is so cool. NO DAMN COMPUTERS EITHER! That's a Checker.
Okay, it's no where near being "the best car ever made". Maybe 60 years ago it was great, but time marches on. Technology advances. Things get better. And what's wrong with computers? And the way you typed that in all caps makes you seem a little like a Luddite. I'm not saying you are, because obviously you have no issue at all with computers, you're watching RUclips after all. I'm just trying to figure out what you mean by that particular part of your statement. Because of computers in cars, we have electronic ignition instead of points, fuel injection instead of carburetors, remote control locks, zoned climate control, air bags, lane guidance, crash avoidance, and even nice stereo systems! None of that is a bad thing at all, in fact, it's all terrific advantages over the older automobiles.
I'm going with Craig on this one. Modern car manufacturers have forgotten that the purpose of an automobile is transportation. A couple of years ago, I decided to take a test drive in a new Mercedes. With the Factory Rep. Sitting next to me it took us 14 minutes to figure out how to start the pos. Would I ever buy a Mercedes? - no. Would I buy a Checker? - in a heartbeat.
@@tomeverett2212 and I bet that people who were used to starting and driving a Model T were just as flabbergasted as you when they first sat in the Model A. Does that mean anything made after the Model T is a "POS", and they should have never changed it?
I drove a Checker cab in Schenectady, New York, back in the 1970s, and one of the nice things about it was that the inside was big. Could take a lot of people.
I grew up in a family of five, so whenever we went out my father would send me down to 5th ave to hail a checker. I started getting cabs when I was six years old .
I remember riding with my Grandmother to pick up my Grandfather from work around 11 p.m. He worked 2nd shift at Checker Cab Company in Kalamazoo, MI and retired in 1979 when I was 9. This takes me back . Thank you for the memories!
So cool, my Pop was a cabbie in the Bronx back in the day, early 60s. Still has his hacks license framed. He drove a checker while going to night school. Such history.
Back in the mid/late 60's, Mu friend had a Checker. He was in a Rock an' Roll Band and asked me to be the Road Manager. My job consisted of loading the Band equipment, driving and pulling "security" (keeping a lid on the "Rowdy people". Most Friday and Saturday nights we headed out, drove to where the gig was and had lots of fun. It gave me $10 a night and a great excuse to come home at 3:00 am and not get in trouble with my Mother. I never had problems with the "rowdy" boys, either. Everybody was just looking to have a good night. 5 guys, band equipment including amps drums 3 guitars...All neatly fit in a Checker decommissioned Cab. Great memories, Thanks for the video...I totally enjoyed it!
I drove a cab twice. The first was as a Teamster in a Checker. Nothing safer or better to drive. Maybe add emissions and still put it on the street. If I could afford one, it would be the one I'd drive for me.
I did a lot of computer work for Checker Motors over the years. At one point long after the cabs themselves were no longer being manufactured I was given a tour of the plant. At that time much of that production line still stood, looking like adding workers was all that would be needed to start it back up. This was during the time they were making parts for GM and others. After they closed, and the primary computing systems had been archived to the time they were no longer required to be maintained, the data was purged and I was given them to recycle. It was rather sad to recycle those as it was to see the entire facility torn down and completely removed. I do enjoy visiting the Gilmore car museum and seeing some very early (possibly the first?) Checkers as well as the very last one, and several in between such as the one featured on the TV show TAXI on display there. For those looking for a great museum check out the Gilmore, it's near the tiny town of Hickory Corners Michigan a bit north of Kalamazoo.
I owned three Checkers, a 1967, 1974 and 1980. 24 MPG in a Checker? Perhaps a very long downhill with a mighty tailwind. In neutral. With all sails raised.
Thank you for this. At 49 I'm old enough to have ridden in one 2-3 times when I was a kid and I'd visit grandma in town. And the show taxi was great too. I did service and do a repair on Alex's generator at his house in upstate NY. When he came out to sign off , I had no idea as the caretaker who was with me didn't say a thing to begin with when I got there. I kept it all business as he was signing off , but I did get a chance to say I liked taxi ,and numbers and he smiled and it seemed sincere.
I really enjoyed the video. I know what a Checker is because I love cars. I grew up where there weren't many taxi's . The first time I ever rode in a taxi cab it was a Checker. That was in August 1981 in Lake Tahoe. It was a pretty cool car albeit dated even in 1981. The man who gave you the ride and the history is such a treasure. Whenever I think of a cab driver he is the kind of person I think of. He's car sounded so good that I could ride in his cab all day long listening to the sound of that motor.
Years ago, I asked a taxi driver re: wrecked Checker cabs. He said words to the effect that you can't find them in junkyards because Checker owners buy them up right away. I believe he also said that they are much harder to wreck than other cars (Chevies, Fords, and Plymouths, etc), and also that they were in other respects much tougher built than other cars (suspensions, etc.).
A friend of my brother's got a retired Checker from the taxi company he worked for. He tried to register it for a demolition derby but they wouldn't let him. As a commercial vehicle it was too tough and would have had an unfair advantage.
My older brother drover a Checker cab in NYC out of a garage on 23rd Street (can’t recall if it was on the East or West side. It was probably the West Side) back in 1979. He loved it! He was a “hack” for about a year. I drove out of another garage on West 18th Street, but they had Dodges. I was there from ‘79-80.
I drove Checker cabs for a few years in New Jersey. Once senior year of high school till 10pm when cab company closed for evening. And again 10 years later on grueling 12 hour shifts 6 days a week, 6pm to 6am. Learned a lot about humans with those hours and experiences. Checkers mostly ran GM engines and transmissions with Chrysler Dana rear ends. The same drive trains as in 1970s V8 Chevys were in the Checkers but while the GMs and Chryslers averaged 10 MPGs in the city, the Checkers would get about 15 MPG with their larger wheels and tires. I heard the 6 cylinder wagons with stick shifts could get 24 MPGs on the highway. Always was a fun car to drive. Sometimes we'd end up packing in and carrying 8 or more passengers during times of big snowstorms.
A kid I went to high school with in the 60s drove a Checker Marathon, I was amazed it had a Chevy 283 engine in it. It may not have been stylish, but it was reliable.
I remember when I was a kid, my Mom taking us to New York from Philly to see the sights and the most fun for me was the Checker Cab ride from the station.
When I was in Highschool I painted cars in autobody in Kalamazoo. A guy came to me one day and asked if I would paint his car. It was a checker..... Let me tell you this. Those cars were tanks!!! Hell, it was all I could do to get the checker decals off it. I had to use a grinder on the paint... Lol, seriously it was tough.... Fast forward to the summer of 79 I was working as a machine operator at Brown Company Plant 9, right on Pitcher street. We had big windows that you could see outside. Every now and then I would look out and see a car carrier go by full of Checkers... That damn yellow paint... I would always smile and think of that car back in School.... The plant is long gone now. New paper machine was installed for the papermill. Test track is still there overgrown with weeds but still there.... Kalamazoo, MI Home to Gibson guitars (gone. TN) Shakespeare rod and reels (Moved to Columbia SC) Checker Cabs (Went out of business) Styker (still there) Bells Beer (Still there, but just sold to IBEV) Up John (Now Phizer, manufacturing the COVID vaccine).... Good video! Thanks...
I drive a 78 Checker Marathon. It was never a cab, was privately owned but it's painted up like a cab as are many checkers....I think, because of the Taxi tv show. It's not my first checker and won't be my last.....they were and are the best car on the road in my opinion.
Grew up with a neighbor that drove a 1950's Checker Marathon station wagon. He bought it new and installed a Franz TP bypass filter on the engine. Was still running the original engine in 1977 when I moved away. He worked at the Checker plant in Kalamazoo when WW2 started. The plant switched over to stamping body panels for half-tracks and trucks then started producing small trailers that were towed by Jeeps. Their next contract had them producing heavy tank transporter trailers pulled by the M25 Dragon Wagon.
I had several Checkers including a 1969 A12W (Wagon), 1972 A12E, 1967 A11 with jump seats, and a 1969 A11 rear seat forward with a huge trunk which I still own. This last one was our best family car. My kids learned to drive on it and now I have it back. I bought it in 1975 from a cab company.
I rode in one everyday for two years. I worked for Conrail in Bethlehem Pa. I was a fireman on a passenger train from Bethlehem to Philadelphia. My sign up point was at the Bethlehem Engine Terminal. The cab took me to the passenger station to meet the train for the run to Philadelphia. This one had the jump seats and no partition. From the Yellow Cab Company in Allentown, Pa. This was in 1982-83.
I’m probably one of the few 28 year olds who’s ever driven a Checker. An old man had a 79 or 80 LWB civilian Marathon, black with a black vinyl “half top” and black and grey cloth interior. This particular car had a 3.8 Chevrolet V6 (not the same 3.8 as the later fwd GM cars, that was a Buick engine), Rochester dual jet 2bbl carb, and a th-350 trans was….it was painfully slow but rode, steered and felt like it could run right over a Chevy Suburban and keep right on rolling. The old timer was referred to me by my old vo-tech teacher when it needed a tune up and a leaky pinion seal replaced, it only had 35,000 miles on it but sat a lot. Apparently the guy was a retired university professor and had lived in NYC at one point and wanted a more plush version of those big, tough cabs he rode in so he ordered his. It really was set up for city driving….geared low (I believe it was 3.73), small V6 engine, big brakes, extremely thick/heavy steel wheels, the thickest radiator I’ve ever seen on a V6 powered car, big trans cooler and even a power steering cooler. What a great car.
I had a Great Uncle that loved the old Checkers, and he worked at the Kalamazoo plant, back in the early 60’s I think but he also worked at the Chrysler plant too, at the same time, and was some kind of supervisor, at both places. He moved to Chicago some time back then and opened a Indian cycle shop, or franchise, whatever. I think he was at Checker through the 50’s into the early 60’s. I remember him saying those Checkers were built like a tank, he had Marathon that he drove in Chicago, privately not as a taxi.
Born and raised in NYC, these were the only cabs I ever knew! Also worked in a car wash as a teenager in the early seventies and there was an elderly couple that came in regularly with their civilian Checker Marathon the only one I’ve ever seen. Beautiful utilitarian vehicle, someone should start making them again, they would sell like hot cakes!
I grew up in the 50's and 60's so when someone said Taxi I automatically pictured a Checker in my minds eye. I was told that the body panels could be replaced without a welder because rapid repair of accidents was part of the Checker charm.
While I was a graduate student in Georgia in the mid- to late-1970s, I had a close friend who owned a dark blue Checker Marathon. He referred to it as a 'taxicab' even though it was a 'civilian' car. Needless to say, it was fun to ride in it. I believe I have at least one sales brochure from around 1970 I obtained at the NYC auto shows during my high school and college years. While watching this video, I was amazed at how much the Checkers of the late 1940s and at least 1950 resembled Cadillacs of the 1942, 1946 and 1947 model years because of the 'egg-crate' grille and other features (as seen at 7:02 in the video) Thanks for this wonderful video.
Thank you Sir,for taking on a ride through time.You are very much missed by others who don't get how to relate with guests.I met 1 such in Oklahoma.He toured me through the Base there,and I called him for another day,as he was as nice.
I worked at the Checker plant for a year in the early seventies, my first serious job. I drove many of those produced that year, loading them onto rail cars. My boss was an east European immigrant. I was there when a guy let out a bloody scream after his arm was taken off by a huge stamping press. He was heard above all the machine noise. Another time I saw when a guy had the tip of his finger taken off by a rod cutting machine. As a first job, it was a great experience and I have fond memories of it.
I worked at the checker plant in 1968. It was my first full time job after graduating from high school. I worked on the assembly line and man that was hard work.
@@RDAUGIRD comprehend what is actually written before thinking 'ah Ha!' When you get your first full-time real-world job, you may have fond memories of things as simple as having some responsibility handed to you. Be well and go in peace.
@@bluecollarbytes7267 Actually I have been working since I as a janitor before school everyday in the seventies. It was my second day at work in a chemical plant about 25-30 years ago when a co-worker got his arm cut off, it was terrible and definitely not a fond memory...
I rode around southern Mexico for a couple of winters in a real Checker. It still had the "checks" and taxi light on roof. My buddy took it back to Minneapolis every summer to get back to work. He is Larry W. Hes famous. Yes, Gerts boy , larry. And then we drove from Minnie to my house in Maine , towing a boat. Flat tire in Sturbridge, Mass. Glory days.
Good show. It was interesting to watch this knowing now what happened with Uber, and food deliveries, etc. The taxi cab is becoming part of history before our eyes.
My uncle Clayton owned a couple Checkers back in the late sixties to seventies. Uncle Clayton was an auto mechanic in Northfield MN. We all piled in as a family and rode one down to the Amana colonies in Iowa from Saint Paul. I had to ride on the little jump seat all the way down and back. My uncle was quite enamored with them for their reliability and ease of working on them. My dad was a Pontiac fan so we never had one in my family.
It was his whole life dude! And you have to remember, he was from a different generation and a different breed of cab driver. In HIS day they were actually friendly with passengers. You heard him say you could ask a cabbie the baseball scores and he would rattle them off. They were a part of the very fabric of NYC. Plus, when I was a kid any pedestrian could ask a cabbie stopped at a red light or parked directions BY FOOT anywhere in NYC and they could tell you exactly how to get there. Today's cabbies, if they even understand any English at all, will act like its their first day in NYC and they are clueless about everything. Some will even just grunt at you!
In 76 I joined the Army and attended basic training at Ft. Lenard Wood, MO. Checker taxi cabs were everywhere. 50 cents fare anyplace on post. My first and last ride in a checker.
The Pastor of Stow Presbyterian Church in the 1970s drove a Checker station wagon. It was always in motion, taking elderly ladies to the grocery store, taking scouts for ice cream and picking his daughters up from school. He eventually traded it for an Oldsmobile wagon with the notorious diesel engine. It didn't take long for him to regret the trade.
I had one (there were only 2 at my cab co.) right after I got out of the Army in Savannah, GA, about 1981. I did 6 day weeks of 12hrs (4:00PM--4:00AM), and my cab-rent was free the 7th day...I'd load up my friends, tell the dispatcher I'd been put on 'rent', and drive out the causeway to the beach (aka 'Tybee Is.'). My Checker was the ultimate party-car. In 1975, while riding the bus to visit cousins in Scottsbluff, NB, the last leg of the trip (North Platte to Scottsbluff) was on a 'local carrier' Greyhound affiliate; one of those stretch Checker jitneys in this vid, with 6 or 7 rows of bench seats.... I was parked on the cab-stand in front of a sailor-bar in Savannah one night, and a drunk guy gets in my cab and says, "Take me to the Lamp Post Bar". I said, "This ~is~ the Lamp Post!"....He flips me a twenty and says, "Thanks~~~~take it easy next time!"
In '73 I bought a '69 with 240,000 miles from a local cab company. They had me paint over their logo, so I added 'Sure Death Cab Company' and 'Los Borrachos Cab Company' to the doors. I was working in NYC, and people would flag me down, and even jump into the back seat when I stopped at traffic lights. If they were going in my direction I would charge them a few bucks. The oil embargo was in effect at the time, and its big gas tank helped.
WE still run CHECKER all over Florida. There was a local company (Clearwater Fl on Missouri Avenue) just about a mile from me that they ran CHECKERS for 6 years until the closed in 2017
The Checker taxi cabs in my town all ran on propane and back in the day when you actually took your propane tank in to get refilled, we'd take ours to the Checker Cab Co. garage.
I drove for Checker Cab Co. in Atlanta for a couple of years in the 80's. I think there were a few actual Checker built vehicles in the fleet, but most cars were "run-of-the-mill". It was nice that our cabs were still painted yellow w/ the checked type logo.
My fantasy has always been to find a checker marathon and totally rest-o-mod it and use it as my taxi. I know if I had one it would earn me a bundle just from the uniqueness of it. People would walk past all the other cabs just to ride in a piece of history. But alas I'll never have the kind of money to fulfill my dream. Unless I hit the lottery. And I won't play that
Back when I was a very young kid in New York, my family and I rode in the A8 model (with the two round jump seats). With the jump seats folded down, the rear seat room was incredible. It held everything you had bought in stores and you could still stretch out and relax. My mom didn't let me ride in the jump seat because she didn't think it was safe enough. This was long before seatbelts, of course.
Nice to see the Checker remembered. As an (older) American it's iconic and the single image which comes to mind when someone says "Taxi". London had it's famous "Black Cabs" but all of America had it's Checkers. The last one I rode in was 1995 and I guess maybe 1/3 of the taxis here were still Checkers at that point. Took about 5 more years for them to all disappear. Won't be long till there won't be anyone left who remembers riding in or driving a Checker taxi which is kind of sad, but the world changes and as rideshare takes over there's no more fleet market for cars like what Checker made.
I grew up in Toronto in the 60's and we had a multitude of different vehicles as taxis, the cars needed annual safety inspections to keep their taxi license's current. Almost all the cars had about a 5 year lifespan before they were deemed unsafe but the oldest cars on the road as working taxis were the Checkers some being over 20 years old.
Wonder how repairable it is compared to Ford EcoBoost 3.5 that has a worn out timing chain at 50,000 miles. At least my sister had to get her Lincoln MKT fixed for that.
@@mikekokomomike The Checkers I worked on used the 240 cid Chevy engine ran them 300000 miles 1-2 valve jobs oil & filter every 4000 miles rebuild the front ends every 100000 or so, most with BorgWarner transmissions had two rebuilds & the latter Pontiac transmission had one, most important was to cut the rubber webbing between the inner & outer fender so that the sale and dirt didn't rot the fenders.
29:15 I recognize that steering wheel from the Citation my father used to drive; some older Checkers had the off-center wheels Chevy used in the 1970s. I've read that they also had Chevrolet engines (especially the 4.1L inline 6). It must have been tough making a unique vehicle with all of the changes, in both regulations and the availability of parts, during those years. One might say that a minivan or large SUV could do the job of a Checker, but today's vehicles will never have the continuity of body panel designs that one could get in a vehicle designed to change as little as possible from year to year. Hat's off to Checker.
I used to work for the B&O Railroad out of Pittsburgh PA. The Railroad would get a few taxi companies to take the train crews to relieve other train crews. We were transported most times in a checker cab. They were like tanks. They were uncomfortable and drafty. I remember one that I felt water splashing up on my shoes. I looked down and could see the road going by the holes in the floor. They were just utility, nothing fancy. I was always so happy to get out of the checker and climb up on the locomotive. The checkers got worse as the years went by until they were pulled from the road as they were no longer safe.
Back in 50s and 60s my Dad drove for Zone Cab in Denver. There was often a Checker parked in front of the house. My Mom was a passenger and the rest is history. My Dad bought a Checker from Zone that was being pit out to pasture. It had a clutch and a floor shift that i believe was a 3 speed. The back floor area was unusually large with tons of leg room. Good car. After my Dad passed the my brother drove it some and apparently the clutch was on it's way out and nobody in my family could fix it. Bye bye Checker. Cool memory! Thanks. God bless y'all
I drove a Checker in the early seventies. Customers preferred the bigger Checker over the Dodge Coronets. The Checker also held one more person. People would wave the Checker cabs to the front of the cab stand because they easier to enter and exit than the low Dodges. Since you only earned thirty percent off the meter, why not have the preferred cab. They other plus was the large trunk, it held a lot of swag that I delivered during off hours . I would have a trunk full of stuff, and still make airport runs and tell the customers the trunk didn’t open so that extra room inside helped them feel better about holding their luggage. The draw backs were it was a bit top heavy, and with the hard tires the fleet purchased it was a treat on the wet cobblestones under the elevated trains. It was a challenge in the rain to slalom the steel girders. The worst cabs were the Chevrolet’s, they were heavy, slow and they always reeked of oil and fumes.
One of my church members had a story he told us about his friend having one of those cabs, when he crashed into a street pole trying to avoid another car, the cab barely had a scratch on it while the pole was demolished
Absolutely wonderful! I always thought it would be great to have one in black, for most people, would look like a big fancy 50s car. Love them. I was lucky enough to ride in a cab version though, I had never been in a cab, but was in a college town, trying to find my way home. The driver was drinking booze out of a paper bag. Fun times! I felt like I was in a 50s Caddy , so big, looked so different from other cars. Got to where I needed to go safely. It is a crime they didn't find a replacement that continued this wonderful tradition, rather than picking a lame mini-mini-van as a "replacement". America only has so many traditions, they should cling to them.
My first visit to NYC was in the middle of the 1970s when my high school took a few chartered busloads of us students from Delaware, and turned us loose in downtown Manhattan for a whole day. It was a crazy idea that I can't imagine happening today. We split up into small groups and went wild, hopping into taxicabs and exploring. There were many types of cars used as taxis, but Checkers were the overwhelming majority. I remember seeing some streets packed with Yellow Checkers as far as I could see. We smoked pot in Central Park and went into stores that sold guns, knives, brass knuckles etc. Looked up the sides of the WTC towers but didn't go to the top (regrets!). As I recall, everybody made it back to the rendezvous spot for dinner and a Broadway play, then back on the busses for a late night trip home.
Awesome documentary! I've heard of the Checker, but I've only seen one in person. I consider it damn unforgivable that such vehicles are no longer being produced.
YES! and the tube radio, and the Edison cylinder player, and the ice box, who needs an electric refrigerator! And hey, black and white TV! But seriously, did you even watch the video?? They couldn't give the damn things away! SEVENTEEN.MILES.PER.GALLON. What do you want them to do, build them, send them to the shredder to make steel so they can build another? Just make thousands of them and ship to Arizona to rot in the desert? It's really hard to comprehend a mindset that demands a car no one wants be produced because reasons.
I guess I’m old. Back in my high school days, we would go into Manhattan. The checkers could hold all of us. Giant back like a limo with 2 fold down seats.
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In 1976 Illinois elected a new governor who was 6’6” - “Big Jim” Thompson. He ordered a Checker for his official limousine since he needed lots of leg room. It was a great attention grabber too!
I'm 6'5"and could sit in the back with my legs straight out in front of me. You could also fit a bicycle in the back with the doors closed, or in the trunk with the lid down. The interior room was amazing.
Friend used to put a beer keg on the backseat floor. His had a 350 Chevy V8.
My dad drove Checker cabs in NYC in the 60s and 70s. I loved sitting on the jump seat when I was little.
Checker cabs I noticed that nobody is talking about the old fashion but wonderful front and rear end rubber water bumpers. They were terrific and actually worked at saving car damage on both vehicles from collision in NYC...The rubber water bucket each held about a gallon of water with 7-9 rubber containers on each bumper. Each bucket had a rubber cork on top and when colliding to hard the cork would pop letting out a geyser of water spray. So cool and great they were, to bad we don't have them now...I spoke to a retired NYC cabby out west and he had his own "checker cab"(retired) and we both laughed about seeing the buckets fill the air like "old faithful" in Yellowstone...He prided himself about putting two kid through college and buying two homes from driving checker cabs...
Richie's soft cushion water bumper, I was in a cab that tested this bumper at 30 miles per hour, no damage to the front of a checker taxi
Busses had them also.
boomers be like: driver uber for a living then afford 2 houses
bruhhh 😂😂😂😂😂☠️☠️☠️☠️🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱
I drove a Checker Cab in 1978 in Los Angeles. Best vehicle on the road. Big and strong as a tank. Had a bad accident, the cab saved my life.
You're lucky!
That was really good. The Checker looks like a vehicle that was built to requirements and fulfilled them just like the FX4.
Small manufacturers always make the most interesting things and tend to fail because they are not greedy enough but tend to be more focused on making things well.
I believe that their not focused on cutting quality to cut costs.
"Not greedy enough" Such a poor perspective. Did you know free enterprise was started by free people like you and I? I am typing from my little business shop about the size of what Henry Ford started in, and he did not have a CNC mill. The state stole your free enterprise son, and gave it to communism starting 40 years ago. But they destroyed Tucker, (a great automobile not allowed to compete, and all that opportunity gone.), a guy right after WW2, as Honda became a manufacturing Dynasty.
Yep, Japan won WW2, if we were fighting for our liberty and free enterprise. You got sold out son,--but maybe you can get a job working for the state. They pay well,---until there is not enough free enterprise left to steal from. Oh---I hear those new biden IRS agents knocking on my shop door now. Looks like we are done.
The Checker designer worked for GM during the mid-50s. Thus the resemblance to the Chevrolets of that era.
It’s amazing to me that NYC was FLOODED with these....and now there are none. It always astounds me how a car could be so plentiful and then, seemingly overnight, they all vanish.
That's because the fleets only use their cabs for a year. There were 2 fleets in NYC that ran Checkers exclusively, Metro in Astoria and Midland in LIC. Metro had 150 taxis and Midland had 250. I worked for both fleets. In 1983 Metro bought 150 Chevys and sold or scrapped their Checkers. Midland was different they bought 600 Checkers in 1982 and stored them in New Jersey and kept putting brand new Checkers on the street as late as 1985, then went to Ford. But they never used a car for more than a year. Metro also had about 50 diesel Checkers out of a garage in Corona, Queens. In 2003 I bought a checker somebody had put an Oldsmobile 401 engine in it, I took one look and saw it was an old diesel Corona checker they took out the diesel engine.
@@hyzercreek that's crazy
SO WERE THE DESOTOS
Just like the video mentioned, the governing bodies (in New York City's case, the Taxi & Limousine Commission) mandated that taxis were only allowed to be so old before they were had to be retired.
I lived in the NYC area until the 1990s, and I remember reading an article somewhere that the last few Checker cabs that were still in service were in such high demand by passengers, that people would deliberately wave off other taxis to get the Checker, or specifically ask for them when they phoned up the dispatcher.
They may be gone, but they won't be forgotten.
@@moosecat ..bet that would have been mainly tourists, and who can blame them
Back in the day, in NYC, cab riders frequently would let many non-Checkers pass by until a Checker came along. Checkers were FAR more comfortable than any other cab on the road.
For sure!
I have a 78 checker.
350 engine.
I'm now in the beginning stages of replacing the entire fuel system from the cap to the carb.
Then exhaust from the engine back.
Once that's complete I will be replacing the suspension.
All because I got the car for free and it has been garage kept, under a cover.
So the body and motor/trans are in perfect condition. No dents, no swirl marks in the paint, chrome dress up kit under the hood. Complete with a/c.
From what the previous owner said it has been in 4 movies. There's a lot of documentation in a box in the trunk. I haven't looked at it yet.
He put around 20k into it from what he said.
As for me, I will be driving it around occasionally on date night.
That is one awesome story
Hope you still have it mate
@@claudethesilentman7841 I do actually. And drive it around sometimes. But it mainly lives in the garage.
@@misteriguana2748 The 350 in your car is a Chevy engine
When I was a kid every major city was full of these in taxi service. They were known to be very rugged.
Great Memories.....Old Chicagoan.......riding in a Checker as a kid on the jump seat.......what an experience!
I greatly appreciate the time you took to put this rolling history together.
Give yourself a double fare.
Most comfortable & iconic taxi ever made. I truly miss it.
In addition to being the Celery Capital of the world for many decades, a large grower of mint, Gibson Guitars, The Upjohn Drug Co. (now Pfizer) and more, we had been so fortunate in Kalamazoo to have the world-famous Checker Cab, built exclusively here in town. So many innovations inside what looked like an ugly duckling. since 1976, I remember it well. From a little town of 75,000, Kalamazoo capitalized on a tough Dutch Christian work ethic, as well as hosting a unique Michigan automobile "anointing" as it were. Those were the days
It was so sad seeing the plant being demolished. I remember seeing cars going around the test track as a kid in the '70s. I also remember seeing the train cars full of car frames lined up at the plant on Mosel Ave.
As a New Yorker, the car was well known and used. Living in NYC the Checker Cab was a part of the city. Missed.
Our family had a Checker Marathon when I was a kid. It was blue, and had jump seats. I remember it well.
Taxi cab . They and Volkswagen beetle were very numerous till the 90's. Like the English cabbie they were roomy with a high ceiling. They should have never changed
I remember these battle wagons very well from the 70's in nyc. Potholes were afraid of these cars.
Back in the mid 70’s my uncle bought a retired checker cab. He gave it a rattle can paint job in electric blue metallic, including the steel wheels which were devoid of hubcaps. My father, making fun of the paint job, dubbed it “The Blue Max”. It was referred to as such by the whole family until it’s demise years later. I remember riding in it many times. I also rode in many Checker cabs in the 80’s while attending school in NYC. Only now can really appreciate what an almost perfect car it was. The trunk space and room inside was insane. Easy access to all mechanicals, solid, and really reasonably stylish overall.
What's a Checker? Probably the very best car that was ever made. Big roomy, can see out of it without hindrance, powerful enough without the engine screaming away trying to get somewhere. Plus the style is so cool. NO DAMN COMPUTERS EITHER! That's a Checker.
Okay, it's no where near being "the best car ever made". Maybe 60 years ago it was great, but time marches on. Technology advances. Things get better. And what's wrong with computers? And the way you typed that in all caps makes you seem a little like a Luddite. I'm not saying you are, because obviously you have no issue at all with computers, you're watching RUclips after all. I'm just trying to figure out what you mean by that particular part of your statement.
Because of computers in cars, we have electronic ignition instead of points, fuel injection instead of carburetors, remote control locks, zoned climate control, air bags, lane guidance, crash avoidance, and even nice stereo systems! None of that is a bad thing at all, in fact, it's all terrific advantages over the older automobiles.
I'm going with Craig on this one. Modern car manufacturers have forgotten that the purpose of an automobile is transportation. A couple of years ago, I decided to take a test drive in a new Mercedes. With the Factory Rep. Sitting next to me it took us 14 minutes to figure out how to start the pos. Would I ever buy a Mercedes? - no. Would I buy a Checker? - in a heartbeat.
@@tomeverett2212 and I bet that people who were used to starting and driving a Model T were just as flabbergasted as you when they first sat in the Model A.
Does that mean anything made after the Model T is a "POS", and they should have never changed it?
@@michaelbloom5342 Gaslighting 😂👆
@@Gary-Seven-and-Isis-in-1968 he's been doing that shit with me too. He's a troll.
I drove a Checker cab in Schenectady, New York, back in the 1970s, and one of the nice things about it was that the inside was big. Could take a lot of people.
I grew up in a family of five, so whenever we went out my father would send me down to 5th ave to hail a checker. I started getting cabs when I was six years old .
I remember riding with my Grandmother to pick up my Grandfather from work around 11 p.m. He worked 2nd shift at Checker Cab Company in Kalamazoo, MI and retired in 1979 when I was 9. This takes me back . Thank you for the memories!
So cool, my Pop was a cabbie in the Bronx back in the day, early 60s. Still has his hacks license framed. He drove a checker while going to night school. Such history.
I always liked the looks of the Checkers
Back in the mid/late 60's, Mu friend had a Checker. He was in a Rock an' Roll Band and asked me to be the Road Manager. My job consisted of loading the Band equipment, driving and pulling "security" (keeping a lid on the "Rowdy people". Most Friday and Saturday nights we headed out, drove to where the gig was and had lots of fun. It gave me $10 a night and a great excuse to come home at 3:00 am and not get in trouble with my Mother. I never had problems with the "rowdy" boys, either. Everybody was just looking to have a good night. 5 guys, band equipment including amps drums 3 guitars...All neatly fit in a Checker decommissioned Cab. Great memories, Thanks for the video...I totally enjoyed it!
Looks like a movie story!! LOL
What a great documentary, thank you for posting.
best Taxi ever constructed.
I drove a cab twice.
The first was as a Teamster in a Checker.
Nothing safer or better to drive. Maybe add emissions and still put it on the street.
If I could afford one, it would be the one I'd drive for me.
I did a lot of computer work for Checker Motors over the years. At one point long after the cabs themselves were no longer being manufactured I was given a tour of the plant. At that time much of that production line still stood, looking like adding workers was all that would be needed to start it back up. This was during the time they were making parts for GM and others.
After they closed, and the primary computing systems had been archived to the time they were no longer required to be maintained, the data was purged and I was given them to recycle. It was rather sad to recycle those as it was to see the entire facility torn down and completely removed.
I do enjoy visiting the Gilmore car museum and seeing some very early (possibly the first?) Checkers as well as the very last one, and several in between such as the one featured on the TV show TAXI on display there. For those looking for a great museum check out the Gilmore, it's near the tiny town of Hickory Corners Michigan a bit north of Kalamazoo.
I owned three Checkers, a 1967, 1974 and 1980. 24 MPG in a Checker? Perhaps a very long downhill with a mighty tailwind. In neutral. With all sails raised.
Thank you for this.
At 49 I'm old enough to have ridden in one 2-3 times when I was a kid and I'd visit grandma in town.
And the show taxi was great too.
I did service and do a repair on Alex's generator at his house in upstate NY.
When he came out to sign off , I had no idea as the caretaker who was with me didn't say a thing to begin with when I got there.
I kept it all business as he was signing off , but I did get a chance to say I liked taxi ,and numbers and he smiled and it seemed sincere.
My Dad And My Uncle Worked For Checker Cab Company In Kalamazoo
I really enjoyed the video. I know what a Checker is because I love cars. I grew up where there weren't many taxi's . The first time I ever rode in a taxi cab it was a Checker. That was in August 1981 in Lake Tahoe. It was a pretty cool car albeit dated even in 1981. The man who gave you the ride and the history is such a treasure. Whenever I think of a cab driver he is the kind of person I think of. He's car sounded so good that I could ride in his cab all day long listening to the sound of that motor.
i miss these. like london. ny could have kept them
At 54 years old I can still smell the inside of a checker cab, they had a unique smell , I wish I could get one today.
It wasn't all the puke and piss the poor driver had to clean up after a shift was it
@@stevedickson5853 Especially on the night shift. Alot of drunks 😂😂😂
Harry Chapin’s “Taxi” is a legendary song. His last album featured a Checker on the cover.
Years ago, I asked a taxi driver re: wrecked Checker cabs. He said words to the effect that you can't find them in junkyards because Checker owners buy them up right away. I believe he also said that they are much harder to wreck than other cars (Chevies, Fords, and Plymouths, etc), and also that they were in other respects much tougher built than other cars (suspensions, etc.).
A friend of my brother's got a retired Checker from the taxi company he worked for. He tried to register it for a demolition derby but they wouldn't let him. As a commercial vehicle it was too tough and would have had an unfair advantage.
@@AcmeRacing kinda like the old Chrysler Imperials. They were banned from demo derby's for being too tough
@@jonathanryan2915 And so were the mid '70s Chevy wagons.
The comments here remind me of the chick in Full Metal Jacket soul brother, too beaucoup!
@@budsak7771 The Me So Hornee girl? $15 too buku love you long time
My older brother drover a Checker cab in NYC out of a garage on 23rd Street (can’t recall if it was on the East or West side. It was probably the West Side) back in 1979. He loved it! He was a “hack” for about a year. I drove out of another garage on West 18th Street, but they had Dodges. I was there from ‘79-80.
I drove Checker cabs for a few years in New Jersey. Once senior year of high school till 10pm when cab company closed for evening. And again 10 years later on grueling 12 hour shifts 6 days a week, 6pm to 6am. Learned a lot about humans with those hours and experiences. Checkers mostly ran GM engines and transmissions with Chrysler Dana rear ends. The same drive trains as in 1970s V8 Chevys were in the Checkers but while the GMs and Chryslers averaged 10 MPGs in the city, the Checkers would get about 15 MPG with their larger wheels and tires. I heard the 6 cylinder wagons with stick shifts could get 24 MPGs on the highway. Always was a fun car to drive. Sometimes we'd end up packing in and carrying 8 or more passengers during times of big snowstorms.
Did you make much money?
Thanks for the drive train information.
@Doug Spooner that’s awesome
Where in Jersey?
@@mrtibbs8335 They call you MISTER Tibbs.
A kid I went to high school with in the 60s drove a Checker Marathon, I was amazed it had a Chevy 283 engine in it. It may not have been stylish, but it was reliable.
I remember when I was a kid, my Mom taking us to New York from Philly to see the sights and the most fun for me was the Checker Cab ride from the station.
I felt so many emotions throughout this documentary.
Many child memories riding in a checker cab, going to town to shop with my Mom!!! Glad I am watching this documentary. I learned quite a bit!!!!
When I was in Highschool I painted cars in autobody in Kalamazoo. A guy came to me one day and asked if I would paint his car.
It was a checker.....
Let me tell you this.
Those cars were tanks!!!
Hell, it was all I could do to get the checker decals off it.
I had to use a grinder on the paint... Lol, seriously it was tough....
Fast forward to the summer of 79
I was working as a machine operator at Brown Company Plant 9,
right on Pitcher street.
We had big windows that you could see outside.
Every now and then I would look out and see a car carrier go by full of Checkers... That damn yellow paint...
I would always smile and think of that car back in School....
The plant is long gone now.
New paper machine was installed for the papermill.
Test track is still there overgrown with weeds but still there....
Kalamazoo, MI
Home to
Gibson guitars (gone. TN)
Shakespeare rod and reels (Moved to Columbia SC)
Checker Cabs (Went out of business)
Styker (still there)
Bells Beer (Still there, but just sold to IBEV)
Up John (Now Phizer, manufacturing the COVID vaccine)....
Good video! Thanks...
Let me guess your high school: Loy Norrix ?!?!?! I took Autobody there also!
@@chrismunos7741 Comstock
I drive a 78 Checker Marathon. It was never a cab, was privately owned but it's painted up like a cab as are many checkers....I think, because of the Taxi tv show. It's not my first checker and won't be my last.....they were and are the best car on the road in my opinion.
Best car on the road??? Waxing Hyperbolic perhaps :)
Those cars were also sold to private individuals. The only car I know that ran until 1982 and had a 1956 Ford suspension.
If anyones interested, there is a Checkers line of wheel chocks...and yes, they come in yellow.
I've heard they were built like tanks.
That's funny I was always told it was all GM parts that went into it's construction .
Grew up with a neighbor that drove a 1950's Checker Marathon station wagon. He bought it new and installed a Franz TP bypass filter on the engine. Was still running the original engine in 1977 when I moved away. He worked at the Checker plant in Kalamazoo when WW2 started. The plant switched over to stamping body panels for half-tracks and trucks then started producing small trailers that were towed by Jeeps. Their next contract had them producing heavy tank transporter trailers pulled by the M25 Dragon Wagon.
The Checker was an excellent car, not only as a taxi, but as a passenger car as well. And you could even get a Chevy V8 in the later ones.
i will never forget the day we(4 people) called a cab and this guy shows up in a 4 door toyota. we laughed and told him to send a real cab.
I called for a cab in Charleston SC years ago and a guy showed up in a unmarked Chevy Suburban. Laughed and hopped in anyway.
In 82 I bought one used from a cab company. That had just 3. Drove that thing every where. Chevy 250 six cyl.
I had several Checkers including a 1969 A12W (Wagon), 1972 A12E, 1967 A11 with jump seats, and a 1969 A11 rear seat forward with a huge trunk which I still own. This last one was our best family car. My kids learned to drive on it and now I have it back. I bought it in 1975 from a cab company.
I rode in one everyday for two years. I worked for Conrail in Bethlehem Pa. I was a fireman on a passenger train from Bethlehem to Philadelphia. My sign up point was at the Bethlehem Engine Terminal. The cab took me to the passenger station to meet the train for the run to Philadelphia. This one had the jump seats and no partition. From the Yellow Cab Company in Allentown, Pa. This was in 1982-83.
I’m probably one of the few 28 year olds who’s ever driven a Checker. An old man had a 79 or 80 LWB civilian Marathon, black with a black vinyl “half top” and black and grey cloth interior. This particular car had a 3.8 Chevrolet V6 (not the same 3.8 as the later fwd GM cars, that was a Buick engine), Rochester dual jet 2bbl carb, and a th-350 trans was….it was painfully slow but rode, steered and felt like it could run right over a Chevy Suburban and keep right on rolling. The old timer was referred to me by my old vo-tech teacher when it needed a tune up and a leaky pinion seal replaced, it only had 35,000 miles on it but sat a lot. Apparently the guy was a retired university professor and had lived in NYC at one point and wanted a more plush version of those big, tough cabs he rode in so he ordered his. It really was set up for city driving….geared low (I believe it was 3.73), small V6 engine, big brakes, extremely thick/heavy steel wheels, the thickest radiator I’ve ever seen on a V6 powered car, big trans cooler and even a power steering cooler. What a great car.
so drove a 1943 Willys MB in the pasture, Lo Range, at 15 1/2
My uncle Tom Murphy invented that carburetor!
Cool story, friend
If these were still sold, I know damn well i would buy one
I had a Great Uncle that loved the old Checkers, and he worked at the Kalamazoo plant, back in the early 60’s I think but he also worked at the Chrysler plant too, at the same time, and was some kind of supervisor, at both places. He moved to Chicago some time back then and opened a Indian cycle shop, or franchise, whatever. I think he was at Checker through the 50’s into the early 60’s. I remember him saying those Checkers were built like a tank, he had Marathon that he drove in Chicago, privately not as a taxi.
I live in Kalamazoo
@@mrutledge122 - I had a few kinfolk that lived in Kalamazoo, course it’s been years and years since I’ve seen any of them.
Born and raised in NYC, these were the only cabs I ever knew! Also worked in a car wash as a teenager in the early seventies and there was an elderly couple that came in regularly with their civilian Checker Marathon the only one I’ve ever seen. Beautiful utilitarian vehicle, someone should start making them again, they would sell like hot cakes!
I lived in Kalamazoo when I was a kid. My mom called a taxi one time. It was a brand new 1969 checker cab with 152 miles on it.
I grew up in the 50's and 60's so when someone said Taxi I automatically pictured a Checker in my minds eye. I was told that the body panels could be replaced without a welder because rapid repair of accidents was part of the Checker charm.
A fantasic car. It's a pity they are no longer made. The Checker may be gone but I still drive a 1983 Chevrolet Celebrity here in Arizona.
Latke was a Checker checker. 😁
While I was a graduate student in Georgia in the mid- to late-1970s, I had a close friend who owned a dark blue Checker Marathon. He referred to it as a 'taxicab' even though it was a 'civilian' car. Needless to say, it was fun to ride in it. I believe I have at least one sales brochure from around 1970 I obtained at the NYC auto shows during my high school and college years.
While watching this video, I was amazed at how much the Checkers of the late 1940s and at least 1950 resembled Cadillacs of the 1942, 1946 and 1947 model years because of the 'egg-crate' grille and other features (as seen at 7:02 in the video)
Thanks for this wonderful video.
Thank you Sir,for taking on a ride through time.You are very much missed by others who don't get how to relate with guests.I met 1 such in Oklahoma.He toured me through the Base there,and I called him for another day,as he was as nice.
I worked at the Checker plant for a year in the early seventies, my first serious job. I drove many of those produced that year, loading them onto rail cars. My boss was an east European immigrant. I was there when a guy let out a bloody scream after his arm was taken off by a huge stamping press. He was heard above all the machine noise. Another time I saw when a guy had the tip of his finger taken off by a rod cutting machine. As a first job, it was a great experience and I have fond memories of it.
I worked at the checker plant in 1968. It was my first full time job after graduating from high school. I worked on the assembly line and man that was hard work.
@@richeemills8533 i was a material handler working under Matt Uramken
Those were great experiences that you have fond memories of???
@@RDAUGIRD comprehend what is actually written before thinking 'ah Ha!'
When you get your first full-time real-world job, you may have fond memories of things as simple as having some responsibility handed to you. Be well and go in peace.
@@bluecollarbytes7267 Actually I have been working since I as a janitor before school everyday in the seventies. It was my second day at work in a chemical plant about 25-30 years ago when a co-worker got his arm cut off, it was terrible and definitely not a fond memory...
I rode around southern Mexico for a couple of winters in a real Checker. It still had the "checks" and taxi light on roof.
My buddy took it back to Minneapolis every summer to get back to work. He is Larry W. Hes famous. Yes, Gerts boy , larry.
And then we drove from Minnie to my house in Maine , towing a boat. Flat tire in Sturbridge, Mass. Glory days.
Good show. It was interesting to watch this knowing now what happened with Uber, and food deliveries, etc. The taxi cab is becoming part of history before our eyes.
My uncle Clayton owned a couple Checkers back in the late sixties to seventies. Uncle Clayton was an auto mechanic in Northfield MN. We all piled in as a family and rode one down to the Amana colonies in Iowa from Saint Paul. I had to ride on the little jump seat all the way down and back. My uncle was quite enamored with them for their reliability and ease of working on them. My dad was a Pontiac fan so we never had one in my family.
25:05 That man is amazing. Retired in his old age, he's still driving a taxi and people around simply because he loves it.
It was his whole life dude! And you have to remember, he was from a different generation and a different breed of cab driver. In HIS day they were actually friendly with passengers. You heard him say you could ask a cabbie the baseball scores and he would rattle them off. They were a part of the very fabric of NYC. Plus, when I was a kid any pedestrian could ask a cabbie stopped at a red light or parked directions BY FOOT anywhere in NYC and they could tell you exactly how to get there.
Today's cabbies, if they even understand any English at all, will act like its their first day in NYC and they are clueless about everything. Some will even just grunt at you!
In 76 I joined the Army and attended basic training at Ft. Lenard Wood, MO. Checker taxi cabs were everywhere. 50 cents fare anyplace on post. My first and last ride in a checker.
The Pastor of Stow Presbyterian Church in the 1970s drove a Checker station wagon. It was always in motion, taking elderly ladies to the grocery store, taking scouts for ice cream and picking his daughters up from school. He eventually traded it for an Oldsmobile wagon with the notorious diesel engine. It didn't take long for him to regret the trade.
That Brooklyn guy was hilarious putting people in the trunk, and "tro him a beatin". I grew up in NYC, and very well remember these cabs.
I had one (there were only 2 at my cab co.) right after I got out of the Army in Savannah, GA, about 1981. I did 6 day weeks of 12hrs (4:00PM--4:00AM), and my cab-rent was free the 7th day...I'd load up my friends, tell the dispatcher I'd been put on 'rent', and drive out the causeway to the beach (aka 'Tybee Is.'). My Checker was the ultimate party-car. In 1975, while riding the bus to visit cousins in Scottsbluff, NB, the last leg of the trip (North Platte to Scottsbluff) was on a 'local carrier' Greyhound affiliate; one of those stretch Checker jitneys in this vid, with 6 or 7 rows of bench seats....
I was parked on the cab-stand in front of a sailor-bar in Savannah one night, and a drunk guy gets in my cab and says, "Take me to the Lamp Post Bar". I said, "This ~is~ the Lamp Post!"....He flips me a twenty and says, "Thanks~~~~take it easy next time!"
In '73 I bought a '69 with 240,000 miles from a local cab company. They had me paint over their logo, so I added 'Sure Death Cab Company' and 'Los Borrachos Cab Company' to the doors. I was working in NYC, and people would flag me down, and even jump into the back seat when I stopped at traffic lights. If they were going in my direction I would charge them a few bucks. The oil embargo was in effect at the time, and its big gas tank helped.
I bought a Checker brand new in 1973 and still have it.
WE still run CHECKER all over Florida. There was a local company (Clearwater Fl on Missouri Avenue) just about a mile from me that they ran CHECKERS for 6 years until the closed in 2017
The Checker taxi cabs in my town all ran on propane and back in the day when you actually took your propane tank in to get refilled, we'd take ours to the Checker Cab Co. garage.
I drove for Checker Cab Co. in Atlanta for a couple of years in the 80's. I think there were a few actual Checker built vehicles in the fleet, but most cars were "run-of-the-mill". It was nice that our cabs were still painted yellow w/ the checked type logo.
I always was interested in Checkers, now I want one, great learning experience. thank you.
My fantasy has always been to find a checker marathon and totally rest-o-mod it and use it as my taxi. I know if I had one it would earn me a bundle just from the uniqueness of it.
People would walk past all the other cabs just to ride in a piece of history. But alas I'll never have the kind of money to fulfill my dream. Unless I hit the lottery. And I won't play that
Back when I was a very young kid in New York, my family and I rode in the A8 model (with the two round jump seats). With the jump seats folded down, the rear seat room was incredible. It held everything you had bought in stores and you could still stretch out and relax. My mom didn't let me ride in the jump seat because she didn't think it was safe enough. This was long before seatbelts, of course.
I remember riding in them too as a very young kid in NYC. Looking back in retrospect, you had one smart mother!
Nice to see the Checker remembered. As an (older) American it's iconic and the single image which comes to mind when someone says "Taxi". London had it's famous "Black Cabs" but all of America had it's Checkers. The last one I rode in was 1995 and I guess maybe 1/3 of the taxis here were still Checkers at that point. Took about 5 more years for them to all disappear. Won't be long till there won't be anyone left who remembers riding in or driving a Checker taxi which is kind of sad, but the world changes and as rideshare takes over there's no more fleet market for cars like what Checker made.
I grew up in Toronto in the 60's and we had a multitude of different vehicles as taxis, the cars needed annual safety inspections to keep their taxi license's current. Almost all the cars had about a 5 year lifespan before they were deemed unsafe but the oldest cars on the road as working taxis were the Checkers some being over 20 years old.
Checker's the most repairable car I ever worked on, 260 cid with with a 400 transmission was bullet proof.
Wonder how repairable it is compared to Ford EcoBoost 3.5 that has a worn out timing chain at 50,000 miles. At least my sister had to get her Lincoln MKT fixed for that.
@@mikekokomomike The Checkers I worked on used the 240 cid Chevy engine ran them 300000 miles 1-2 valve jobs oil & filter every 4000 miles rebuild the front ends every 100000 or so, most with BorgWarner transmissions had two rebuilds & the latter Pontiac transmission had one, most important was to cut the rubber webbing between the inner & outer fender so that the sale and dirt didn't rot the fenders.
29:15 I recognize that steering wheel from the Citation my father used to drive; some older Checkers had the off-center wheels Chevy used in the 1970s. I've read that they also had Chevrolet engines (especially the 4.1L inline 6). It must have been tough making a unique vehicle with all of the changes, in both regulations and the availability of parts, during those years. One might say that a minivan or large SUV could do the job of a Checker, but today's vehicles will never have the continuity of body panel designs that one could get in a vehicle designed to change as little as possible from year to year. Hat's off to Checker.
I used to work for the B&O Railroad out of Pittsburgh PA. The Railroad would get a few taxi companies to take the train crews to relieve other train crews. We were transported most times in a checker cab. They were like tanks. They were uncomfortable and drafty. I remember one that I felt water splashing up on my shoes. I looked down and could see the road going by the holes in the floor. They were just utility, nothing fancy. I was always so happy to get out of the checker and climb up on the locomotive. The checkers got worse as the years went by until they were pulled from the road as they were no longer safe.
Back in 50s and 60s my Dad drove for Zone Cab in Denver. There was often a Checker parked in front of the house. My Mom was a passenger and the rest is history.
My Dad bought a Checker from Zone that was being pit out to pasture. It had a clutch and a floor shift that i believe was a 3 speed. The back floor area was unusually large with tons of leg room. Good car. After my Dad passed the my brother drove it some and apparently the clutch was on it's way out and nobody in my family could fix it. Bye bye Checker. Cool memory! Thanks. God bless y'all
I drove a Checker in the early seventies. Customers preferred the bigger Checker over the Dodge Coronets. The Checker also held one more person. People would wave the Checker cabs to the front of the cab stand because they easier to enter and exit than the low Dodges. Since you only earned thirty percent off the meter, why not have the preferred cab. They other plus was the large trunk, it held a lot of swag that I delivered during off hours . I would have a trunk full of stuff, and still make airport runs and tell the customers the trunk didn’t open so that extra room inside helped them feel better about holding their luggage. The draw backs were it was a bit top heavy, and with the hard tires the fleet purchased it was a treat on the wet cobblestones under the elevated trains. It was a challenge in the rain to slalom the steel girders. The worst cabs were the Chevrolet’s, they were heavy, slow and they always reeked of oil and fumes.
One of my church members had a story he told us about his friend having one of those cabs, when he crashed into a street pole trying to avoid another car, the cab barely had a scratch on it while the pole was demolished
When doctors made house calls, our family doctor would come to the house in his Checker automobile in the 50s and early 60s. It was a really nice car.
Absolutely wonderful! I always thought it would be great to have one in black, for most people, would look like a big fancy 50s car.
Love them.
I was lucky enough to ride in a cab version though, I had never been in a cab, but was in a college town, trying to find my way home.
The driver was drinking booze out of a paper bag.
Fun times!
I felt like I was in a 50s Caddy , so big, looked so different from other cars.
Got to where I needed to go safely.
It is a crime they didn't find a replacement that continued this wonderful tradition, rather than picking a lame mini-mini-van as a "replacement".
America only has so many traditions, they should cling to them.
The funeral home where I worked the graveyard shift during college years had a Checker. I would get to drive it occasionally and enjoyed it.
At about 6:00 the Old driver is going on about driving safely, while he himself is driving one handed while holding a cup of coffee. 🚕🚕🚕🚕🚕🚕🚕
There is a Checker in cab livery where I live in the Southern Zone of Costa Rica. A rental company has had it on their lot for at least 10 years.
Where have all those Checkers gone? BTW, Peter had a real HEAVY NY accent!!
The "5 in back" Checker was in response to the 1934 NY prohibition on riders in front--therefore Checker and De Soto met the requirements
WOW that's interesting! I never knew that. About a prohibition on passengers in the front in New York. Thanks for the info!
My first visit to NYC was in the middle of the 1970s when my high school took a few chartered busloads of us students from Delaware, and turned us loose in downtown Manhattan for a whole day. It was a crazy idea that I can't imagine happening today. We split up into small groups and went wild, hopping into taxicabs and exploring. There were many types of cars used as taxis, but Checkers were the overwhelming majority. I remember seeing some streets packed with Yellow Checkers as far as I could see. We smoked pot in Central Park and went into stores that sold guns, knives, brass knuckles etc. Looked up the sides of the WTC towers but didn't go to the top (regrets!). As I recall, everybody made it back to the rendezvous spot for dinner and a Broadway play, then back on the busses for a late night trip home.
That's a fun story
I had a 68 Checker Marathon wagon. Got lots of funny looks when towing my Airstream down the road with it. Oh, those were the days.
9:32 Coming back from Europe in 1970, I rode one of those eight-door models from McGuire AFB NJ to Philadelphia airport.
A whole lot of very very interesting comments down below. My favorite so far? "Potholes were afraid of Checker Cabs"
The Checker cab was and is stll the most iconic cab of all time.Ride in one when you get to see one.A ride of a lifetime!!!
Awesome documentary! I've heard of the Checker, but I've only seen one in person. I consider it damn unforgivable that such vehicles are no longer being produced.
You took the words right out of my mouth, spot on.
@@JonnyHolms Yeah... I waiting for the horse drawn carriage to make a comeback
YES! and the tube radio, and the Edison cylinder player, and the ice box, who needs an electric refrigerator! And hey, black and white TV! But seriously, did you even watch the video?? They couldn't give the damn things away! SEVENTEEN.MILES.PER.GALLON. What do you want them to do, build them, send them to the shredder to make steel so they can build another? Just make thousands of them and ship to Arizona to rot in the desert? It's really hard to comprehend a mindset that demands a car no one wants be produced because reasons.
I guess I’m old. Back in my high school days, we would go into Manhattan. The checkers could hold all of us. Giant back like a limo with 2 fold down seats.
@@Samlol23_drrich I regret that I've never ridden in a Checker. It's a shame they were discontinued when they were.
One of the toughest and most comfortable purpose-built cars ever to be built in the states.
These are the taxi cabs I remember while growing up in Philly.They were huge .
Thanks! I drove one in chicago in 1970. Lots of fun.
I have had the best argument ta tuve discussions ever with the old style Checker cab operators. Yeah it's a different world!