Founded in 1922 , Checker was long - famous for especially plan taxicab and airport limousine when it begin selling " civilian " model in 1959 . Some source say Checker offer " delight cars " as early on as 1948 , but the Kalamazoo mill always said 1959 was the first year for individual sale .
Assuming one could find a Checker trader ( they were never very legion ) , civilian purchase what was initially foretell Superba , a four - door sedan or wagon in standard or Special trim . special were more deluxe within , but not much . All were the same tanklike involvement familiar to anyone who ever hailed a cab from the mid-’50s to the mid-’80s . The A8 strike the streets in 1956 with a wheelbase of 120 inch – evenhandedly compact for the time . Average curb weights were 3400 pounds for the sedans , and nearly 3800 for the boxlike estate car . Morris Markin , Checker ’s beginner and president , was unswerving : There ’d be no change to this dumpy but practical design so long as there were buyers for reliable , durable , " taxicab - baffling " cars . Not that there ’d been many change before . away from noncommercial paint chore and leaving off the " hire light , " the Superba differed from the A8 only in a front - goal facelift with voguish quad headlight .
Superba major power came from Continental Motor Company , fundamentally the same 226 - cubic - inch cubic decimeter - capitulum six once used by Kaiser ( see entry ) . Here , though , it was uncommitted in side - valve and overhead - valve versions at no difference in monetary value .
The former had 7.3:1 compression and produced a simple 80 horsepower , so it must have been mean for area where accelerator was of very poor timber . The ohv unit had a more - forward-looking 8:1 hug and a more - respectable 122 bhp . Transmissions were the carry three - speed column - shift manual and Borg - Warner reflex .
True to its taxi custom , the Superba sedan chair could be equip with a pair of rear jump seats for carrying up to eight . The wagon , which came with a roll - down tailgate window , had the same roomy back seat , which close up down to make a truly twisty cargo pack of cards . Unusually , though , the seat - folding was accomplished by an electric servo . This gimmick and the different bodywork made the wagon some $ 350 more expensive than the sedan chair .
At a time when mainstream American machine rolled on 14 - inch wheels , Checker stick with 15 , which made for smoother taxi drive over the increasingly cratered street of urban America . Also contemplate its taxi origins , the Superba boasted tall door and ruler - flat floor for easy entranceway / exit and mint of human foot space .
It did not , however , boast much in the way of luxury : rubber eraser matte where carpeting might have been , pedestrian chipboard headliner , and a conspicuous absence of late-’50s base hit features like cushioned dash and sun visors , dished steering wheel , and seatbelts . Plain pear-shaped bore snuggle within a flat - faced dashboard that looked like something from a ' 51 Plymouth , a blueprint that would be utterly unaltered through the very last cars Checker built .
For more on defunct American cars, see:
Checker Cars of the 1960s
seek higher nonfleet sale , Checker lend oneself the Marathon name to the Superba Special for 1961 , substituted 14 - column inch wheels on both Superba and Marathon sedans , and standardise the ohv engine for Charles’s Wain . Prices stood pat : $ 2542 for the base Superba sedan to $ 3004 for the Marathon Wain . line conditioning be $ 411 supernumerary , office guide $ 64 .
The model foursome returned for 1962 , the only alteration being a return to 15 - in wheels for sedans . But Checker now further plied the consumer grocery store with a limited Modern Town Custom limousine on a 129 - inch wheelbase .
Optimistically priced at $ 7500 , it make out with vinyl radical ceiling and a sectionalization window between front and rear compartments ; there was also a full range of power option . But production was limited by low-spirited demand – understandable , as even the most - expensive nonlimousine Cadillac cost less . The only change for ' 63 was boosting the ohv engine to 141 bhp for all model .
In 1964 , prices rose about $ 100 and Superba was dropped from the Checker line . The following year , Checker switched to more - modern Chevrolet engines : received 140 - bhp , 230 - cid six and optional 283 and 327 V-8s with 195 and 250 bhp , respectively . The Town Custom limousine was still around , but only by exceptional order . The 283 monetary value $ 110 special , reflexive infection $ 248 , overdrive $ 108 . For 1966 , Checker add a Marathon Deluxe sedan chair and a lower - price limo ( $ 4541 ) , thus re - establishing a four - model line . Both were drop the next yr , but the Deluxe sedan returned for ' 68 , the limousine for 1969 .
The Chevy V-8s naturally made post-1964 Checkers much faster than the earliest six - piston chamber cars . And there was more power to come . The 283 was drop for ' 67 , and a 307 - cid replacement with 200 bhp was available for 1968 only . For 1969 , the 327 was joined by a novel 350 Chevy pocket-size - block with 300 bhp . discharge tune up turn out horse cavalry to 250 for 1970 . price for the optional engines were unremarkably low : in 1968 , $ 108 for the 307 and $ 195 for the 327 . Checker cut-rate sale were always moderate in the ' sixty , though adequate to confirm the house ’s desire annual volume of 6000 - 7000 units . Checker ’s best yr of the decade was 1962 , when it built 8173 cars , though most were taxis .
chequer laminitis Morris Markin never wavered from his missionary station of building hack - tough automobile . It is n’t wide known , but Nathan Altman once approached Checker about build his Avanti II . Markin replied that the Avanti was too ugly to bother with .
The Decline of Checker Cars
David Markin took over the helm of Checker on his founder Morris ' dying in 1970 , but he did n’t much change the ship’s company or its products until the mid-’70s . That ’s when Edward N. Cole , having retired as GM Chief Executive in 1974 , joined Checker to launch a new - fashion model development political platform . Sadly , Cole was kill in a airplane smash before his efforts reach realization .
Checker began a recollective , steady declivity in 1970 . The main trouble was increase competition for fleet sales from the major Detroit makers who needed this of import outlet when passenger - automobile sales slow in the mid-’70s ( during the OPEC oil trade stoppage ) and again at X ’s end .
With its low fixed book and comparatively high overhead , tiny Checker just could n’t compete with the Big Three on price . As a resultant role , its rider - motorcar intensity was dramatically dispirited after 1969 : fewer than 400 for 1970 , a more encouraging 600 - 1000 units a year through 1974 , less than 500 thereafter .
Relentless inflation - fuel price escalation did n’t assist . The standard saloon was up to almost $ 4000 by ' 73 , to near $ 5400 by ' 75 , over $ 6000 in ' 77 , and near to $ 8000 by 1980 . That was Chrysler or Buick money , and a fate to take for such a dense car that was n’t put together all that well . These difficulties were reflect in Checker ’s dwindling number of mannequin and sale as the ' 70s wore on . The decennary began with the usual Marathon sedan and waggon and long - wheelbase Deluxe saloon and limo . The latter proved unprofitable and was drop after ' 71 . The Dipper disappeared after 1974 , but the sedan and long - wheelbase Deluxe sedan carried on to the end . The stock six after 1970 was the stroked 250 interlingual rendition of the Chevy 230 , rated at 145 horsepower through ' 71 , 100 - 115 thereafter . The 350 V-8 remained optional , down - rated to 145 - 170 bhp SAE connection for 1972 - 79 . A 145 - bhp , 305 - Criminal Investigation Command belittled - city block became an additional choice after 1976 and a 105 HP , 350 - cid Rudolf Diesel was offered in 1980 - 82 .
Through all of this , Checker clung to its highly dated basic design , resisting all suggestion that it needed to be replace . The gain of Union " clash " bumpers for 1974 – big girderlike lumps of sword – rendered quite surly a automobile that had once simply looked honest-to-goodness .
The famed Ghia coachworks in Italy devised a prototype for a handsome new - generation Checker in 1970 , but it was refused . The same fate expect " Galva II , " a 1975 proposal of marriage by Autodynamics of Madison Heights , Michigan . This had highly simple , rectilineal styling to keep tooling costs to an right-down minimum . It probably flush it for lack of money , though managerial stubbornness was still a divisor .
But that commence to vary once the dynamic Ed Cole started plan yet another new Checker shortly after his comer . Targeted for production sometime during 1983 , this was a box-shaped , second power - lined , four - threshold hatchback door saloon with front - private road mechanicals borrowed from the GM X - railway car powder compact , which Cole knew were in the works when he connect Checker .
A uncompromising new box - department chassis of unrevealed design was contrive for three models : a 109 - inch - wheelbase six - passenger reading , a 122 - inch eight - seater , and a 128 - column inch nine - seater . A variety of low - price , easily replaced plastic body panel was reflect , as was an interesting rear suspension with solid rubber springs . Design work move on as far as a exclusive full - scale mockup .
But it made no deviation in the end . The project lost momentum with Cole ’s premature end , and by that meter even Checker ’s taxi business had become marginal . With that , the Kalamazoo companionship lay off all yield in mid-1982 .
Intriguingly , Checkers show signs of becoming minor collector ’s items , especially the low-spirited - volume Town Limousines and the huge multidoor " Aerobus " wagons build up for airport shuttle service . checker , collectible ? ship’s company father Morris Markin would be amazed .
