2004 was a memorable year for this Checker fan. The highlight of the summer was participation at the Kalamazoo Checker Convention. It was memorable for several reasons, the Kazoo event secured the display of five extremely rare vintage Checkers, after four years of restoration, my Checker was running and made it to the show and I assumed the presidency of the Checker Cab Club of America.
Watching this video was bittersweet, it was great seeing my old friends: Don McHenry, Bob Welsh, Joe Pollard, Ben Merkel and Connie Powers. It was so nice to hear members speak of friendships for life and connecting to the cars, even the mayor of Kalamazoo referred to the Checker fans as family.
Well some 14 years later, the entire hobby is fragmented, the old club is run by strangers, none of the legacy club leaders are even in this video! The two clubs don’t coordinate and when we do interact its typically via email to lawyers.
Time to move forward, we’ll keep building out the new club and I can assure you we will never ask for money, or execute (illegal in five states) electronic lotteries, we’ll just focus on the Checkers not the bank accounts.
Please enjoy this fun 15 minute video produced by JJ Geiger. Before JJ was an editor for TV series Scorpion or Gossip Girls, JJ produced this great Checker video.
