Checker Cab History
Checker’s Albert Kahn Designed Plant
Most Checker Cab fans are familiar with the storyof the early days of Checker production in Kalamazoo. Morris Markin combined his Markin Auto Body business in Joliet with the Chicago based Commonwealth Automobile Company. He combined the two companies into one...
David Markin’s Speech to Checker Motors Corp. Employee 6-10-08
Hello Everyone For those of you who may not have met me before, I am Davide Marking President of Checker Motors. My father, Morris Markin started this corporation in 1922 and I have been CEO since 1970. My son Christopher, has worked here for the past 10 years, and...
The New Checker of the 70’s and 80’s, The End of the Line
By the 1970’s the Checker cab design was several automotive generations old. As the decade started the Checker A11 design had been in production for close to twenty years. A11 design elements could be attributed to a 1950 clay design. Some chassis components had...
Checker Ambulances, Some Historical Perspective
In 1957 Checker introduced the Adaptobile, based on a standard Checker, but with various features and functions that would allow the Checker to be uses as an Ambulance or mini bus. Seats could be removed to allow patient transportation. According to the brochure, the...
Dietrich Designed Checker Limo for Bishop Fulton Sheen Update
We have discussed the Bishop Sheen custom Checker in past blogs, we now have an update. We recently found in the Classic Car Club of America Archive files a memo written by automotive designer Raymond Dietrich, the memo documents the modifications for the Limo...
The Checker Fisher Body Program of 1981
By the mid-seventies Checker would revisit the idea of producing a new Taxi. In March of 1977, Ed Cole, former GM president, and Victor Potamkin, one of the largest car dealers in the US, bought control of Checker Motor’s taxi subsidiary: Checker Taxi Co. then...
The New Checker, Scam or Real Attempt?
About four years ago many members of the Checker Car Club of America received a mailing from Adamson Industries announcing their intent to develop a Checker restoration shop in Haverhill, Mass. Beyond the mailing to Checker fans, press releases were distributed...
The Checker Utility Wagon, Checker First Non Taxicab Product
The general school of thought among auto historians regarding Checker’s introduction into the consumer car market was that it was in the fall of 1959 with the introduction of the 1960 Checker Superba. The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1945-1975 ignores all of...
The Transit Bus From Ford to Checker by Joe Fay
Jim Hinkley the author of Checker Cab Co, Photo History wrote regarding Checker “the development and subsequent production of buses is filled with conjecture, holes and conflicting information”. Oh boy was he right. Pulling together much information including Jim’s...
Checker Third Party Production and The End in 2010
As most Checker owners can attest, when ask by a car show spectator "what year is it" there is usually disbelief that their Checker was not produced in the 50's. Whether it's a 1982 model or a 1965 model, the spectator always appears skeptical, the same is true...
The Mysterious Checker A14 Vertical Headlamps by Joe Fay
Quoting Erick Ayapana from the Motor Trend article, 15 Cars with The Most Beautiful Lights: “For some cars, lights not only illuminate the road ahead but also serve as a distinctive styling element that can sometimes be the most interesting part of a car’s overall...
Converting a Taxi, New Model by Cab Manufacturer Competes with Standard Cars
By Joseph C. Ingraham July 28, 1959 Sunday Edition Detroit – Next month another new insignia will join the long roster of nameplates of Ameircan built passengers automobiles and he public will be offered the Superba, a car that to a marked degree is the...
The Biggest Checker Ever!
Several blogs ago we discussed the Aerobus, produced from 1961 through 1974, the Aerobus was essentially a Checker wagon on steroids. Available in 6 and 8 door configuration these mammoths shuttled passengers to and from airports and hotels until the gas crisis of...
The 1941 Checker Bantam BRC Jeep
If you go to The Gilmore Museum in Hickory Falls, Michigan, you may find a somewhat surprising vehicle, the Checker Jeep. At the Gilmore the fully restored Jeep has a big sign on the windscreen declaring it to be a Checker product. Yes, the Checker Jeep, unless you...
The 1922 Commonwealth Goodspeed Show Car
Copyright © 2015 Joe Fay all rights reserved In 1917, Alfred Barley acquired the Michigan Buggy plant in Kalamazoo and started to produce a high-end luxury sports car, his organization: the Barley Motor Car Company. Barley's plan, build a sports car with smart...
The Con Man Who Started It All, W. A. Schaum Part 1 in the history of Checker
Many have compared the early days of the US automobile industry as being much like the technology boom of the 1990s; such was the rapidity of growth and change. Automotive executives in the early twentieth century regularly switched companies and launched spinoffs and...
After The Con Man, Part 2 in series of Checker history
In the last installment we explored a story about a con man with many names, we’ll refer to him by his real name William Andrew Schaum. Between 1901 and 1912 Mr. Schaum created no less than six car companies. All eventually failed, total automobile production...
Markin’s in Charge, Part 3 in a series of blogs regarding Checker Cab Manufacturing’s humble beginings
Markin was born in western Russian in 1893. As a young man he had been employed in a Russian clothing factory and over a short period of time gained significant experience in manufacturing clothing. A hard worker and driven at a young age, Markin would eventually...
Checker Model C, E & H 1922 through 1926
1923 Checker Model H, sole survivor at the Gilmore Museum Checker officially came off the line in June of 1922. The first model was the Model C, C standing for Commonwealth or Checker? Who knows, that said between 1922 and 1926, Checker would offer several “new”...
The 1926 Checker Model F
1926 is an interesting year for Checker as the small company would offer two models, The Model E and new Model F. Additionally an export version of the Model E was offered for the UK market, with right hand drive and opening rear passenger section. Its highly...
1927 Checker Model G
A new Model G was offered for 1927 along with the Model F. The Model E, a seven-year-old design was then discontinued. Although both the Model G and Model F were still utilizing the Partin-Palmer foundation, balloon tyres gave the Model G a new, lower stance. ...
The 1928 Checker Model K, Checkers First Ground Up Purpose Built Taxicab
Copyright © 2015 Joe Fay all rights reserved From Chapter 2 "Markin Takes Charge" of the recently published book Checker The All American Taxi by Ben Merkel and Joe Fay There were major changes at Checker in 1928 with a truly new model, the Model K. An...
1930 Checker Model M
Markin took his profits from 1929 and continued to expand, purchasing Yellow Cab of Chicago and the Parmalee Transportation Company, which ensured that there would be future buyers of Checker Cabs in two major markets, Chicago and New York. Markin’s purchase of the...
The 1935 to 1939 Checker Model Y
In 1934, Checker began development of a new taxicab, the Model Y. It was the third offering in the evolution of the 1928 Model K and quite striking in appearance, with many style cues reminiscent of its new corporate cousin, the Auburn, albeit an industrial version....
The 1940 Checker Cab Model A
The 1940 Checker Cab Model A was a watershed taxi, perhaps one of the most significant taxis Checker ever produced. It served as the basis of all Checkers until the end of automobile production in 1982, with all Checkers subsequent to the Model A sharing its basic...
The Stillborn Model D Post War Prototype
The Checker Model A was only made for one full year; 1940, 1941 was a shortened model run due to the U.S. WWII automotive production shut down. Over the war years the rumour grew up that Morris Markin melted down all the body tools and dies for the war effort. During...
The 1947 Checker Model A2
The Checker A2 represented a major milestone for Checker, the Checker A2 was Checker's first production car that was completely made of steel. Since 1922 all Checker bodies were constructed of wood. Checker was somewhat late to the market, most US auto producers had...
1950 Checker A4
A re-engineered Checker was introduced in 1950. This was the Model A4, with its companion, the Model A5 pleasure car. Both models featured a tighter turning radius and wraparound bumpers that bore a strike resemblance to the 40s era Cadillac bumpers. The A4 and A5...
1953 Checker Model A6
In 1953 Checker again re-engineered the Model A to produce the Model A6 taxi and Model A7 pleasure car. The most significant change was in the rear roof passenger area. The entire roof was raised to improve rear headroom clearance, the resulting change squaring up...
The 1956 Checker Model A8
Two models were introduced for 1956, The Checker Model A8 Standard and the Models A8Drivermatic Special. The special was the higher end vehicle equipped with power steering, a Borg Warner automatic transmission and power brakes. The standard was a bare bones taxi...