Is It Time to Bring Back the Checker Cab?

An old Checker and what a new model might look like.

If you are, say, older than 30, you probably rode in a Checker cab at one time or another. If you're younger than that, you've certainly seen the yellow leviathans rumbling down big city streets in movies.

Checker was the mainstay of American tax fleets for about a half century. Their cabs were ungainly looking, but they had acres of room on the inside and were incredibly durable. Then, in the early 1960s, Checker began offering consumer vehicles -- first the Superba and then the Marathon -- that basically were cabs with more chrome and nicer interiors.

These sold moderately well, and George Thoroughgood bought one for his Delaware Destroyers to haul around musicians and equipment before he hit the big time. I know this because I knew George and spent some quality time in his jet black Marathon.

The last Checker of any kind rolled off of a Kalamazoo, Michigan, assembly line in 1982. Since then, the Ford Crown Victoria has been the cab model of choice, but the beleaguered automaker has announced that it is halting produciton of the big rear-drive cars.

This prompted Frank Williams, one of the excellent scribes at The Truth About Cars, to sensibly suggest that it might be time to bring back the Checker in 21st century mufti.

More here.