There are few American cars more closely associated with the taxi business than the Checker Marathon. Its boxy shape, enormous passenger compartment, and unmistakable styling made it a familiar sight on city streets for decades. This 1978 example still wears a checkerboard stripe, gray paint, and red wheels, and its rear jump seats remind us that these cars were designed to carry people first and worry about fashion later.
I remember riding in Checker cabs in New York City with my mom as a kid. I can still recall that distinctive smell: hot vinyl, rubber, old tobacco, and a little mechanical grease. Then there was the heavy thunk of the doors and the clack-whirrr of the driver starting the fare meter. You didn’t forget a ride in one of these cars.
This 1978 Checker Marathon is coming up for auction on Hemmings in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, as part of a collection being offered by Paul McInnis LLC.
For kids, those jump seats were part of the fun. You could sit facing the rear bench, watch the city through those huge windows, and enjoy having room to move around. If you were sitting on the big, flat rear bench, a sharp turn could send you sliding from one side to the other. With seating for eight, a Checker felt more like a little living room on wheels than the back seat of an ordinary car.
There’s a 350-cubic-inch Chevy V8 under the hood, backed by an automatic transmission. The factory data plate ties this one to a Tonawanda-built small-block, and the door-jamb tag shows an October 1978 build date. That’s a proper big-American-sedan drivetrain for the late Seventies.
The auction is scheduled for October 22 at 10 a.m. Eastern. Would you take this old Checker for a ride? Tell us in the comments. Jack M. brought this memorable Checker to our attention, giving us a chance to revisit what made these old taxis so distinctive.
Again with the Checker. I think pretty much everything to be said, was said previously, except, “You talkin’ to me”? I have deduced the reason Checkers never made it big in the private sector, was like the red station wagon( fire chief),, people didn’t want to be pestered by folks, TAXI!!! I think the only other car to make it so long without a change, was the VW bug. I can honestly say, of all the junkyards I’ve been through, I never saw a Checker. Where did they all go?
Oh, one more thing, for us starved truck buffs, the trucks and machines in the background look interesting. The cabover is an early 60s IH VCO190, and the green one looks like a late 40s IH KB 10( with sacked out left front spring) and some dozers, a B model Mack and a late 40s E series Mack. Looks like someone “lining them up”, a farmers term for throwing in the towel.
Great find, but I’d lose the bumpers pronto if I could find a set off an earlier Checker.
Like Howard A, I’m not sure where all the Checkers have gone. I know the actual taxis — especially the NYC cabs — led brutal lives, and probably were scrapped if they hadn’t rusted out. But I can remember seeing a fair number of them in civilian guise in earlier years, and it’s hard to believe so few survived.
Then PLEASE don’t buy it! If you lose the bumpers, you will destroy the history of the vehicle. Those bumpers make the car!!!!
You could use that front bumper as a park bench! Yee-ow!
Most of the larger New York City cab companies would run these Checkers 24 hours a day. All of the body panels could be easily removed and replacement panels bolted on. Nothing went to waste. Everything that could be harvested off of a dead car would be harvested. The big bumpers helped it survive on the streets. Easy to touch up with a new coat of paint.