When you think of Checker, you probably picture one of those old taxis, but the company built more than just cabs. Checkers also served as hotel shuttles and airport transportation, though station wagons like this 1966 Marathon were a much less common sight. With its long body and extra room for passengers and luggage, it’s an interesting example of Checker’s less familiar side. This one is listed here on Craigslist in Tulsa for $17,000, and the seller describes it as fully loaded, with an upgraded V8, air conditioning, and tinted windows.
The cream-colored wagon has the familiar Checker face, complete with a wide grille and quad headlights. The photos show the V8 under the hood, along with bench seating and a roomy interior. The seller says the wagon was stored under a tarp and has minimal rust, though the photos show weathering and roof rust. It looks like an interesting project for someone who appreciates these distinctive old workhorses.
One thing that may make a Checker less intimidating to own is its connection to General Motors. Starting in 1965, Checker used Chevrolet engines, including inline-sixes and small-block V8s, and later models also used GM automatic transmissions. That gives owners familiar sources for many routine engine and transmission parts, rather than requiring everything to be Checker-specific. The Marathon’s basic design also remained virtually unchanged throughout its 21-year production run, apart from mechanical updates and changes required by safety and emissions regulations. Some parts even crossed over beyond GM: the Marathon’s front suspension A-arms are noted as interchangeable with those from a 1956 Ford. Buyers should still verify compatibility before ordering a specific part. In 1966, front and rear lap belts were standard equipment. The final Marathon rolled off the line in 1982, when Checker ended automobile manufacturing.
The seller says the odometer is broken, so the 4,500 miles shown in the listing can’t be verified. The title is missing, too, so anyone interested should have a plan for dealing with that issue before committing to the $17,000 asking price. What do you think of this Checker wagon? Would you take on a project like this? Let us know in the comments. And thanks to Zappenduster for sending us this tip!
Not great pictures for $17k and no title…
Must be 12k in the glovebox. But seriously WTF?
It’s hard to figure where sellers come up with their prices. Do they hear the word rare, then pull a number out of thin air? Do they listen to a buddy that’s an expert because he watched a 5 minute clip from prime time of a Mecum auction on YouTube? At least put some effort into your ad.
Steve R
Exactly. It’s a piece of garbage as it sits and in no way going to return any investment. These people are delusional.
What bothers me is when other people with more money than brains pay for these things.
That’s not as common as thought. When it does happen it’s usually people without experience in the hobby that haven’t done their research it are listening to someone passing themselves off as knowledgeable.
Steve R
Wins the prize for this month’s most unrealistic price. I doubt the seller would have to fend buyers off even at a $5k asking?
”Yes honey, I have put it for sale!”
I remember there was a limo version of the Checker cab designed for airport service! I wouldn’t pay more than two grand for any Checker but they look interesting!!
And people were complaining about the price on ’69 Marathon posted yesterday for 25 grand. No way you could put 8 grand into this and have it come out looking like the sedan from yesterday. I can’t tell from the pics, but if that is a dirt floor in that garage its not doing the underside any favors.
Wow! I must be living right! 2 Checkers in 1 week? What are the odds in that? Would be a great starting point for a Checkillac build if the price wasn’t so high. Sorry Mr. Seller, I’d have to low ball you on this one. No title, and shipping costs
being what they are, there’s not enough meat on that bone for me. $3K and that’s it! And I’m feeling generous today.
If that doesn’t beat all-2 Checkers in the same week with a bevy of new writers. Welcome to the party, all!
Fewer of these than the sedans but, IMHO, to buy this one for this price to renovate is not a good game plan. Maybe with a MAACO paint job it could be a good “billboard” for some cab company somewhere (though those are becoming as scarce as trucks with rollup windows).
There’s a Maaco in Vegas just down the street from the Rio.
I was very surprised when I found it, as you said, rare.
Hi Angel! Are you back in Vegas? If so, I will have to stop the next time I go through to Arizona. (I have several friends I stop and see each time I drive through.) I agree with Ken on this one. Caddy 472 or 500 engine and doll it up. I like the wagons, but $17k AND no title? Not even in the neighborhood of realistic. A big pass!
tarp on the roof, dirt floor, flat tires and no title at 17k. sounds like a recipe for a no sale.
Well, I’ll tell ya how one comes up with a price like this………..
Wife: “So hon, what do ya think you can sell it for?”
Hubby: Well, we need 12K to pay off your car, 3K to pay off our credit cards and 2K to cover our trip to Dollyworld. So, it’s worth $17,000″.
Wishful thinking.
I believe the 69 Marathon yesterday was worth the $8000 more, not this one.
Hi Angel 😇! We had one in my hometown too. But the guys that
ran it had a really bad reputation
for screwing people that paid them good money to have their cars painted properly. They stiffed me for $200 to paint my
’73 Ranchero in ’81. We went there, picked up my truck, and my
truck looked really nice until one of our famous Midwest gully washers came by and washed the paint off my truck! And man was I pissed off! I took a picture
of my truck and the paperwork down to the DA’s office and filed
fraud charges against them. Wound up paying twice to have my truck repainted and it took them forever to cut me a check for their screw up. Had my former BIL paint the truck and he
did it right. Didn’t get to enjoy it
long as my ex wife took it when she left me for her second husband that same year. And me, I got stuck with a ’62 Rambler
Classic Custom sedan with no reverse and a huge stack of bills.
The car I got fixed, the bills I paid
off, but there’s no way in hell I’ll
forget that screw job I got from
Maaco auto painting. It’s been
almost 50 years now and I still recall it every time I see or hear and ad for them. My advice today, be afraid, be very afraid. And be prepared to run like hell when they give you a quote. And yeah, I thought you might like this
wagon Angel 😇💋. It’s got you
written all over it.
Hi Angel! Are you back in Vegas? If so, I will have to stop the next time I go through to Arizona. (I have several friends I stop and see each time I drive through.) I agree with Ken on this one. Caddy 472 or 500 engine and doll it up. I like the wagons, but $17k AND no title? Not even in the neighborhood of realistic. A big pass!
Hi Wayne,
No, unfortunately I am not back in Vegas. That will probably take a year or two to get that done. You know im governed by by our government (housing) and they have the most ridiculous rules and work at a snails pace.
I just remember seeing it on my way to work at Hertz at the airport. I can’t remember the name of the street but its a cross street at the Rio and The Orleans which is about a block away. Off strip.
I used to have to go down to Las Vegas about 5 times a year for business. And everytime I went down it seemed like everything changed. If it has been a few years since you have been back. You will not recognize ANYTHING! I was through in February of ’25 to see some friends on my way to Arizona to see family. I hadn’t been there for about 10 or 11 years when I did my last vehicle deliveries there. The only thing that I recognized was the Luxor! Driving the streets I used to travel almost got me lost. I turned off Sahara and instantly lost my bearings. (Overcast day) I have lost any desire to go to Las Vegas except to see friends and maybe go to the SEMA show again. ( used to be an annual trek for the SEMA show, but has been 10 years now and I’m still having SEMA withdrawals)
I wish I had known when I lived there. I’d really like to meet you. I lived there for 10 years and left January 1st 2025.
I left because traffic got ridiculous with all the Californian’s moving there. That also raised the price of housing and rent. Construction to accommodate all these people made it worse.
If my friend had not asked me to come back east to help her I would have moved out of Vegas anyway. I was looking at Laughlin or maybe even Arizona.
I’ll be back. I hate the weather here. The east coast is too crowded, too much with cameras watching your every move. I know the west has them too, but no where near the amount east of the Mississippi has.
I have Ken’s email and Howard’s. I just wish I could find a way to get others to communicate offline.
Ah yes, your tax dollars at work. You’re right Angel 😇, those Government clowns wouldn’t know a sane, logical idea if it jumped up and bit them on the ass. And right now, I’ve got a beef with McDonald’s over some
illegal labor 🐂 💩 in the way our
store is trying to get rid of all the
senior folks we have working there. So I file a complaint with the Feds about it in June. And here it is October and still nothing’s been done! Seems like
the company is greasing a few palms to keep things quiet or I’m
not the featured minority this month. Anyway dear, I totally understand your anger and disapproval of the way the Government solves a problem only to create another one. And it’s that bull in a china shop 🐂 💩 that winds up costing we, the taxpayers out the ass for any new
program they wanna start. There!
I said it, and I apologize to anyone I might have offended, but at least I know that you’re okay and talking to folks up here at the barn. Hate to say it Angel 😇, but you do know it’s gonna take an Act Of Congress to get you and your beef squared away
right? With all that being said, it’s
time for me to get back on track
before someone tells me I’m off topic. A note to the Seller: We here at Barn Finds cordially invite
you to come up here and explain to us why you’re selling a non running car with no title or paperwork for your ridiculous price of $8K And again, I’m sorry
if I offended anyone here, but our
seller needs to put down his happy pipe and understand that he’s not gonna get what he wants
for this car. It’s just not gonna happen! And should he/she come up here with an explanation
as to the price, I’ll tell him in the way that I tell my kids at work when something irritates me. I’m
72 years old, I have no filter, and my give a damn’s busted! And now that I’ve vented, it’s time for
me to have a ceegar and get ready for work. And Angel, I really hope things get better for you as a nice lady like you shouldn’t be standing knee deep
in Government 🐂 💩!
“My give a damn is busted.”
I love that! May I borrow it sometimes?
😇
Sorry Ken, it may have been my fault for you thinking $8000 is too much, but it is much less that the actual $17,000 the seller seeks. I said above that the really nice new appearing one here the other day may be worth the $8000 more than this one at $25,000. Earlier this year there was a decent Marathon wagon for sale near me in PA, maybe in #3 or #4 condition, but salvageable and running, I think for less than the asking price of this.
Well, I’m back. Took 2 cigars to calm down but I’m ready to go to
work now.
Of course dear. But there was a
country song called My Give A Damn’s Busted a few years ago. That’s where I first heard it. And
after That, I started using that line
when someone or something rubbed me the wrong way. I’ve even told the management team
that AFTER I spoke my mind about whatever they’ve done was
something that was really stupid.
And no, I didn’t drop as many F bombs as they said I did. Yeah, I
let a few of them fly when I saw
them do something that made no
sense that day. And when I did, I
heard about it from the HR lady that was there that day but it didn’t matter. That was the first time I used that line and they weren’t happy about it either. After all the 🐂 💩 I’ve seen in the
restaurant business, I’d finally had enough and I told them so. And no, they don’t mess with me that much anymore after having said that. They ask me what I think and I tell them straight up what’s on my mind and why. My kids think I’m just being cranky and that I need to be serviced. But I haven’t found anyone yet. I’m too busy trying to fix all the 💩 that goes in at my store. But
wait a minute, I thought you Joisey folks knew how to tell people off better than I could!
I’m mellowing in my old age but seriously, don’t tick me off. That Joisey gurl is still alive and kickin’.
The government B.S. is just as bad in Clark County (Las Vegas for those that don’t know) A gal I went to high-school with back in Illinois has been a Las Vegas resident for many years was in government assisted housing. (Apartments) She started getting very sick after they replaced the A/C unit in her building. Improperly drained condensation caused black mold and it took 2 years of her living/sleeping in her PT Cruiser before they would assist her into another place. So government BS is rampant everywhere.
So how do we get each others email addresses? I have Jim Randalls and Nevadahalfrack’s but would like to get Ken’s and Angel’s I know that they would agree to it.
My name is Angel Dawn Harris
Take my first two names initials, add my last name 101 at g…….
And who knows, we might just get that chat room we want even
though we’ll be talking to each other off the site instead. And as
far as Vegas goes, I did a short tour out west in ’71 before I started my Junior year in highschool with a guy named Duke Babb. I was 16 going on 17
that summer and was having the time of my young life back then.
And I almost got sent home for
doing an impersonation of Buck
Owens while he was in the building. Duke nearly flipped out
when I did it and chewed my ass
out after the show was over. But
in the end, he let me keep doing them when he saw the crowd got
a laugh or two out of it. I also used to do Marty Robbins, Hank
Snow, and Johnny Cash too. Turns out that Hank Snow was the only one that didn’t like me
impersonating him. He was very
thin skinned and took it as an insult. And as time went along, I
did George Jones and Merle Haggard after a time. And Vegas
was quite the place for a wide eyed kid like me. I wanted to have fun at the Mustang Ranch but Duke put the kibosh on that.
I didn’t know what it was until I saw a story about it on a TV show Geraldo Rivera was doing for ABC late nights in ’72. Never
did get to go there, but I found out about the ladies anyway. And
that was how I spent my time in
Vegas.
It’s worth what it will sell for: In this case: $1,500. Like a Packard: As the man who owns one. I own a Checker.