Feb. 22 Weekly Open Thread - Checker Edition
As usual, this serves as the repository for any conversation that doesn't belong anywhere else.
We have a suggested theme from reader Bill T.:
"How about the Checker? I grew up in Detroit, and as I remember, all the cabs were Checkers. I was in Checkers a few times, and they were spartan but very functional. They were built in, I believe, Kalamazoo, several miles from Detroit. After several years, they introduced a sedan for the regular market, and one of its many features were doors (at least the back ones) that opened a full ninety degrees from the body. I don't know what led to Checker's demise, but it may have been the advent of the livery services that drove/used luxury models instead. Maybe it was the fact that they almost never changed much, but why change a good thing?"
There was a year or two in my life in my early teens when I was obsessed with Checker--I'd dream about finding a nice used one and fixing it up as a unique daily driver. I pretty much forgot about Checkers about a year later, and it didn't resurface until I spotted this gorgeous Checker wagon at a car show a year ago.
This wagon was gorgeous and officially rekindled my Checker-related Car Lust.
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I have another possible topic for those not excited by the Checker topic--I saw the 1987 film Innerspace over the weekend. If you haven't had the pleasure of seeing Innerspace, it's a film in which Dennis Quaid gets miniaturized in a quasi-military research pod and gets injected into Martin Short's buttock.
The movie itself hasn't aged particularly well, but I was pleasantly surprised by the screen time given to some extremely lust-worthy cars. There was a pristine early AMC Gremlin that was shown (unfortunately) broken down by the side of the road, and a gorgeous Capri II in the same sequence. A pretty BMW 6-series was prominently featured as the oddly mechanical bad guy's ride, one ancillary character drove a Dodge 600 K-car, and the hero's main chariot was a modified Shelby GT350 convertible. There were lots of other cars that made brief appearances, such as a Chevy Cavalier Z24 and several old Ford station wagons.
Are there other older movies out there that aren't necessarily about cars but that provide an exceptional snapshot of the ordinary cars of the era?
--Chris H.
Cookie the Dog's Owner on February 22, 2010 at 08:56 AM
Checker cabs: for about a year and a half while I was very little, we were a one-car family. Shopping trips and doctor visits downtown meant a cab ride in a Checker, whose back seat is positively enormous when you're a toddler. Some of them had fold-down stools in the back seat area.
Movies: "That Thing You Do" has a nice selection of period-appropriate (1964) Detroit iron. Any film made on location "back then" can serve as an inadvertent documentary on period autos--for instance, the NYC street scenes in "North By Northwest."
That Car Guy on February 22, 2010 at 09:17 AM
We rode in a Checker Cab in Las Vegas once in 1978. It was old then. Didn't they stop making them in 1974?
Whether on purpose or not, the back seat folded down for access into the trunk. We laughed our poker chips off when we found this "feature."
Now THIS is a Checker Cab!:
http://imcdb.org/images/239/455.jpg
Anthony Cagle on February 22, 2010 at 10:27 AM
Some guy a few blocks away from me has two Checkers sitting in his driveway and I know I've seen him driving around in at least one of them. I've been meaning to do a CL post on them.
I was watching the show 'Caprica' on the SyFy (Christ, I hate that name) Channel this past weekend; it's a prequel to the Battlestar Galactica remake. The 'universe' of the show is a weird combination of modern day America with elements of both the future and the past. They have abundant space travel, advanced robots, blah blah blah, but they also drive around in what look like normal cars. One of the characters drives what looks like a 1960-ish big black sedan and they panned the camera alongside of it and showed the nameplate. It *looked* like "Galaxie" or "Galaxy" but I am wondering if it wasn't actually a "Galactica".
Chris Hafner on February 22, 2010 at 10:31 AM
On the subject of Battlestar Galactica cars, I remember during one episode in which Starbuck returned to Caprica on her mission to retrieve the arrow; she wound up in a ruined parking garage right next to a Citroen DS. I remember thinking that was a particularly awesome choice for the kind of car off-Earth humans might drive.
Anthony Cagle on February 22, 2010 at 11:04 AM
I saw some discussion on that in some Caprica forums I was checking to see if that really did say "Galactica" and they are noticing a weird mix of Citroens, Smart Cars, and a whole mish-mash of others. Probably a Car Lust dream show to check out the vast assortment they have on hand.
Cookie the Dog's Owner on February 22, 2010 at 11:49 AM
IIRC they've also used an Avanti in BSG.
Max Power on February 22, 2010 at 11:50 AM
A few things from the comments:
- Checker stopped buliding cars in 1982. At one point in 1980, they did have a mock up for a new Checker based on the then new Chevrolet Citation. While I haven't seen a photo of this car since I was in high school (one of the car magazines had a small news item about it), there are a few photos of a late 60's Checker designed by Ghia. It is absolutely stunning in its simplicity. No one knows for sure if Checker did in fact commission this car and it actually still exists.
- The car in Caprica was in fact a Ford Galaxie (a 1959 one I believe) and it did NOT say Galactica. The cars are indeed an eclectic mix of iron you don't see every day. I caught a Lotus Europa in one scene this past week. It reminds me of Gattica's approach of retro-futurism.
Anthony Cagle on February 22, 2010 at 01:40 PM
Well, I'm certainly glad that you answered the Galaxie/Galactica question, although having the car named Galactica would have been oh-so-frackin' cooooooool. Plus, it saves me from further irritating the crap out of the Spousal Unit by attempting, again and no doubt with several failed attempts, to stop the DVR at just the right point to read the badge. . . .
Bill T. on February 22, 2010 at 02:13 PM
About the vehicles in the movies. A fun movie to watch, along with the car was, "Back To the Future." The DeLorean has always been neat to see. The nearest one to it (I believe) was the Bricklin. Neither is what one would call ordinary in either appearance or price.
Mark on February 22, 2010 at 06:25 PM
Put me down for Checker lust as well. When I was in middle school one of the kid's dad had one in black. I'd only ever seen them as taxis so I thought that was actually pretty cool. I always liked the Chicago cab's livery - cream and green. Check out 'Risky Business' for a view of that.
Oddly enough, 'Attack of the Killer Tomatoes' has some neat cars in it - some model of Rambler (Ambassador), chasing down a blue TR7.
'Dazed and Confused' has a lot of good mid-70s stuff in it - GTO, Chevelle, Beetle, International Scout, and so on.
Rich on February 23, 2010 at 01:10 AM
There's actually a movie called 'Blue Collar' whose main characters work in the Checker factory. Very good late 70's movie with Richard Pryor amongst others.
Alan Schwarz on February 23, 2010 at 04:09 AM
How about those super-long stretched Checker Aero-Cabs?
I used to see those once in a while at OC Airport back in the day.
mikey on February 23, 2010 at 04:40 AM
I just watched the original Terminator the other day.
Talk about a wealth of period iron - I saw Gremlins, Pintos, LTDs...TONS of 70s garbage. It made me feel strangely warm inside! :)
OldCarGuy on February 23, 2010 at 06:04 AM
I never had Checker lust . . .
until I saw that wagon. A new large wagon, with a roll-down rear window, would tempt me to re-enter the new car foray. As it is, my wagon lust has to be fulfilled by older vehicles.
Jed on February 23, 2010 at 09:39 AM
Hailing from NY, I am a Checker fan. I remember seeing them in Manhattan when I was a kid. They looked different than the wagon that you showed, with silver-painted trim, rather than chrome and bumpers that looked like guard rails. Checker just went out of business recently, due to the great recession. They stopped making cars after the 1982 model year and became a supplier of parts to the big three. Checker was basically a family business, started by Morris Markin, who was a real taxi buff and very dedicated to product. His son, David, was not that interested in being an automaker. Nate Altman, of Avanti II fame, came to him to make a deal to produce the Avanti. Markin said that it was the ugliest car he had ever seen. Ed Cole was brought in in 1977 as a minority shareholder and had big plans to make a new, space efficient FWD cab. His untimely death in a private plane crash ended that plan. Tougher CAFE standards ended the Checker production.
As far as movies with great cars, check out Live and Let Die. there are 1973 Chevys galore, The AMC Hornet coupe, AMC Matador coupe, a freakin' AMC dealership, and some great Les Dunham customized Cadillacs, including the Corvorado. For the uninitiated, that's a Corvette with 71 Eldorado bodywork.
If that's too car-intended for you, check out the French Connection. I became a big fan of the Continental Mark III from that movie. There are lots of great 70s cars there.
If you're a big Les Dunham buff like myself, watch Superfly. There are lots of Cadillacs in the movie and the title character drives an amazing 71 Eldorado customized by Dunham and borrowed from a real pimp to be in the movie.
Casino: I refer to this movie as Cadillac porn. There are so many great luxury cars from the 70's in that movie it will make your head spin. Ace initially rolls up in a 67 Eldorado. He later drives a 77 Biarritz with period custom Appliance mags that you have got to see. He gets blown up in an 81 8-6-4 Eldo. This is just the tip of the iceberg in this movie.
As far as shows that feature great 70's cars, Chips is where it's at. Every significant car from the 60's and 70's is there for you to drool over. The Rockford Files and Starsky and Hutch are also a few of my favorites.
I could get even more carried away...
That Car Guy on February 23, 2010 at 10:14 AM
"Driving Miss Daisy" has some well-done period cars as well.
Cookie the Dog's Owner on February 23, 2010 at 10:28 AM
The Internet Movie Car Database (IMCDb.org) is a great resource for identifying cars that appear in movies.
Here's the entry for "That Thing You Do": http://www.imcdb.org/movie.php?id=117887
David Drucker on February 23, 2010 at 12:43 PM
It's easy to wax nostalgic about Checkers if your only experience with them has been as a taxi passenger (in which case roomy interior is probably the defining feature for you) or a moviegoer. Having spent the summer of 1974 behind the wheel of a NYC Checker cab -- the 4am - 2pm shift -- I can offer a shot of reality: They sucked. Yeah, Checkers were overbuilt and dead simple to fix, so the fleet owners loved them. The fenders unbolted in mere minutes, a Checker could quickly be put back on the road after one of the near-weekly accidents each was involved in.
To the drivers, on the other hand, "overbuilt" meant that even a new Checker rode, steered, and braked like a truck. After a few thousand miles, and a few "fix it now, we don't have time for fix it good" repairs, the damned things were nearly impossible to drive with any precision. Of course, the fenders unbolted in mere minutes, so a Checker could quickly be put back on the road after one of the near-weekly accidents each was involved in.
And, of course, they weren't air conditioned.
On a positive note, one of my teachers in college had a six-door "airport limousine" Checker that he used to ferry his many children to and from wherever kids had to be in the sixties. It was way cool.
...m... on February 24, 2010 at 05:46 AM
...completely different subject: spyker's purchase of saab was completed this morning...
GSampl on February 24, 2010 at 04:03 PM
I got Checker lust back in the 70s. They used to run a little 1" ad in the back of National Geographic magazine. So retro, even then.
OldCarGuy on March 01, 2010 at 07:43 AM
Speaking of wagon lust . . . just saw this at bringatrailor.com:
http://bringatrailer.com/2010/03/01/dont-paint-it-1962-chevrolet-bel-air-survivor/
John D on March 07, 2010 at 05:46 AM
Let me tell you about Checkers:
I drove in the 80's for Midland, NYC's largest fleet of Checker cabs (approx. 350). They were reliable, but they were HELL to drive. They had a truck suspension that left long time drivers with back and kidney problems from 12 hours-a-day jarring. Even worse, the brakes required a lot of force to stop the cab due to the size and inferior brakes. In NYC you hit the brakes thousands of times a shift. A lot of veteran drivers actually LIMPED due to overdeveloped muscles in their right legs.
Their parts company went bankrupt this year. I spit in their grave.
Lee on November 09, 2010 at 07:29 AM
I feel compelled to defend the Checker's honor.
I own a 1982 Checker Marathon that I have been driving as a daily driver since 1999, so I guess that makes me something of an expert in how they drive. Bear in mind that the Marathon I own does not have the jump seats that were common in the cabs. To accomodate the additional weight of a prospective cargo of up to five passengers in the back seat, they had to make the rear springs a lot stiffer in those jump-seat Checkers. That probably explains a lot of the bad ride some correspondents have complained about. The one I own has looser springs and, well, still rides like a truck, granted, but some trucks ride better than others. My Checker rides better with a full load, and is really not horrible even when it's just me.
I have not experiences any problems with the brakes -- of course, there are power brakes, and they seem to work just fine. It's no harder to stop a Checker than any other modern car -- my 1982 features '82 Chevy front disk brakes. My old '66 Ford Galaxie was much harder to stop.
Mine even came with genuine factory-installed aftermarker air conditioning. It's just a Chevy a/c compressor attached to an under-the-dash unit. It works great. Did need to beef up the cooling fans in the engine compartment to make that happen, though. Installed an electronic fan in front of the radiator that comes on when the A/C is on. It's noisy, but cools the car quite competently.
One correspondent complained about it being "overbuilt" -- well, sorry, that's not a bug, it's a feature. The fellow who restored the car for me last year (nothing serious was wrong, it just needed new paint and a thorough mechanical going-over) told me it was the cleanest car he had ever restored. Rust is a big bugaboo of Checkers, but remember how most of them were treated in the rust belt. Toyotas and Subarus would have the same rust issues, if not worse, under similar care. Mine had no holes at all even before restoration. The frame was triple-welded. The springs are industrial strength. The quarter panels are galvanized steel. The mechanicals are Chevy at its workhorse best. These cars are bullet-proof.
All things considered, I wish I had fallen in love with '57 Chevies back in the 1970s, because it's nice to have parts catalogs and you could still afford them in those days. But the Checker has been my favorite car to date, and I plan on keeping it forever.