1960-1982 Checkers

Face it: From the late 1950s to the early 1980s, American automobiles hardly changed at all. Sure, designs gradually evolved toward sleeker, lower cars; safety equipment came around; a few economy cars shook things up here and there; convertibles disappeared for a little while. But by and large, the slab-sided, carbureted, rear-wheel-drive, perimeter-framed coupes, sedans and station wagons remained just as big, just as chiseled, just as Neanderthal in their design for those three or four decades. The rest of the world called them Yank Tanks and we Americans never once thought of that as an insult.

Checker might as well have taken that phrase as its slogan and worn it proudly. The company took that lack of change during this period seriously, almost to the level of religious zeal. When the hottest trend in automobile design was glitzy chrome and sky-high fins, Checker didn't change. When square headlamps replaced round ones, Checker didn't change. When high horsepower and then lower emissions had the automobile industry in a frenzy, Checker hardly changed. But when the automobile industry began a wholesale change toward unibody, front-wheel-drive, fuel-injected econoboxes, Checker looked at its options and shut down the assembly line.

One would make a mistake, though, by claiming that Checker resisted change entirely from 1959 to 1982. After all, the company built several unsuccessful prototype replacements in the late 1970s, and, while the overall design and architecture of both its civilian and fleet cars remained the same in that period, tweaks to the design, a number of different engines and several derivative models kept the Checker fresh.

Checker did build cars for public consumption alongside taxis during its early years. But the company would focus mainly on taxis for the next 35 years or so, building a reputation for durability, while simultaneously building huge fleets of cars in Chicago, New York City, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, that looked an awful lot like GM products starting in 1947. The A8 that Checker introduced in late 1955 brought not only a fresh face, but the concept of competition to the taxi market, as cities across the United States began to allow modified passenger cars from the major manufacturers to operate as taxis.

According to Joe Fay, past president of the Checker Car Club of America, Checker actually began civilian sales as early as 1947, "but all sales were via Factory Zone offices," he said. "The 1956 A8 was also offered to the consumer market in a limited way. Motor Trend did a test drive for 1957 as did Consumer Reports. And 1959 saw limited marketing in the Northeast." But not until the spring of 1960 would Checker finally roll out a nationwide dealer network.

Propane V-6 became available in 1982; joined gas and diesel engines

The year before, the Model A9 debuted Checker's quad-headlamp treatment that made the car look like a stodgy 1958 Chevrolet, but Checker gave the A10 a new name (Superba, then Marathon in 1961) and a station wagon version to accompany the four-door sedan. Sales rose--to a high of 8,173 in 1962--but once again began a slow decline that lasted until the late 1970s. Though civilian sales continued to decline--to 270 in 1979, the last year with published civilian statistics--taxi sales galloped, and Checker started to build subassemblies for General Motors. Former GM president Ed Cole signed on to lead the company in late 1976 or early 1977, but died in a plane crash a few months later.

That seemed to pull all the wind out of Checker's sails in terms of automobile production. Five years after Cole's death, Checker ceased production of its taxis and civilian models, remaining in business in Kalamazoo stamping body panels for other manufacturers.

Checker's insistence on the reliability of its cars has proven a double-edged sword for the cars' fates, according to Ben Merkel, the owner of our featured 1982 Checker A11 and a prominent Checker collector whom we profiled in HCC #7. On one hand, it earned the cars much fame, especially in their taxi guises. On the other, it put the cars in the care of ham-fisted drivers and mechanics who thought the sturdiness of the car would make them last forever, so they beat on the cars--both taxi and civilian versions--mercilessly, leading to a low survival rate. Add in the already low production numbers (Checker averaged about 4,200 cars per year during its last decade) and finding one today becomes that much more difficult.

While fleet use of Checkers has dwindled off to about zero nowadays--and thus the ability to buy a retired taxi straight from its fleet has about dried up as well--civilian Checkers remain in circulation. Ben estimated that about 2,000 Checkers of all types survive today. Buying one, however, requires a bit of understanding to cut through the myths perpetrated about the Checker.

ENGINE

The first A10s sold for civilian use came with 226-cu.in. Continental L-head straight-six engines, similar to the ones that Kaiser-Frazer used, good for about 80hp. The engines used four main bearings, solid valve lifters and a one-barrel Carter downdraft carburetor. By 1960, Checker made an overhead-valve version of that same Continental engine available. It used the same carburetor, same four-main-bearing block, same cubic-inch displacement, but made 42 more horsepower than its L-head sibling. In 1963, Checker added a Rochester 2GC two-barrel carburetor to the overhead-valve six-cylinder, boosting horsepower from 122 to 141. But the Continental six-cylinder engine would not last much longer in the Checker.

In 1963 and 1964, Checker used a Chrysler-supplied 318-cu.in. V-8 to move around all the mass of its recently introduced Aerobus, as well as a few Chrysler slant-six engines in taxis. But by 1965, Checker would switch entire-ly to Chevrolet engines, adopting the seven-main-bearing, one-barrel, 140hp 230-cu.in. straight-six as the base engine and the 195hp, two-barrel 327-cu.in. V-8 as the optional engine. The new base engine shaved 125 pounds from the front of the car, putting it about even with the contemporary six-cylinder Chevrolet Biscayne in terms of weight. A year later, the four-barrel, 250hp, 327-cu.in. V-8 became the top engine option, and the 300hp 350 found its way into Checkers in 1969.

Checker from then on aped Chevrolet's moves with the straight-six and V-8 engines. By 1971, the 250 six-cylinder had become standard, with the 350 the only optional engine. Horsepower ratings and compression ratios fluctuated with the addition of smog equipment and engine tweaks over the next several years. In 1977, Chevrolet's 305-cu.in. V-8 entered the lineup, then in 1979, became the base engine as Chevrolet restricted the six-cylinder to truck applications.

A flurry of engine changes took place in the last few years of Checker automobile production. The 3.8-liter 90-degree Chevrolet V-6 became the base engine in 1980, the same year the gasoline 350-cu.in. small-block V-8 took a powder from Checkers. Also that year, the 120hp, 267-cu.in. V-8 became the base V-8 engine. By 1982, the 267 became the top engine choice.

Yet Checker did become an early adopter of alternative fuels. As early as 1966, Checker began to install Perkins 4.2-liter four-cylinder diesel engines, staking a claim as the first American automobile manufacturer to offer a diesel and allegedly returning 30 miles to the gallon at the time. That Perkins diesel lasted just one year in the domestic market, but in 1979, Checker made optional the Oldsmobile 350-cu.in. diesel V-8--which could return 23 mpg in the city and 28 on the highway. Gaseous fuel was also an option--our feature car uses a liquefied petroleum gas (propane) version of the 3.8-liter V-6, a version that Checker made available from the factory only in 1982, for $275.

Aside from the smog equipment that started to appear in 1968, Ben said the only major engine glitches came late in the production of the cars. "The 1980 and 1981 V-6s were the only application coupled to a Turbo 400, and they used some funky starter brackets that can come loose," he said. "And the 1981-1982 GM computer-controlled carbs are horrible--most people convert to 1980 carbs."

TRANSMISSION

While Checker offered a Warner Gear three-speed manual transmission with non-synchromesh first gear as the standard transmission for several years, it also made an overdrive version of that same transmission available as well as a Borg-Warner two-speed automatic similar to what Ford and AMC used at the time. The automatic became the standard transmission in late 1969, and Ben warns that they can be problematic unless taken to somebody experienced in those specific transmissions.

In about mid-1973, though, Checker substituted the brawny GM-built Turbo Hydra-Matic 400 three-speed automatic transmission for the Borg-Warner unit. The Turbo 400, well regarded among Chevrolet fans for its durability and ease of maintenance, would last as the sole transmission through 1982.

SUSPENSION AND CHASSIS

Knowing its taxis would have to face the nastiest of New York City potholes, Checker stuck with the body-on-frame design throughout the car's life and overbuilt everything under the body pucks.

Checker maintained the 120-inch wheelbase of the standard four-doors and station wagons for the entire life of civilian production. However, long-wheelbase (at 129 inches) versions appeared in 1963 (denoted by an E in the model number, A-11E, A-12E) and lasted through 1982. Frames used double-channel construction and an X-brace to handle the rigors of taxiing.

The Dana 44 rear axle that Checker used from about 1968-on generally has a bulletproof reputation behind anything short of a Hemi. Checker made a variety of axle ratios available, from the standard 2.72:1 to as deep as 3.73:1, and also made limited-slip devices available under the Trac-Lok name. Ben said he generally replaces the Spicer axle that Checker used before 1968 in favor of the stronger Dana axle.

The solid rear axle hung from parallel five-leaf-pack semi-elliptic leaf springs. The independent front suspension consisted of coil springs with double A-arms and an anti-roll bar. The front suspension copies the suspension of a 1954-'56 Ford in nearly every aspect. "It's exactly the same down to the bushings," Ben said. "The lower control arms are slightly different, but you could take the upper control arms off a Checker and bolt them straight to a 1956 Ford."

Power steering, using a Saginaw box, and power brakes came as rather inexpensive options ($64 and $433, respectively) when civilian production started, but in 1965, Checker made both standard on its eight-passenger sedans and extended-wheelbase Town Customs. Power front disc brakes, of the same design as contemporary Chevrolet pickups and vans, would become standard across the model lineup in 1972. Power steering followed in 1973.

Joe Pollard, who supplies Checker parts through his company, CheckerParts.com, said while chassis parts usually had the same dimensions as parts from other manufacturers, Checker specified heavier-duty versions from its suppliers. "Checker actually warned mechanics that while another part might fit and work, it wouldn't last as long as the Checker-supplied part," Joe said. "While the steering box looked the same as a Chevy box from the outside, Checker specified something completely different on the inside."

BODY AND INTERIOR

Checker designed its cars for quick service, thus fenders and bumpers easily bolted on and off and body parts easily interchanged throughout the model years. In fact, a 1980 brochure boasts: "Checkers are built so you can cannibalize 'em when necessary!" Windshields did increase in size around 1968, the same year federally mandated safety equipment appeared on the cars. But wing windows, which went out of vogue in the late 1960s and early 1970s, remained on the Checker through the end.

In addition to the station wagon and the four-door, Checker built a variety of odd bodies for specialty markets, most notably the Aerobuses in both six- and eight-door configuration, which lasted from 1961 to 1977, but were available afterward by special order.

The early 1970s marked a turning point for build quality of the cars. Cheaper steel, thinner glass and aluminum bumpers, rather than chromed steel bumpers, began to show up in the cars around 1973. "They rusted a lot more after changing to lighter steel," Ben said. "I've had some older ones hold together twice as long as some of the newer ones. And any part of the car is likely to rust--there's no one area that's more susceptible than others." He noted that Checker did start to galvanize its steel body panels in late 1980, but the company commonly misapplied or underapplied the galvanization.

Checker would build your civilian car in pretty much any configuration you specified. Buyers could select from a significant palette of paint colors or suggest one of their own. Vinyl tops, opera windows and custom upholstery inhabited the option list. You could even order up your civilian Checker to look like a fleet taxi, as Ben did--simply check off the yellow paint code, then option up the Cab trim code ($20), Checker decals ($45), roof lamp ($26.50), meter ($58.50) and interior divider ($592).

RESTORATION PARTS

Other than fiberglass fenders, windshields and new rubber and weatherstripping, virtually nothing (outside of, of course, the common Chevrolet engine and GM transmission parts) for these cars is available as a reproduction. "An NOS outer fender now costs $1,200--an inner fender $550," Ben told us. "And the insurance companies will gobble all those up soon, so there is essentially no more new sheetmetal available for these cars, and there won't be any more. It's going to be a real headache to own one of these cars when it gets smashed up or rusty."

Used parts still exist in quantities enough to restore a car, with some specific pieces somewhat harder to find than others. "I have a guy coming out here to Ohio from Brooklyn to get a decent used hood for a 1977 model, and they used to be all around him out there," Ben said. "But any restoration shop can do it as long as they get the parts. They're still pretty simple cars."

Specialists

CheckerParts.com

Chatsworth, California

818-999-1485

joe@checkerparts.com

Turnpike Super Service

Middletown, New York

845-343-2224

Twilite Taxi Parts

Middlefield, Ohio

440-632-9624

twilitetaxiinc@nls.net

Wayne Brown Jr.

Paris, Kentucky

859-987-6160

Club Scene

Checker Car Club of America

2616 Kopson Court

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 48304

248-334-4291

www.checkertaxistand.com

Dues: $25/year; Membership: 550

Parts prices

Production

What to Pay