Did you know the city of Kalamazoo, Michigan, was the first to install curb cuts? You know, the little ramps in curbs so you don’t trip or so you can use a wheelchair or something? It’s true. Kalamazoo is also just a really fun word to say, and, notably, was home to two car companies: the Barley Motor Car Company (1916-1929, made a handsome, fancy car called a Roamer, among other things), and, more famously, the company that built the iconic New York cabs, Checker.
There’s a classy Roamer for you; I’m mostly here to talk about Checkers, and, even more specifically, one little fact about them I just learned. So let’s talk about Checkers, specifically, the Checker Marathon.
If you’re curious to see where Checkers were born, there was a 1978 movie called Blue Collar starring Richard Pryor and Harvey Keitel that was shot in the Checker factory:
That’s some gritty ’70s goodness right there. Drink it in, nice and deep, savoring every shade of ’70s earthtones. Also, the guy from Alien is in there, too! The guy who kept talking about shares and worked in the parts of the ship with all the steam pipes.
Okay, back to Checker; while taxicabs were their bread-and-butter, their bagels and cream cheese, they nevertheless tried to sell their basic car, which remained basically unchanged from 1961 to 1982, to civilian non-cabbies, as the Checker Marathon. The body design was firmly rooted in the 1950s, and the mechanicals were a minestrone of parts from the Big Three and, notably, AMC. GM inline-6 and V8 engines and transmissions were the usual motive force.
The bit I want to discuss is pretty easy to see there: that massive “girder” bumper, first introduced in 1974. It’s a colossal, heavy battering ram, a byproduct of the car’s primary use as a cab in NYC, which was the sort of place where car bumpers took substantial beatings.
Some versions of the mass-market Marathons even had classy-ass vinyl roofs:
You may notice that the rear bumper looks pretty much identical to the front – and that’s because it is. Look, it even says as much on this cutaway diagram; look at the lower right caption:
I love the idea of front-and-rear-swappable bumpers! It’s such a clever penny-pinching tactic, perfect for a small company like Checker. Previously, I thought only AMC pulled this kind of thing, like they did with the Rambler American’s bumpers, which were identical units front and rear:
Look how they just swapped the amber turn signal lens for the clear reverse lamp! Brilliant! Dazzling cheapsaketery, AMC!
I’m excited to know Checker did this as well now. Of course, I can’t talk about Checker Marathons without reminding you this existed:
The eight-door wagon version. The Aerobus, designed to take people to and from airports. What a sublime machine.
Am I the only one to notice that the vinyl roof picture has a rear quarter window on the driver side but has vinyl on the passenger side? And that these cars were stuck in 1958?
My family had a Checker Marathon, so I drove it in high school. I still have a deep affection for these cars, but they loved to rust. Ours had the big bumper, which was aluminum and probably 1/4″ thick. I modified our Checker by installing an aluminum intake manifold and a 4-barrel Holley carburetor. This was a deeply pointless exercise, but it was fun.
There’s another movie that really captures the romance of this car for me: The Fare, from 2018.
I’m reading this a couple days after it was written while being trapped in my house by a blizzard. And I’m now about to make a deep dive looking for Checker Marathons…
Old style Minis (1959-12000) have the same bumper front and rear.
Hillman/Sunbeam Imps (1963-1976) share the front/rear bumper too. Except that the rear bumper has a hole in it for the hand crank starter 🙂
if you’ve never gotten into a Checker cab in NYC with a bunch of friends after a night of bar hopping, you’ve missed out on several great experiences.
I’m recalling that the Studebaker Lark also had interchangeable bumpers.
My two Marathon memories: In 1978, Dad sent away for the ‘civilian’ Marathon brochure/literature from Checker, but never received it. He bought a Suburban instead. And…
There was an article in one of the car magazines in the mid-eighties that may have been an interview with Irv Rybicki, but maybe not. Either way it was a car designer talking about large vehicles, and the quote was, “If you design one car that has the most headroom, the most legroom, the most hip room, and the biggest trunk, you wind up with a Checker Marathon”. Young me really wondered why that would be a problem.
I want one.
In 1968 only, you could get any model of the Marathon with a Perkins 4.236 Diesel engine.
Great cars.
Sorry, it’s 1969 only.
As the Stooges very well knew.
They were ultimate function over form vehicles. This has a powerful attraction for Autopians. My Family is Kalamazoo, so we have deep affection for Marathons.
Also, the American Lada if you will.
I take issue with the term “American Lada.” The Marathons were better built (this is coming from someone who hitched a ride on a Marathon – in college ;)).
Agreed! I only meant in respect to the thickness of the metal and toughness.
My eccentric, artistic brilliant Aunt moved to Ann Arbor after 10 years working as an actress/singer in NYC. She immediately bought a 1980 Checker in NY cab livery. Not sure if she ordered it like that or if it was an actual cab at some point. When we picked up family at the airport she would have one of us kids stand lookout so no one would jump in the back thinking it was a real cab!
It was a beast! We fought over the jump seats. Thanks for bringing back some nice memories.
Uncle Ike’s Pot Shop chain in Seattle has a small fleet of the Checker Aerobus wagons that they used as customer Taxis and rolling advertisements. Sometimes you still see them, but I’m not sure if they are still in regular use.
I’m surprised Yaphet Kotto is off Jason’s radar; besides Alien, he was a freaking Bond villain!
And the irascible lieutenant or captain on Homicide: Life on the Street!
And while we’re talking cop roles: he was a police officer in “Crossing 110th Street.” Don’t miss this one.
Don’t forget Gibson when in the ‘zoo!
That would be a crime
I don’t know if it was truth or a fever dream, but I seem to remember that in order to meet the new 1973/4 bumper crash standards, Checker capped off the bumpers and filled them with water, which would absorb some of the forces of impact.
Does anyone else remember hearing this??
I don’t know about Checker, but there were some cars that did that. You’d see little plugs on top that were designed to pop out or spray to release the pressure. We even had transit buses in Toronto like that. I’m not sure if they still are that way.
They needed the bumpers because so many people said “You looking at me!”
https://youtu.be/c412hqucHKw?si=Vm7pBd9-t39Ltz4M&t=15
“Well, I’m the only one here.”
Blue Collar is Office Space of the seventies. Change my mind!