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.
The city with the silly sounding name got its own song!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFv_PoZ2iP0
There are a bunch of songs that mention Kalamazoo. From Johnny Cash to Primus…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oFMoltEHTY
True! But the one I referenced was from 1942 which I believe was the first.
yep!
At least a dozen (and many more versions) of “Kalamazoo” songs have been recorded. In chronological order others include: “I’ve Been Everywhere” by Hank Snow (1962) (album of the same title)[130] and Johnny Cash (1996) Unchained[131]—reworked from the original 1959 Geoff Mack Australian-place-names version made popular by the singer Lucky Starr; “Down on the Corner” (1969) by Creedence Clearwater Revival on their fourth studio album, Willy and the Poor Boys—covered by a dozen other groups—though the reference is not to the city but to one of the “Kalamazoo” line of budget priced guitars manufactured by Gibson;[132] “Kalamazoo” (1995) by Luna on Penthouse;[133] “Cold Rock a Party” (1997) by MC Lyte on Bad As I Wanna B;[134] “Kalamazoo” a song by the rock trio Primus on the 1997 Brown Album;[135] “Top of the World” by Rascalz (1999) on Global Warning;[136] Andrew Peterson lost his luggage in Kalamazoo, according to the song “Isn’t It Love” in his 2001 album, Clear to Venus. “Kalamazoo”, a song by Ben Folds on the 2004 EP Super D;[137][138][139] and “Kalamazoo” (2002) by Mike Craver on his album Shining Down.[140]
The city was also mentioned in the opera Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass and in the chorus of the song “Gotta Get Away” by The Black Keys, from their album Turn Blue (“I went from San Berdoo to Kalamazoo/Just to get away from you…”).[141] Like Miller, the Creedence and Axton lyrics probably use the word “Kalamazoo” as an oblique reference to Gibson Guitars, which made various models named “Kalamazoo“, all prominently adorned with the city’s name as their origin. In 2011 rap artist Young Jeezy mentioned the city in the song “Higher Learning” on his album TM:103 Hustlerz Ambition. In 2014 Kalamazoo was mentioned again by Rittz in the song “Bounce” on his album Next to Nothing.[126][142]
Correct! I pasted the wiki link to all the songs, but it went to moderator approval jail, lol. oopsies.
Anyway, look up Kalamazoo on wiki and it’s there.
Also, Jackie Gleason was in that movie but was uncredited for some reason.
Thank you for your due diligence, I appreciate it.
What’s going on with the driver’s side rear quarter window as seen through the rear window of that vinyl-topped A12-E?
Even their artwork was cheapskate 😉
Checkers were once the subject of the Puzzler on Car Talk. The answer had to do with the fact that the headlight arrangement changed in the early/mid 60s.
8yo me living in Michigan: “KalamaZOOOO!”
somewhat surprising I survived this long 😉
I’ll tell this story every time the Marathon comes up: when I was in elementary school, the mother of one of my friends/crushes had one of these in a gorgeous maroon. One time a bunch of us were at a different school, but the bus never came to take us home. So they called Jana’s mom, and she came to get us. I think at least 8 of us 3rd graders squeezed into that beast—I got one of the jump seats.
[Seatbelts? It was 1981 for crying out loud!]
You say cheapskate and I say brilliant cost-saving measure.
A 1950s styled brick of a car of the people, relatively unchanged right up to 1982.
How Soviet.
So American Soviets?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OykVR5LsZMU
I believe some low-budget 1970s made for TV movies set in the Soviet bloc actually did use Checkers as stand-ins for Chaikas and Volgas from time to time
Doesn’t the beige 1974 Marathon have a bit of an Abe Lincoln face with that pointy dark chin beard?
Also I’ve never understood how Jaguar got inspired by Checker to put those large ugly rail bumpers on the Mark 2?
Or why VW, a company so cheap they sold a 2 door car with one outside door lock, never did the bumper swap trick on the old beetles? They are both rounded, and neither of them close to the bodywork..
Now I can’t unsee that face. Thanks?
I’m going to blame the surgery for you not being up to speed but how;
Kalamazoo is also just a really fun word to say, and, notably, was home to two car companies:
was not;
Kalamazoo is also just a really fun word to say, and notably, was home to a car company or two
is an overlooked tragedy.
I’ll have what you’re having! lol
“Let me tell you something. I have learned more about America from riding in taxi cabs than in all the limos in the country.”
There’s cheapskatery, and there’s damn good design and engineering. That AMC example is 100% the latter. If you could build a car today that managed to make use of parts like that (same doors front and rear, same bumpers, same floor pans, etc.) without looking like a production ready Russian electric car prototype, you’d have the cheapest car on the market. Add in some open sourcing, user serviceability, and good reliability, and you’ve got a classic on your hands.
You mean like the current Citroen Ami?
Looks like a riot to me!
Except for no luggage carrying and leaky windscreens…
American Motors were the kings of this sort of thing, doing both a compact and a subcompact off the same platform with most of the same body panels (Hornet and Gremlin) and previewing the Hornet with the 1965 AMC Cavalier concept car that featured extensive use of interchangeable panels to reduce tooling costs – the fenders and quarter panels at diagonal ends were identical, and the doors were as well, the company claimed it would reduce development costs on a new model by 30%, but never went that far in production
My first car (bought in 1984) was a 1981 Marathon. It seemed like it was built from whatever they could scrounge. The steering wheel had a faint Chevy logo in the middle, it was powered by a Chevy 229 V6, the door, trunk, and glovebox locks were GM, but the ignition switch was AMC. Somehow they couldn’t fit the battery under the hood so it was in the trunk. It was beige, which isn’t yellow, but is close enough in the dark that a lot of angry people couldn’t figure out why I didn’t stop when they tried to flag me down.
Still miss that thing.
20-year-old me proudly perched on my new ride:
http://www.cosmodog.com/checker/81checker.jpg
That scan really makes you look like you’re in a ’90s point and click adventure game
Ignition switch was AMC? Interesting, every AMC I’ve seen has very obviously used a GM steering column and ignition switch.
The lock cylinders for the GM and non-GM applications of the Saginaw steering column differ the location of groove on the side of the key. Which is why when he went to get a key made it showed up as an “AMC” key, the most popular application of the non-GM version. It also fits International Harvesters.
The locks, door, trunk and ignition were not from GM they were from their supplier Briggs and Stratton. For whatever reason the ignition lock cylinders that GM specificed for their Saginaw division produced steering columns came in two flavors, GM specific and non-GM applications. The only difference is they location of the warding (the groove on the side of the key) was different between the two. You can replace the lock cylinder with the GM spec version and today that is what you will find in the aftermarket for most if not all of those old AMC and International ignition locks.
“I’ve been everywhere, man, I’ve been everywhere…”
Kalamazoo, a town with a Checkered past.
I’m a Kalamazoo native and never knew any of this. Thank you for the unexpected local history lesson. It always comes as a bit of a shock when I see my hometown appear on the internet like this.
Also, I must agree that Kalamazoo is a very fun word to say. Some around here also enjoy calling it The Zoo, especially when the university students are getting a bit rowdy.
My dad tried repeatedly to buy a Checker back in the 70s and 80s. My mom put the kibosh on it each and every time, as she hated the things for reasons she never revealed. One time my dad tried to buy a six door version (it looked like that Aerobus, but with one less door on each side and no raised roof), and even at $500 (in 1980s dollars) my mom was solidly against it and threw the “the car may be cheap, but the divorce won’t be” card into the ring. Too bad, they were neat cars.
Imagine how confident, how supremely comfortable in your own skin, you would have to be to park a brand new Checker in your suburban driveway in 1980. To tell your neighbors that no, this isn’t some restored vintage collector car, it’s your factory-fresh daily. Meeting the non-taxi new Checker buyers would have made a great article or short documentary.
A slammed yellow Marathon would be awesome. Steelies painted to match, dark tint on the windows.
The only thing missing from this article is Ernest Borgnine.
https://youtu.be/0R3SJIHHwzQ?t=86
Hah! Snake Plissken!
What, no love for DC Cab and Mr. T’s pimped out Checker?
I think the early Chevette had bumpers that could swap front to back as well.
And if you are down for a totally unfounded conspiracy theory, I still think the Checker is responsible for the long-debunked urban legend about ’57 Chevys being produced in later years. Styling is basically lifted from the shoebox with updates for modern safety/utility. It’s conceivable that this could have evolved into the urban legend.
I always wanted to like the Checker, but never could get over the unbalanced design with its mixture of bulbous features (body panels) and straight lines (door cutouts, side trim, those bumpers!).
I’ve wanted a Checker for a while.
Me, too! I’d love one with an LS power train and updated suspension and brakes. Their look is just timeless.
Aerobus: Long Cab is Long. Final form would be a double decker (Checker)! “The Uberbus”
I remember using Checker-made cabs – all cabs since then seem small.
It was the original cab forward design.
The world needs a modern-day Checker Marathon. A practical, functional, and spacious car. If you’ve never ridden in a Checker, the back seat legroom was amazing and could only be duplicated nowadays by removing the 2nd row of a 3-row SUV and stretching out in the way back.
Skoda Superb? It’s the sedan of choice for cab drivers over this side of the pond. Legroom for days.
Vehicle Production Group tried with the MV-1, looked like a solid design but didn’t take off.
I’d build an EV with the width of a 1st gen Honda Insight but the length of a Ford Excursion, somewhere around 4,000 lbs, and streamline the crap out of it to a Cd value around 0.15. Seating for 5, legroom for days, a massive trunk accessible via a hatch Euro-sedan style, a 50 kWh LiFePO4 battery, a range of over 300 miles highway at 75 mph, and somewhere around a $35k price tag.
It would ride like a large boat and harken back to the days of 70s-era land yachts.
That’s quite the aesthetically pleasing and well-proportioned car. Never heard of Checker before, but I guess that’s expected since it was gone before I was around.
Thank you for making me feel really old. This car is a literal icon of ’60s to ’80s New York, every bit as much as the classic London taxi or double-decker bus. Watch any movie or TV show made or set in New York in that era, and you’re pretty much guaranteed to see one if not scores of Checker cabs.
My apologies. I think most of the movies and shows I’ve consumed are Crown Vic era.
I’ll also say this could be a case where I’ve seen these in movies and just never knew what they were. My general interest is in 90s and newer vehicles so it wouldn’t have been something I looked up.