Checker Taxi was a dominant taxicab company that was based in Chicago, Illinois. Checker Motors was an American car company (formerly: Markin Automobile Body). Both companies were owned by Morris Markin by the 1930s.
The Checker, particularly the 1959–82 Checker A series sedans remain the most famous taxicab vehicles in the United States. The vehicle is comparable to the London Taxi in its internationally renowned styling, which went largely unchanged from 1959 to keep production costs down.
Motorized taxicabs began to appear on the streets of major cities from the early 1900s. Particularly in Chicago, where numerous railroads had terminals, there was considerable need for on-demand, point-to-point chauffeur-driven transportation. Hotels, department stores, and office buildings embraced the amenity, but often limited access to their facilities to a single cab company. Kickbacks were common, and the system favored larger operators, who had the financial resources to "play the game".
By 1920, there were two dominant taxicab companies operating in Chicago: Yellow Cab and Checker Taxi. Yellow Cab Company was founded in 1910 by John Hertz who subsequently established his own cab manufacturing business in 1917. Checker Taxi did not own its own cab manufacturing company, but principally used Mogul Cabs, manufactured by Commonwealth.
Morris Markin, a clothier from Chicago, Illinois, became the owner of 'Markin Automobile Body', an auto-body manufacturer based in Joliet, Illinois following a default by the owner on a $15,000 personal loan. The facility made bodies for Commonwealth Motors, which marketed the vehicles to cab companies under the trade name 'Mogul'.
Commonwealth Motors was on the verge of bankruptcy but had an order from Checker Taxi (a privately owned cab company by George Hilsky in Chicago and New York City that had no affiliation with Markin at the time). Markin acquired Commonwealth Motors via a stock swap, and merged it with Markin Automobile Body, forming Checker Cab Manufacturing in order to honor the contractual commitment.
Checker cabs were manufactured in Joliet for two years, then production was shifted to Kalamazoo, Michigan. The sturdy Checker cabs gained the acceptance and loyal following of Checker Taxi operators in Chicago.
Markin began buying up Checker Taxi operators' licenses in 1924, gaining full control of the company in 1937. Markin followed Hertz's business plan in having drivers open doors for the fares, and outfitted each driver with a uniform. Checker became the first cab company to hire African-American drivers and the first to require that drivers pick up all fares, not just European-American ones.
Competition for fares in Chicago was fierce in the 1920s, and drivers began ganging up on one another between fares. The fighting between the two cab companies escalated to the point where Markin's home was firebombed, which prompted Markin to relocate Checker Cab Manufacturing to Michigan.
Hertz had sold the controlling interest in his Yellow Cab Company to the Parmelee Transportation Company, but in 1929, after a suspicious fire at his stables killed his prized race horses, Hertz sold his remaining shares of Yellow Cab to Markin, who subsequently acquired another one-third in the company from Parmelee, thus taking control of both Parmelee and Yellow Cab. In 1940, Parmelee (including Yellow and Checker Cab) became the largest cab company in the United States.
Prior to selling the Yellow Cab company, Hertz had sold his taxi-cab, truck, and coach manufacturing arm in 1925 to General Motors. GM wanted to sell part of the acquired business and made an offer to Markin, but Markin declined. Rather than eliminate the capacity of Yellow Manufacturing, General Motors entered the taxicab business in New York City as Terminal Taxi Cab. General Motors operated Yellow Coach as a subsidiary until 1943, at which time the company was merged with GMC Truck Division, and manufacturing shifted from Chicago to Pontiac, Michigan.
A second "taxi war" broke out, with Checker Taxi Co and Terminal Taxi Co operators fighting it out in New York City. To end the dispute, New York Mayor Jimmy Walker created the New York Taxi Cab Commission (now called the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission), which issued a limited number of cab operator permits, called taxi medallions, and mandated that cabs have seating for five passengers in the rear compartment, which favored Checker and a handful of other manufacturers that built automobiles which met this requirement. Over the next three decades, Markin was involved in the formation of "Checker Taxi" or "Checker Cab" companies in a number of major U.S. cities.
At one point, Markin sold Checker Cab Manufacturing to E.L. Cord, but bought it back again in 1936. Markin and Cord were friends, and after Cord bought up interest in Checker, he retained Markin as company head. Meanwhile, the large, heavy Checker Model T, introduced in 1932, featured an 8-cylinder Lycoming engine, the same one that powered the classic Cords at the time. Checker had used Lycoming 6-cylinder engines since introduction of the Checker Model G in 1927. Prior to that, most Checkers had been powered by 4-cylinder Buda engines.
The 1935 Checker Model Y featured attractive front end styling that could have been influenced by the Cord 810/812, or the 1933-34 Ford V8. The Y model continued in production until 1938. For 1939, Checker introduced a brand new model, the Model A. From that time, all future Checkers would carry the "A" designation, usually with a number.
The 1939 Model A featured a retractable roof section at the very back of the greenhouse, distinctive stylized headlight lenses, and unusual open-sided front fenders. The rear roof section could be opened if passengers desired an open-air ride. The open-sided fenders in front detracted from the car's styling but made fender repairs easier for fleet owners. Beginning in 1939, Checkers were powered by the well-known Continental "Red Seal" inline six-cylinder engine, until the engine was discontinued in 1964. Starting in the 1950s, Checker offered an optional overhead valve version of the Continental six.
During WWII, Checker, like other American automakers, switched to wartime production, building materiel needed by the U.S. Armed Forces. After the war, Checker cars, although mechanically similar to the pre-war models, were styled like many late 1940s sedans. The new model, introduced in 1947, had a 127-inch (3,226 mm) wheelbase and featured unit body construction. This basic design continued in production until 1956.
In 1954, New York City revised its specifications for taxicabs, eliminating the five-passenger rear compartment requirement and stipulating a wheelbase of 127 in (3,226 mm) or less, which effectively took Checker out of the market. A brand-new 120" wheelbase body-on-frame design was introduced in December 1956, called A8, and that basic body style would be retained for the duration of Checker production until the end, in 1982.
The 1956 through 1958 A8 Checkers featured single headlights, 1953 Chevrolet taillights, and a thick, single-bar grille. In 1958, quad headlights became legal in the U.S., and Checkers featured the quad headlights from that time forward, along with a new egg-crate grille insert. Parking lights were housed in each far side of the grille insert. Taillights were also changed to the familiar vertical chrome strip housing dual red lenses. Early models also featured a single separate bumper-mounted backup light. Another change between the A8 and later models is the rear window. Originally flat in the A8 with a thicker "C" pillar, the rear window on later models wrapped around a thinner roof-line, affording improved all-around visibility.
For 1960, Checker introduced the A9 series taxi, as well as for the first time, a passenger sedan to be marketed to the general public, the A10 Superba. For 1961, the Marathon sedan and station wagon were introduced, upscale versions of the Superba. The Superba was discontinued in 1963, and from that time on, the taxicabs were designated A11, the Marathon became the A12.
With the cancellation of the Continental inline six-cylinder engine for 1965, Checker switched to Chevrolet overhead-valve inline 6-cylinder engines, with the small-block Chevy 283 and 327 V8s optional. Starting in 1970, Checker used the ubiquitous 350 cubic-inch small-block Chevrolet V8 as an option, which was available until the end of production. GM phased out the Chevy inline six in 1979. Starting in 1980, both Chevrolet and Checker offered a new 229 cubic-inch V6 as the standard engine, with a small-block 305 or 350 V8 as optional.
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