Taxi Cab Manufacturers

Check engines: Taxi driver - Kalamazoo Public Library

Legendary Checkers Marathon in classical taxi colour. From 1956 to 1982 the Marathon was almost unaltered. July 27, 1999 was a bitter-sweet date in the annals of New York city. This was the last working days for the only surviving statutory cab in the town.

It should not have come as a big shock because the Checker cab had long since become a New York iconic. Despite the Checker's symbolic New York credentials, the taxi's origins lay with the nation's smallest major automaker, Checker Motors Corporation in Kalamazoo. Subject line of the Historical Room: Checker Motors Corp.

Kalamazoo's taxi was Morris Markin's idea. Born in Smolensk, Russia, the Russian went to work at the tender age of twelve and a half. Markin wasn't satisfied with just staying in Smolensk. When two of his nephews had emigrated to Chicago, and at the tender age of nineteen with only one sixty-five dollars in his pockets, Markin went to them.

In 1919, Markin began to enter the taxi industry by taking over the operation of a Chicago taxi fleets. At about the same moment, he opened a corpse named Markin Bodysuit. Markin bought a Joliet, Illinois based suspension firm from a struggling financial boyfriend three years later. By May 1922, these objections were brought together in the Checker Cab Manufacturing Corporation.

At the end of this year Markin produced over one hundred taxis per year. These 1923s were the first taxis Checker made in Kalamazoo. According to some reports, Markin chose to relocate his company to Kalamazoo for growth because his desired head of engineering, Leland F. Goodspell, declined to move to Chicago.

Others suggest that Markin tried to dissociate himself from the brutal taxi battles between competing taxi firms on Chicago's highways. Regardless of the cause, Markin and Checker would consider Kalamazoo an ideally located place to thrive. Kalamazoo not only offered coveted engineering talent and a secure route to cabin warfare, but also had the necessary facilities for a young carmaker to get off the ground quickly.

To accommodate the store, Markin bought two new but recently abandoned automotive mills. From 1920 to 1923, both firms had produced automobiles in Kalamazoo. Due to this design, Checker's manufacturing area was considerably enlarged and focused on one building. The cabins scroll over the mounting belt.

Subject line of the Historical Room: Checkers Motors Corp. Checkers plant assembling line was proof of industry efficiencies and designs. Comparing the intricate mechanism with a Rube Goldberg pattern. arkin himself was comparing his machines to a merry-go-round. Checkers cabins have earned a renowned for comfort and dependability. A number of cabin managers have cooperated with the airline using Checkers cabins only.

Those companies were indeed Checkers affiliates. Among them were the Checkers Cab Company, Yellow Cab and the Parmalee Transportation Company. Indeed, Checkers was his own best client, with around fifteen hundred cabins a year dedicated to these carriers. In addition, Checker's cars have become a favorite means of transport for taxi drivers and travellers in towns across the country.

Until 1965, over a fourth of the country's driver's booths were equipped with checkers. The 1936 Gilmore Car Museum Gilmore Car Museum model represents the pre-World War II Checkers style. Both the Great Depression of the 1930' as well as the Second World War that followed had a dramatic effect on checkers and almost robbed Markin of his trade.

The Checker executive committee aimed at Markin in additional to assigning blame to the business community. Markin was dismissed by the executive committee as Checker Chairman on August 4, 1933, and he seemed about to lose his firm. In the end, Markin was rescued by E.L. Cord, who believed Markin would fund his share option plan and gain full corporate influence.

Mr Cordin immediately sent Markin back to the chair. Funding difficulties persisted until the start of World War II, which saw most manufacturers, most of them Checker included, end civil manufacturing. Checker manufactured a range of military equipment for the period of manufacture, such as self-supporting trailer, lorry cabins and tankers. The taxi driver had to make do with the available Checker cabins during the Great War. Checker cabins were not available.

These reports contributed to consolidating the legendary Checker's dependability. In the first three years after Checker was founded, the firm continually enhanced the cabin's look and feel. This early lady often carried a close similarity with the cars of General Motors. Despite the constant changes in style, all Checker cabins became known for their dependability and space.

By 1956, the firm had created a new look that would become an icon and longevity. A new Checker A8' box-shaped styling and robustness remain unchanged, with only a few minor enhancements for the rest of the company's manufacturing. When the A9 follow-up was launched in 1958, the only change from the older A8 was a slightly redesigned grille and headlamp styling.

Twenty-seven years from now, such finite changes would characterise checks. Checkers emphasized the value of the craft for a single dam. Subject line of the Historical Room: Checkers Motors Corp. Subject line of the Historical Room: Checkers Motors Corp. In 1959, Markin, convinced that he had a good model, opted to move into the automobile sector.

Starting with the 1960 Checker models, the A10 Superbas limousines and estate cars were manufactured in parallel with the conventional cabins. With this new line Checker aimed at new clients rather than introducing a radical new one. Superbas were just the company's proven and tested A39 driver's cabs modified minimally and designed accordingly.

Promotional books encouraged the dependability, spaciousness and value of the Checkers for the whole team. Though Checker was unable to match the Detroit automakers' large shares of the Detroit automobile segment, its strategy of expanding into the automobile sector turned out to be sufficiently effective and cost-effective. The name Marathon was adopted by all the ladies, with the number of the marathon calling the name of the marathon cars.

Over the course of the decades, Checker's product range has become increasingly diverse. From 1964, the firm further expanded its range with a fine-tuned sedan series. Checker cabin in the shape of a limo. Subject line of the Historical Room: Checker Motors Corp. Checker's new sedan was approached by the US State Department as a more appropriate transport for some of its foreigners.

Another benefit for the Checker was that Thompson could get in and out without having to remove his cylinder. Probably the most noteworthy model that rolled off Checker's mounting line was the Aerobus, a straight line model of the combi. In spite of the extension of the Checker catalogue, all new cars were not far from their taxi origins.

It is these resemblances that have made Checker's newly discovered diversity possible. Upjohn Company's company fleets comprised this Checker Aerobus. Subject line of the Historical Room: Checker Motors Corp. Hollywood came to Kalamazoo in 1978 to make a big movie, Blue Collar. It was shot in a Detroit automobile factory, but all Detroit automobile manufacturers declined to allow shooting in their factories.

Luckily for the moviemakers, Checker Motors opened its door. Besides Checker's production line, many locals acted as extra in the movie. Whilst the Checker plant had its main part in Blue Collar, Checker booths have played in innumerable other movies, especially in the movies in New York City.

It is interesting to note that checking cabins can still be seen in New York movies for a long time after they have vanished from the city's working cabin population. In the 1970s it was the glorious era of Checkers Motor that was behind it. There would be a whole host of incidents that would result in the loss of the cabin itself and eventually the business as a whole.

Mr. Markin passed away in 1970 and cost the business its creator. Increasing natural catastrophes made the four thousand lbs heavy driver's cabin unpractical for taxi operators and driver. It was the last checking machine to be made. Checkers was flirting with various choices. Equipping the legendary cabins with diesels was an experimental approach. It was also intended to completely reconfigure the car in line with contemporary car designs.

1982 it was agreed to stop taxi manufacturing. And the last checker came off the line on July 12, 1982. At the end of taxi manufacture, more than two hundred and twenty-five laborers were sacked. Slowly the classical taxis disappeared from the street of the town when old cars were exhausted and a new lady was no longer available.

Nevertheless, the firm had a viable manufacturing operation of parts for other manufacturers, such as General Motors. In this way, Checker Motors managed to survive the next 27 years and defy the declines in the automotive sector. An 87-year story in Kalamazoo has come to an end. Half torn down remains of the Checker plant in April 2012.

Though Checker Motors has abandoned its operations and its legendary cars have become a rare commodity, its heritage still holds out. Checker has in this context a nationwide community of enthusiastic people who stay true to the name. Lady of all kinds has become a collector's item, and the owner has founded a number of organisations dedicated to control.

During 2004, locals tried to honour Checker's memorabilia with a citywide campaign entitled "Ave Kalamazoo". Kalamazoo included around thirty four-foot long models that were custom designed by various locals. But the Markin familiy hasn' t just given Kalamazoo souvenirs. Morris' son, David Markin, an enthusiastic court athlete, gave the money to build the Markin Racquet Center on the Kalamazoo College grounds.

A further bequest is Markin Glen Parc, the former farm of Morris Markin. Later, the city of Kalamazoo resold the site to the earldom, and a group known as the Parks Foundation ordered a map of the area. Maple Glen Gardens was re-named Markin Glen Gardens in April 1997 to commemorate the country's past and the Markin family's continuing commitment to the area.

Posted by David Kohrman, staff member of the Kalamazoo Public Library, May 2012. According to an early outline by Fred Peppel, former employee of the Kalamazoo Public Library.