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Checker A-11 Taxicab, 1982 (Photo by Kevin S. Forsyth) *
June 18, 1923: Checker Motors Corporation of Kalamazoo, Michigan has the first Checker Cab roll off the assembly line. Back in 1908 a car called Seven Little Buffaloes began the chain of events that led to the iconoclastic Checker Cab. With mergers, moves, and improvements the taxicab industry grew. Morris Markin lent $15,000 to a friend who ran a small taxicab body plant. Markin needed to protect his investment – and the rest is history.
With further mergers, the Checker Cab Manufacturing Co. was created in 1922 and located in Joliet, Illinois. They were making three cabs a day then. By 1923 they were making 112 cabs per month while working seven day week. By April 1923, more than 600 Checker Cabs were on New York City streets. Checker was growing and a move to Kalamazoo followed. More models were created. By spring 1925, Checker was making 75 units per week. A whole new body design came about in 1928. By January 1929, there were 21,000 cabs in NYC and more than 8,000 of them were Checkers.
John Hertz began the taxi business in 1910 with Yellow Cabs. He produced too many cars and so developed a plan where drivers could rent "Yellow Drive-Ur-Self" cars, the forerunner of Hertz Rental Cars. Markin, a Chicago clothier and businessman, saw Hertz's success and bought as much Checker stock as possible until he gained full control in 1937. Competition between Yellow and Checker cabs was furious. Markin was the first to hire African-American drivers and insisted that cabs pick up all fares – not just white folks.
In 1964, anti-trust suits were brought against Markin. He died in 1970 and in 1977 GM bought into the company. The last Checker automobile rolled off the assembly line on July 12, 1982. On July 26, 1999, the last NYC Checker Cab was removed from service. Earl Johnson had grown up in Jamaica and driven the car in NYC from 1978 to 1999 – 21 years. He named the car "Janie" after an old girlfriend. Her retirement was marked by a party in Times Square. Even though she had 994,050 miles on her odometer, she sold at a Sotheby's auction for $134,500 in December 1999.
"Too bad all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxi cabs and cutting hair." - George F. Burns
"If, in New York, you arrive late for an appointment, say, 'I took a taxi.'" - Andre Maurois
"Any time three New Yorkers get into a cab without an argument, a bank has just been robbed." - Phyllis Diller
"I think everyone should drive a cab two weeks to get a taste of Americana." - Dennis Roberts
For more info:
Information on Checker Motor Corporation.
Checker Cabs with pictures through the years.
* Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation: with no Invatiant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
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