I was watching a movie from the 1970’s, and just noticed that all of the taxicabs were those 1950-ish Checker Marathon cars. A few people bought them as well…but I now remember that I haven’t seen one in years! These were pretty plain vehicles-I believe you could put around 5 people in the back seats (they had fold down jumper seats). Did the company go out of business?
They seemed to me to be a pretty practicle design-they never changed the styling, so (presumably) the parts from 1950 would fit a car from 1970-wasn’t this the idea behind the original volkswagon?
Anybody know if any of these cars are still on the road?
Short answer: they couldn’t keep up with stricter emission standards. I’m sure an expert will come along soon with more details. IIRC, the last one went out of service in the past year.
They stopped production in 1988. I understand the last one went out of service in NY in 1999.
oops, they stopped in 1982, not 1988.
You still see one on the road. My uncle has one. It has pretty standard GM parts, so you can still get them fixed. Aftermarket parts are also available.
Rugged, durable cars that took a lot of abuse and often went over a million miles. IIRC, the emissions components were the same as similar year Chevy’s, since that’s where the parts came from. I don’t believe it was an issue of emissions as much as it was safety, the cars didn’t have all the modern crumple zones etc. so Checker just stopped trying. Plus, a lot of the taxi companies were going to the newer full-size cars, cheaper and easier to get parts for an work on. Kind of a shame, actually.
b.
Checker actually was a full-line car maker at one time, but about the time the Marathon model was built quit making their other designs and just built Marathons. Massively built cars (I’ve ridden in one), and I have a hard time believing that they weren’t as safe any of their contemporaries. The last engine they had in them was a GM 350! 
Before they folded, they were planning on building taxis out of VW Rabbits! 
They were pulled off the streets of NYC after a law was passed that said no taxi can be more than five years old.
Here’s a site that has lots of information and links.
Spring of 1973, I wsa driving taxi in one, with a front seat passenger, both of us lap-belted. A fullsize pickup truck T’d me driver-side going maybe thirty mph. Checker was totaled, the passenger was on my lap, the windshield was fifty feet in front of us, along with my glasses. Neither of us was hurt.
If you’d like to take an informal tour of the still operational Checker plant in Kalamazoo, rent the 1978 film “Blue Collar”
(starring Richard Pryor in his best role, Yaphet Kotto and Harvey Keitel).
A lot of the movie was filmed at the Checker plant.
Wonder how the folks driving those expensive Cadillac Escalates would feel if they knew that they were basically driving a taxi! 
For those of you who don’t know, the Escalate is just a rebadged Suburban!
FYI, after the last NYC checker taxi was retired, it was purchased by the New-York Historical Society.
Actually, the Escalade is based on the Chevy Tahoe/GMC Yukon, not the larger Suburban/Yukon XL. Small nit, but pick it I must.
Here is the “ultimate” checker straight out of Aspen, Colorado. This has got to be one of the oddest people on the web.