By Jeffrey D. Brasie
Images Courtesy of Checker Motor Cars and the Checker Car Club of America
Published 7.30.2025
An early Checker Cab
I was born in 1922 in Chicago, Illinois and later raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Many of you may have seen me on urban streets or at airports. I appeared in countless television shows and movies.
I was frequently found in the colors of canary yellow or forest green.
I was heavy, but quite solid in stature. When I passed in 1982, I weighed nearly 4,000 pounds. Members of my family lived on until 2009.
My name is Checker.
An Icon of America’s Streets is Born
Checker was established by Russian immigrant Morris Markin. According to Kalamazoo Public Library research, his Russian–based career began in his family business of food, dry goods and produce.
Checker Cab founder Morris Markin
At age 19, with $1.65 in his pocket, he joined his two uncles in Chicago. His first job was at a tailor shop as an errand boy. He soon owned the shop.
Markin’s next career move occurred in 1919 when he took over a Chicago fleet of taxicabs. Soon after, he acquired a Joliet vehicle body plant he named Markin Automobile Body. Soon, Markin began a business relationship with Commonwealth Motors, which produced taxicabs.
After Commonwealth received a significant order from Checker Taxi, Markin initiated discussions to merge the two companies. Funds and assets were exchanged, and in May 1922, the merged companies established the Checker Cab Manufacturing Company.
Markin set his eyes on hiring Leland F. Goodspell to be his chief engineer, but Goodspell refused to move to Chicago. To sweeten the deal to hire Goodspell, Markin purchased two short-lived and vacant automobile plants in Kalamazoo, Dort Body and Handley-Knight.
Business boomed for Markin’s boxy, reliable and comfortable vehicles. By the late 1920s, his operations were producing 100 vehicles a day. His company was the primary vehicle producer for the nation’s Checker, Yellow, and Parmalee taxi companies.
Markin then sold the Dort complex and retained the services of famed Detroit industrial architect, Albert Kahn, who designed numerous automobile factories. Kahn designed a massive new Checker manufacturing, testing, and office complex.
The back cover of a Checker Cab history book by James Hinckley
Checker and the Great Depression into World War II
As a specialized and low-volume vehicle producer, Checker was perhaps the most vulnerable of all America’s automakers during the Great Depression. During 1932 and 1933, Checker’s production lines were frequently idled.
In August 1933, the board of directors fired Markin. However, he was able to have E.L. Cord finance his controlling stock options for $1 million, so Markin was reinstated as president. Armed with a new alliance with the Auburn-Cord-Dusenberg group, Checker was able to access experienced engineering and finance expertise.
A Checker cabin with jump seats
From 1929 to 1942, Checker produced 29,260 taxicabs. Some of these pre- World War II vehicles were known to “rack-up” over a million miles each. Like the nation’s other automakers, Checker shifted production during the war, making self-contained trailers, truck cabs, and tank recovery vehicles for the U.S. Army.
Another Burst for Checker After the War
After World War II ended, returning service personnel created major demand for automobiles, and the nation’s taxicab fleet was decades old.
Checker sought to replace its Model A with a new design. Historic accounts noted that the new design was to be lighter in weight with driver and passenger comfort being paramount. The concept was similar in style to the Volkswagen microbus of the 1960s and would be powered by a transverse positioned rear engine. However, the prototype results were poor, and the vehicle was scrapped.
In the summer of 1945, Checker pursued another design with similar features but with a front-end transverse engine. Prototypes were road tested and yielded positive results. Unfortunately, production and post-purchase maintenance costs were also significantly higher than the existing Model As on the road, so this concept was scrapped as well.
A Checker-built bus
Entering the early 1950s, Checker began production of a fleet of bus chassis for Detroit Street Railways.
In the mid-1950s, Checker reached a decision to replace its decades-old Model A body style. Introduced as the A8, this design would be the classic Checker taxi seen for decades to come. The model went global when the U.S. State Department, the Vatican and corporations, like Upjohn, purchased Checkers for their fleets.
A Checker Motors dealership with an Aerobus
In addition, Checker introduced the multi-passenger, extended body six or eight door Aerobus, which was frequently seen at major airports. Checker also made a limited production Aerobus designed as an ambulance or modified to serve people with disabilities using wheelchairs.
A Checker ad
As taxicab sales began to decline, Checker decided to enter the consumer market with the A8 model, later renamed the Marathon and Superba. In 1959, Checker established their first dealership in Boston and later opened more across the country in New York City, Akron, Detroit, Chicago, Tucson, Los Angeles, and other large markets.
A Checker Superba ad
Sales of both taxi and commercial vehicles kept Checker profitable until the 1970s.
Checker Comes to the End
Automotive historians note a variety of factors led to the last Checker rolling off the Kalamazoo assembly line on July 12, 1982. This final vehicle, with ten miles listed on the odometer, is on display at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan.
A Checker Cab featured on the ABC show "Taxi" with Andy Kaufman and Danny DeVito
Amongst the most influential factors for Checker’s decline were:
After Checker ceased vehicle production, the company began producing parts for other automotive companies, including General Motors.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Checker entered a design concept with General Motors to create a new taxi. The first was based on the Volkswagen Rabbit, where the vehicle would be cut in half and lengthened with a higher roof line. Unfortunately, it was determined not to be a feasible project.
The second approach was using GM’s X-Car front wheel drive design. A Chevrolet Citation was modified into a prototype. This concept was also short-lived and ultimately scrapped.
The last New York City legal Checker cab ceased service on July 27, 1999. The automobile legend had run its course, and the Big Apple’s streets were then dominated by Ford Crown Victoria sedans.
The economic downturn of 2008 and 2009 affected the nation’s entire vehicle industry. Checker declared bankruptcy and subsequently sold its contracts and equipment. The end of Checker came in June 2009. Over 270 employees lost their jobs.
In late 2010, a significant portion of the Checker manufacturing and office complex were leveled. According to Kalamazoo Public Library research, a portion of the 1929 Albert Kahn building, a machine shop, and the test track still exist. Every manufactured Checker took a test drive around this track.
Over its six decades of production, Checker manufactured over 250,000 vehicles.
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Jeffrey D. Brasie is a retired health care CEO. He frequently writes feature stories and op-eds for various newspapers, magazines, and social media sites. As a Vietnam-era veteran, he served in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Naval Reserve. He served on the public affairs staff of the Secretary of the Navy. He grew up near the tip of the mitt and resides in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan.
