# Checker design returning



## I_Like_Spam (May 10, 2015)

The old Checkers were ideal for livery service, and now a company in Massachusetts wants to put it back into production.

The old Checkers had huge leg room in the backseat for the passengers, as well as 2 jump seats to handle a total of 6 passengers, making the vehicle possible for "XL" service.

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/10/02/checker-cab-comeback-in-works/


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## Danny3xd (Nov 7, 2016)

So cool, ILS. Would love to see something that cool made again.


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## TwoFiddyMile (Mar 13, 2015)

You wanna GAS that ****?
It was a great car in its day, but what you guys don't understand is it was engineered like a 57 Chevy.
TRY and finish a 12 hour shift in a beast like that.
Coincidentally, London Taxi North America was headquartered in Sudbury, Ma. They failed miserably with a price point of about $42,000 in 2004.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

I_Like_Spam said:


> The old Checkers were ideal for livery service, and now a company in Massachusetts wants to put it back into production.
> 
> The old Checkers had huge leg room in the backseat for the passengers, as well as 2 jump seats to handle a total of 6 passengers, making the vehicle possible for "XL" service.
> 
> http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/10/02/checker-cab-comeback-in-works/


Uber will forbid them " because they look like a cab ".


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

TwoFiddyMile said:


> You wanna GAS that ****?
> It was a great car in its day, but what you guys don't understand is it was engineered like a 57 Chevy.
> TRY and finish a 12 hour shift in a beast like that.
> Coincidentally, London Taxi North America was headquartered in Sudbury, Ma. They failed miserably with a price point of about $42,000 in 2004.


Perhaps something smaller,plastic body so it won't show dents and will be lighter,aluminum floor,turbo 4 cylinder with 7 speed automatic.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

A hybrid minivan that gets 30+ mpg would be better actually.


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## Danny3xd (Nov 7, 2016)

Honest to good 2Hunt, was gonna say that an hr ago. A hybrid drive system inside an English/Checker cab style! (30MPG would not be that hard to atain)

https://www.google.com/search?q=eng...ved=0ahUKEwiKz8W4ipjRAhXJ6IMKHWRcB_wQ_AUIBigB


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## Jimmy Bernat (Apr 12, 2016)

tohunt4me said:


> A hybrid minivan that gets 30+ mpg would be better actually.


The new Pacifica is a plug in hybrid mini van. 35 miles electric only and 30 to 35 mpg.


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## merkurfan (Jul 20, 2015)

Jimmy Bernat said:


> The new Pacifica is a plug in hybrid mini van. 35 miles electric only and 30 to 35 mpg.


so worthless for much of anything.


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## Danny3xd (Nov 7, 2016)

merkurfan said:


> so worthless for much of anything.


Why, Merk?


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## Jimmy Bernat (Apr 12, 2016)

merkurfan said:


> so worthless for much of anything.


While I hate hybrids and would never own one, I think a hybrid mini van is a great idea and surprised there weren't any released before. A lot of soccer moms are gonna love these, a friend got a regular pacifica as a rental earlier this year and it was actually really neat on the inside. (neat is the only word to describe a Mini van lol)


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## Danny3xd (Nov 7, 2016)

Hybrids rock! Half the gas and twice the life, plus.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

The company CEO I drove for hired an executive who came out of NYC. He was used to Checker cabs, and ordered a Marathon limo as his company car. I filled in for his driver a few times, and that car was like driving a Chevy pickup from the fifties. It was probably '81 or '82 model, and our automotive staff upgraded the sound insulation, carpets and upholstery. The guy took some ribbing from others in the executive suite, but he stood about 6'5" and liked the legroom, and extra headroom in the rear.


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## Peanut hello (Sep 19, 2016)

It would be nice if they can put a diesel engine in it.


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## Another Uber Driver (May 27, 2015)

MV-1, which is owned by AM General, produces a vehicle that is based on a similar concept. It is large, has a large trunk and is ADA compliant. The thing about the ADA compliance is that it addresses the "dignity" question. In most accessible taxicabs, which are mostly modified mini-vans, the wheelchair bound customer rides in the VERY back. In the MV-1, he rides in the same place that anyone else would, in the back on the right. The driver opens the door, folds up the seat, extends the ramp. The customer then drives his motorised chair up the ramp, goes hard-to-starboard, reverse, then the driver fastens the straps. It is a pricey animal (forty to fifty thousand bananas), but it does get the job done. There are grants available, here, funded by the one per-cent tax that Uber and Lyft pay to the District of Columbia on all trips that originate or terminate within the Capital of Your Nation. I suspect that it is for this reason that Uber handles its accessible requests here through the Uber Taxi platform rather than have Uber WAV or Uber Acessiblem, here. If they are going to pay for these taxis, they might as well get some use out of them. *Ya' kain't blame 'em,
*
If they do bring back the Checker cab, they would do well to make the adjustments to make it ADA compliant. I always did consider the old Checker an ideal candidate for an accessible taxicab.

On another note, I can remember the old Checker Airport sedans: six and eight door models. Chrysler had some of those, as well, in the 1950s, early and mid-1960s. The last one that I can remember seeing was a 1966 model, but Chrysler may have built them later than that.

It is interesting to note that the firm that wants to bring them back is in Haverhill, Massachusetts. I know that town well, as I spent part of my childhood there and had relatives there, until recently. It used to be a major manufacturing centre (shoes, mostly, but there was a box factory, as well), but the last of that was gone by the 1970s. If they plan to use the old Boxboards, or even another shoe factory, the Busted and Mangled railroad might have to re-lay the tracks, which will get the hikey-bikey-wikey crowd all in an uproar.

I went to the website, but it does not mention anything about where in Haverhill they are. Good article, still, though--thank you.


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## TwoFiddyMile (Mar 13, 2015)

Betcha Checker Motor Corporation sold their assembly line to some banana republic...


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## Another Uber Driver (May 27, 2015)

Peanut hello said:


> It would be nice if they can put a diesel engine in it.


That might keep down the fuel cost, but I wonder how it would fly in large urban areas that are under immense EPA pressure to clean up automobile emissions. The EPA pressure, might go away, temporarily, given recent events, but, eventually, it will be back, either due to subsequent "events" or someone in that bunch realises that there might actually be a problem.

You can buy an alt-fuel MV-1, but the problem with that is that there are few places to re-fuel. They are trying to encourage the hydrogen vehicles here, but there are only two places in the Washington Metropolitan Area that are open to the public that have hydrogen fuel. There is a station at National Airport that the Airports Authority keeps saying that it will open to the public on a limited basis, but so far, all that anyone has heard is talk-talk. That would not be enough to motivate me to buy a hydrogen fueled, as I live in the city. Why should I have to drive to the suburbs every day just to purchase fuel?


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## Squirming Like A Toad (Apr 7, 2016)

We need some straight 6 engines in these things. The old Falcon 6 Fords could get 30 MPG, without a computer, modern oil, or radial tires. Also a straight 6 is so smooth you might not know the engine is running at idle.


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## Bob Reynolds (Dec 20, 2014)

Will the new Checker be self driving?


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## Another Uber Driver (May 27, 2015)

Squirming Like A Toad said:


> The old Falcon 6 Fords could get 30 MPG, without a computer, modern oil, or radial tires. Also a straight 6 is so smooth you might not know the engine is running at idle.


..................and the windshield wipers ran off engine vacuum..................

I had a 1962 with a 144 cube six and a single throat Holley(!) (on a Ford?), a hand choke and a three-in-the-tree. A police pulled me over for doing forty in a twenty-five zone. I told him that his radar gun must need calibration because the thing would not go that fast, even downhill. He gave me the summons, anyhow, then did not show up for court. I told the Judge that, as well. He laughed, but told me to keep it to admit/admit with explanation/deny. I denied, he banged his gavel for dismissal as the issuing Occifer was absent.

I shudder at the thought of using a 144 six to try to move something that heavy.

When I drove in the suburbs here one summer, they had 1974 Plymouth Satellites with slant sixes. They had steering like Mack six-eight wheelers and horrible brakes. It was bad enough when you did not use the air conditioning, but when you did (which you had to do, here), it was brutal trying to drive the things. There is a really nasty hill on South Walter Reed Drive that goes from Four Mile Creek to Glebe Road. I had the accelerator to the floor and could barely make twenty miles per hour. If you drove one of those 1974 Satellites for ten hours, you were _*TIRED*_ at the end of that day.


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## occupant (Jul 7, 2015)

Keep in mind the basic pushrod engines with carburetors from back in the day were very low powered. A modern fuel injected six with overhead cam would be a lot better. Compare the 4.2L Atlas six in the Trailblazer to the 250cid six in a Nova.

4.1L 250cid six, 1972 Nova
110hp, 185tq

LL8 4.2L 254cid six, 2002 Trailblazer
270hp, 275tq

Direct injection and variable valve timing would improve that further. I think a smaller engine would be adequate. 3.0L with current technology should get you 250-300hp and about 25-30mpg in a 4000-4200lb car. Look at the 2014 BMW 535i for an example.


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## I_Like_Spam (May 10, 2015)

TwoFiddyMile said:


> You wanna GAS that ****?


With today's prices, probably not.

But in the 90's, we had some pretty thirsty cabs on the road in Pittsburgh, I could use as much as 20 gallons in a 10 hour shift,

They had the traditional 5.7 L GM engines, which is probably what they had in the Checker. I was chatting with some young people from Ireland I was driving, young lad was really impressed by the size of the engine.


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## TwoFiddyMile (Mar 13, 2015)

I_Like_Spam said:


> With today's prices, probably not.
> 
> But in the 90's, we had some pretty thirsty cabs on the road in Pittsburgh, I could use as much as 20 gallons in a 10 hour shift,
> 
> They had the traditional 5.7 L GM engines, which is probably what they had in the Checker. I was chatting with some young people from Ireland I was driving, young lad was really impressed by the size of the engine.


I also drove Caprice Classic taxis in the 90s. But the volume was there so far less dead miles. I could book $140 in way under 100 miles, and gas was $1 per gallon. Rarely used over $15 in gas during a 12 hour shift.


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