Checker Taxi

Checker Cab or short Checker was a car model which (later Checker Motors Corporation) was produced in Kalamazoo, Michigan, by the Plancherel Checker Cab Manufacturing Company. The company was founded by a Russian immigrant Morris Markin in 1922 and produced vehicles until 1982. Checker were almost exclusively manufactured for use as a taxi. Only about three percent of the total production was sold as a "normal car " to private customers.

Markin bought a small car manufacturer, Commonwealth Motors, and founded, together with fellow members of "Checker Taxi", an association of taxi drivers, on 2 February 1922, the Checker Cab Manufacturing Company. In addition, he secured until 1929 a total of 60 % of the shares in "Yellow Cab". 1935 "Checker Taxi" converted into a Company ( Checker Taxi Corporation).

In the 1980s, the taxi segment became more and more occupied by Ford. Although the Checker vehicles were spacious and robust vehicles, but from today's perspective uneconomical due to the high gasoline consumption, they also satisfy the more recent requirements for safety any more, which is why they were taken out despite the popularity among drivers and passengers. Even today, many American taxi companies operate under the name "Checker Cabs ", but this is due to the popular pattern.

On December 18, 1999 was the last present in the regular taxi dispatcher Checker Cab of Sotheby's for 134,500 U.S. dollars was auctioned. It had a total mileage of 994 050 mi ( 1,599,768 km ) and had been 21 years previously purchased for around $ 9,000.

Checker Motors now works only as a supplier, especially for General Motors.