The Lomberg Auto Body Manufacturing Co. of Joliet, Illinois was organized in the late-teens by a Russian immigrant named Abraham (Abe) Lomberg (1883-1951) to manufacture automobile bodies for the region’s numerous automobile manufacturers.

The history of Commonwealth can be traced to the DeSchaum Motor Syndicate of Buffalo, New York which was founded by William A. Schaum in 1908. The firm’s ‘Seven Little Buffaloes’ 2-cylinder high-wheeler became the DeShaum Motor Buggy in 1909. After an announced relocation to Hornell, New York the firm was reorganized as the DeShaum-Hornell Motor Car Co. However DeShaum, changed his mind and relocated to Ecorse, Michigan in 1910 where he began making a new vehicle called the Suburban. The following year the firm was reorganized as the Suburban Motor Car Company, but following a 1912 scandal involving missing funds, Schaum resigned and was replaced by Randall A. Palmer, the former secretary of the CarterCar Motor Car Corp. Palmer reorganized the firm as the Palmer Motor Car Company in 1913, and the following year entered into a partnership with the Partin Mfg. Co. of Chicago, Illinois, becoming the Partin-Palmer Motor Car Co. Its products were now called Partin-Palmers and the firm relocated to Rochelle, Illinois. Unfortunately the numerous reorganizations and renamed products culminated in the firm’s 1915 bankruptcy.

Charles C. Darnall, Partin-Palmer’s former sales manager, gained control of the firm and reorganized it as the Commonwealth Motors Corp. Darnall had been long associated with the automobile industry. In the early 1900s he had served as general manager of the Palmer-Darnall Co., a Bloomington Illinois auto manufacturer that was founded by his brother, W.C. Darnall, and two other investors; J. A Cooper and H. M. Palmer (unrelated to Randall A Palmer). To differentiate the Commonwealth from the hundreds of other low-priced assembled cars, Darnall came up with the phrase ‘The Car with the Foundation’ and set about beefing up the vehicles nickel-alloy steel chassis using 5” flanges and heavily gusseted crossmembers. Darnall’s marketing scheme proved successful and the firm gained a foothold with their $995 Commonwealth 40hp touring.

Commonwealth relocated to Joliet, Illinois in 1919 and the car’s sturdy reputation resulted in sales to a number of Chicago taxi operators. Later that year they introduced their Mogul Taxi, a purpose-built vehicle utilizing the sturdy Commonwealth frame and purpose-built bodies provided by another Joliet firm, the Lomberg Auto Body Mfg. Co.

The Lomberg Auto Body Manufacturing Co. was organized in the late-teens by a Russian immigrant named Abraham (Abe) Lomberg (1883-1951) to manufacture automobile bodies for the region’s numerous automobile manufacturers. In order to produce the number of bodies needed by Commonwealth for their new Mogul taxi, Lomberg was forced to seek additional capital, which was supplied by another Russian immigrant named Morris Markin. Markin was a successful Chicago clothier who had amassed a small fortune providing uniforms to the US Army during World War I.

Markin was born into poverty in the western Russian city of Smolensk in 1893. After a minimal public education he found work in a local clothing factory and by the age of nineteen had become foreman of a trouser manufacturer’s sewing department. Faced with a bleak future in Czarist Russia, Markin accepted an invitation from an uncle in Chicago to emigrate to the United States. He used his savings and booked passage on a steamer bound for New York’s Ellis Island, arriving in 1913.

Upon his arrival in Chicago, he found work as an assistant tailor and soon became a skilled tailor. Following the death of his employer, he was put in charge and eventually purchased the business from the tailor’s widow. Within the year, he had accumulated enough spare earnings to finance the emigration of his immediate family to the United States, and found them positions in Chicago’s growing garment industry. He eventually entered the ready made suit and pants business with one of his brothers and by the time World War I rolled around, he received a lucrative contract to supply uniforms for the US Army.

When the war ended, Markin was flush with capital, and began to invest in a number of Russian-owned local businesses, one of which was Abe Lomberg’s Auto Body Company to which he loaned out $15,000. Unfortunately for Lomberg, the expected sales of Commonwealth’s Mogul taxis fell far short of expectations and by the end of 1920, Lomberg could no longer keep up with the monthly payments and surrendered ownership of the firm to Markin.

As the nation fell into the post-war recession of 1920-21, things looked bleak for both Lomberg Body and Commonwealth, and production fell to less than 10 completed vehicles per week. Luckily Commonwealth received a substantial order from the Checker Taxi Company in late 1920 just as Commonwealth’s creditors were closing in. The order kept the receivers at bay for a number of months, but by late 1921, Commonwealth Motors Corp. was finally forced into bankruptcy.

The shrewd Markin completed a number of legal maneuvers in rapid succession in order to protect his body building investment. In late 1920, he had reorganized the Lomberg Body Company into the Markin Body Company, and following Commonwealth’s bankruptcy, had made an offer to exchange shares in the Markin Body Corporation for the assets of the now bankrupt auto manufacturer.

Markin had somehow managed to get the assets of the Markin Body Company assessed for $182,703 which was most likely many times greater than the firm’s actual value, which gave him an extraordinary share of the firm’s stock. However, it looked good to Commonwealth’s receivers, and as it was the best, and most likely the only, offer presented to for Commonwealth’s assets, it was accepted in October of 1921. After waiting a few months for the dust to settle, Markin merged the two firms, and reorganized them as the Checker Cab Manufacturing Company in May of 1922.

For a few more months, Checker produced Mogul taxicabs and Commonwealth passenger cars side by side, but Markin had confidence that Checker’s future lay in taxis, and focused all of his efforts on the introduction of the Checker Model C taxi, which was introduced to Chicago’s fleet operators on June 18, 1922.

The Commonwealth was an assembled car as were all subsequent Checkers and the firm’s first cab, the Mogul Checker Model H was little more than a standard Commonwealth passenger car with a heavy-duty clutch and suspension. When Markin took over the firm he added a checkerboard patterned beltline and logo, and even installed little checkered lenses on its parking lamps.

In 1922 Markin shut down production of the Commonwealth passenger car and began searching for a plant outside of Chicago that had room for expansion. During the winter of 1922-1923, Markin inspected the former Mitchell Motors plant in Racine, Wisconsin as well as two plants in Kalamazoo, Michigan; the Dort Auto Body plant and the 3-year-old plant of the Handley-Knight Company.

The Dort plant was no longer needed by the recently reorganized Flint, Michigan automaker and the modern Handley-Knight facility was seriously underutilized by its owner James I. Handley. Another factor in Kalamazoo’s favor was the city’s hundreds of skilled auto workers and body craftsmen that had lost their jobs during the previous year when a number of Kalamazoo-based automakers had gone out of business.

In addition to its skilled labor force, Kalamazoo also had a handful of skilled automotive engineers, namely the Barley Motor Car Company’s Leland F. Goodspeed and James Stout. The pair had helped develop the Barley-built Pennant taxicab and were directly responsible for much of Checker’s early success in the field.

Markin met with the city fathers as well as the owners of both firms and successfully negotiated a plan where he would purchase the former Dort Body plant from its owner and would assume control of the Handley-Knight plant providing that he would allow Handley to continue to use it for the production of Handley-Knight Motor Cars. Unfortunately, the production of that vehicle ended with the death of James I. Handley later that year, so for all practical purposes, Markin now had use of the entire facility.

Markin relocated the production facilities of the Checker Cab Manufacturing Company to the southwestern Michigan City during April of 1923 and on July 15, 1923, the first Checker taxicab built in Michigan rolled out of the 2016 North Pitcher St. plant.

Markin also established a Manhattan sales office called the Mogul Checker Sales Co. and late in the year an improved version of the Checker Model H, called the Model H2 was introduced to much acclaim and orders started pouring in from Chicago, Detroit and New York City.

The model E that debuted early in 1924 was a further continuation of the original beefed up Commonwealth Mogul taxi although it now included a pair of jump seats and was also available with a landau roof that could be folded back for open air sightseeing.

Markin had increased production from less than ten cabs per week to over seventy-five per week in less than two years, and the two Kalamazoo plants employed as many as 700 hands. Although Checker’s factory was now located in Kalamazoo, the firm’s main office remained in Chicago as Markin remained active in other Chicago-based business ventures and also preferred to live there.

In 1926, the Model F debuted, again another cab based on the original Model H, although an angled windscreen replaced the previous model’s vertical unit. Also new was an optional landaulet roof for the passenger compartment that included an enclosed driver’s compartment.

The following year, Checker introduced the Model G, which was just another facelift of the firm’s first cab, although a new long wheelbase version premiered with a standard 6-cylinder engine.

The firm’s first all-new cab in almost a decade debuted in October of 1928. Priced at $2,500, the new vehicle was christened the Model K, and it featured modern coachwork equipped with safety glass all around, a six-cylinder Buda engine, disc wheels and 4-wheel hydraulic brakes fitted to a lengthy 127” wheelbase. A town car version was available and the long list of standard amenities included a heater, an automatic windshield washer, illuminated instruments and chrome-plated bumpers.

According to published accounts, of the estimated 21,000 cabs operating in Metropolitan New York during 1929, 8,000 of them were built by Checker, and in January of that year, Markin acquired a controlling interest in the Checker Cab Sales Corp. of New York, the firm’s largest retail outlet. A large order from Philadelphia’s largest operator later that year helped to make 1929, Checker Cab Manufacturing Company’s most profitable year to date.

In 1930, the pedestrian-looking Model K was replaced by the outrageous-looking Model M Checker. Although it was based on a shortened (by 5”) Model K chassis, it looked totally different and was easily identifiable from a distance due to its rectangular Woodlite headlamps and unusual scooped front fenders which had been designed to reduce the incidence of dented front fenders. The awkward-looking front fenders immediately became a Checker trademark, and weren’t abandoned until 1948 when the firm’s first post-war design, the A2, debuted. Other novel features included checkerboard lensed parking lights and foreshortened running boards that started at the B-pillar, serving only those paying customers riding in the rear tonneau.

Two little known Checker commercial vehicles also debuted in early 1930. The first was a 1-ton cab and chassis that came with a stake body, the second, a station wagon-style utility vehicle that could serve double duty as a passenger vehicle or delivery van. Early versions were built using leftover Model K bodies and chassis, but midway through the year, production shifted over to the new Model M chassis and bodywork.

Designed by S.H. Hunter Kuenzel, the Checker MU6 Utility Vehicle retailed for $1,795 and was available in two wheelbases. The innovative vehicle could be modified for a great number of purposes and preceded the similar Checker A8 Station Wagon and Aerobus by almost 30 years. The stock-appearing limousine body featured four side doors and a clamshell rear tailgate, just like a station wagon. The MU6 had a listed capacity of one ton and could be used as a closed delivery vehicle by simply removing the rear seats and pulling up included window shades over the rear windows. The short wheelbase version included seating for six passengers, the long wheelbase edition could seat nine.

A 1931 issue of Automotive Industries included a Checker ad that advertised the Utility Car’s versatility, "All the fine appearance and riding qualities of a nine-passenger car - quickly convertible into a spacious ton-plus station wagon." The advertisement stated that a number of the vehicles had been sold to funeral homes for use as combination hearse and ambulance.

The Checker Truck was also available in two wheelbases, but proved less popular then the Utility vehicle and was discontinued in 1933 after selling only 550 examples. The Utility Vehicle was available through 1934 and records indicate that at least 1,000 examples were built between 1930 and 1934.

Although Checker began to build production bodies for Hudson and others starting in 1939, they were never regarded as a custom body builder, despite the fact the they occasionally produced custom-built vehicles for special customers. One limousine built for Chicago utility magnate Samuel Insull certainly qualifies as custom. Insull ordered a bullet-proof seven-passenger limousine with a landau top on a 1931 Checker Model M chassis. Early on, the British-born Insull had been an assistant to Thomas Edison, and when he relocated to Chicago in the twenties, he started building an electric utility empire that was eventually valued at $3 Billion. His rapid expansion had been funded by mostly middle class stockholders, and Insull’s once valuable utility network became worthless following the crash of 1929. By 1930, Insull rightly feared for his life and despite a much publicized 1934 trial and subsequent acquittal on fraud charges, he immediately left the county and moved to France.

Checker/Commonwealth’s Mogul taxicabs were forever immortalized in the 1931 12-chapter Mascot Pictures serial called The Galloping Ghost which starred pro-football star Harold ‘Red’ Grange. The typical crime drama concerned the Mogul Taxi Company, which was in reality a front for a criminal gambling ring that specialized in fixing football games. Grange was unwilling to cooperate, and their numerous fisticuffs were documented in the series’ twelve chapters. At the time, the former University of Illinois football star was as popular as ‘Babe’ Ruth and Jack Dempsey, and the serial was made to cash in on his fame.

The Checker Model M continued unchanged into 1932, but in 1933 a new 8-cylinder Lycoming-powered cab, the Model T, was introduced. Based on the Model M, it featured full-length running boards, traditional headlights and unusual circular inserts over its otherwise traditional hood louvers. The stake and suburban utility bodies introduced in 1930 were also available on the stout Model T chassis and proved popular with small businesses. Lycoming was one of E.L. Cord's companies, and beginning in 1933 Markin began to convert the Checker line over to engines produced by the Williamsport, Pennsylvania manufacturer.

Abe Lomberg, Markin’s former business partner, kept a low profile following the failure of his body company, and remained in Joliet, eventually establishing his own car dealership. However his quite life changed forever in 1933 when his daughter Diane became involved with a small-time Russian bootlegger and gangster named Sammy Taran who was active in an around St Paul, Minnesota during Prohibition. Taran came to the attention of the public following a daring April 4, 1933 holdup of the First National Bank of Fairbury, Nebraska which netted him $150,000 in cash and securities. Taran and his henchmen exited the bank shielded by six hostages and escaped behind with their Tommy guns blazing.

While Taran was hiding out in Chicago, he met Abraham Lomberg’s daughter Diane, and the two were married on June 4th 1933, and Taran was apprehended the very next day. Joseph Simon, the husband of Diane’s sister Kate, had been followed after cashing one of the stolen $1,000 Liberty Bonds, which led police to a Chicago hotel were the two men were staying with the Lomberg girls.

Taran was extradited to Nebraska and eventually convicted of the $150,000 robbery, as well as kidnapping the six hostages and firing upon officers of the law. Following his release from prison, Taran relocated to Florida where he formed Taran Distributing Co., the firm that fronted for the mobs ‘juke box’ rackets in the late 40s and early 50s.

During the Depression, many automakers, including Checker, had started to bleed red ink. Although Markin held options on a majority of the firm’s preferred stock, he was unable to thwart a takeover bid launched by GM interests in early 1933 as he couldn’t come up with the cash to exercise them. Consequently, John J. Raskob and Pierre S. DuPont installed a Cornell-educated manager, C.A. Weymouth, as Checker’s president.

Markin had been caught both unaware and unprepared, yet he wasn’t worried as he had a possible ace up his sleeve. Years earlier, Markin and another Chicago businessman named Errett Lobban Cord had crossed paths. More recently Markin had started equipping his cabs with engines supplied by the Cord-owned Lycoming, and felt that he was in a good position to ask his old friend for a favor.

Within a couple of weeks, Cord spent a significant amount of cash exercising Markin’s options on 58,837 shares, giving the pair 60% of the preferred stock, and control of the company. On August 3, 1933 Cord announced he had purchased a controlling interest in Checker, and Markin was reinstalled as president.

Cord’s Auburn Automobile Company had been building taxis for Cleveland’s Saf-T-Cab Corporation, since 1926. The firm’s founder, B.D. DeWeese, aggressively marketed the vehicles to metropolitan fleet operators, some of whom operated firms with Saf-T-Cab, or Safe-T-Cab in their titles. The firm’s products were popular in the Midwest, and could regularly be seen in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, Minneapolis and St Paul.

As was the Checker, the Saf-T-Cab was purpose-built using heavy duty components and the firm advertised that many of their vehicles had exceeded the 100,000 mile mark. Soon after Cord took control of Checker, production of the Saf-T-Cab was transferred to Checker. Auburn was in the process of relocating all manufacturing operations to Connersville, Indiana and the move benefited all parties involved.

Cord’s takeover of Checker coincided with the preparation of the Checker Model Y, which not only looked like the current-model year Auburns, but was also powered by the same 115hp Lycoming eight when it was introduced in 1935. The trademark scooped fenders continued and a new stretched six and eight door version of the Model Y debuted which was specifically designed for transporting passengers to and from airports and train depots.

E.L. Cord was noticeably absent from his automotive and aviation empire during 1934 and 1935 as he and his family fled to Great Britain in March of 1934 following a kidnap scare at their Beverly Hills home. He returned to the county early in 1936 to face charges of charges of stock manipulation which were triggered when he sold back his controlling interest in Checker Cab Co. to Morris Markin, which attracted the interest of the Securities & Exchange Commission.

In April of 1937 Cord was admitted to a Chicago, hospital for exhaustion and a few months later Cord sold 342,000 of his 500,000 shares in the Cord Corporation to Victor Emanuel & Co. and Schroder, Rockefeller & Co. Inc two New York investment houses. The remaining 148,000 shares were sold to his friend, Lucius B. Manning, the president of Aviation Corp. 

Time Magazine reported on Cord’s SEC difficulties and the breakup of the Cord Corporation in an article called “Cord Out of Cord” which appeared in the Aug. 16, 1937 issue.

“Last week in Chicago E. L. Cord, just turned 43, consented to a Federal court order enjoining him and Checker Cab Mfg. Corp.'s President Morris Markin from the "further violation" of SEC anti-manipulation provisions in their dealings in Cord company securities (an SEC charge which both men, however, denied) and simultaneously announced the sale of his entire holdings in Cord Corp. to a Manhattan banking group for $2,000,000. 

“Whether or not this was the end of Cord, it was definitely stated by the new owners that it meant the end of that name in the business he had founded.”

The bankers subsequently liquidated all of Cord Corp’s automotive assets and reorganized its aviation subsidiaries as the Aviation and Transportation Corp.(ATCO). In the next few years Victor Emanuel & Co. rebuilt ATCO and AVCO into a money-making organization which delivered it first dividends in 1941.

Although a few Auburn subsidiaries such as Central Manufacturing and Columbia Axle, were still profitable, its parent company suffered major losses during 1935, 1936 and 1937 and Auburn Automobile Co. filed for bankruptcy protection on December, 11, 1937 in U.S. District Court in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Luckily, Checker fared much better that Auburn, and under Markin’s leadership the firm returned to profitability.

A handful of unusual-looking snouts appeared on American vehicles during the late thirties but none matched the monstrosity that premiered on the 1939 Checker Model A. The equally bizarre Sharknose Graham is the only other vehicle that could hold a candle to the Model A.

Checker designer John H. Tuttle is credited with designing the Model A’s bodywork from the cowl back, but the identity of the person who designed the front end is the subject of much debate. Ray Dietrich served as a consultant to the firm starting in the late 30s, however he emphatically denied any involvement with the firm’s taxi designs rig up until his death.

Tuttle’s name also appears on the patents for the cars optional rear landaulet roof, and it’s probable that he also worked on the front end, however it’s entirely possible a third designer, perhaps even Morris Markin himself, designed the front end, whose main claim to fame was that it so ugly, you could see it coming from up to half-a-mile away.

The headlights were modern oval units mounted to the front fenders in the typical fashion, however those beams were surrounded by massive chrome-plated art-moderne shields unlike any seen on any other vehicle. Body colored louvered valances provided cooling to the radiator which was hidden behind the solid beak that extender downwards from the center of the hood.

The short wheelbase Model A included a purpose-built 124-inch wheelbase chassis with a traditional solid front and live rear axles supported by longitudinal leaf springs. The independent front suspensions found on other manufacturer’s vehicles were easily knocked out of alignment and were far too fragile for taxicab use.

The Model A included a number of more practical innovations such as an automatic signal that alerted pedestrians when the cab was put into reverse, padded finger guards on the rear door edges and rear seats that were stuffed with synthetic rubber cushions.

The Model A was introduced mid-year and was powered by a Continental Red Seal Six, an engine that would become standard equipment until 1965 when the firm adopted a General Motors powerplant. The John H. Tuttle-designed sunroof and landaulet rear top were optionally available on either of the two available wheelbases.

A period review called the Model A:

"...the most radical innovation of the entire taxicab industry this year. Checker's disappearing top is attracting widespread attention in the larger cities where its Parmelee system fleets operate.... The all-metal landaulet can be opened or closed by the driver in 40 seconds, without moving from his seat...the cab is equipped with a glass roof that can be readily opened or closed by the driver at the will of his fare."

The model A was the last prewar Checker taxicab, and only a single survivor, a long-wheelbase model equipped with the landaulet roof, exists. At the start of the war Markin donated the Model A’s body dies to melted down for the war effort, necessitating a redesign of the body when hostilities ceased in 1945.

In the late thirties Checker began manufacturing utility trailers for Sears and body stampings for other automakers. They supplied box van bodies to both Dodge and Ford and also built the streamlined commercial delivery bodies used by Hudson.

When famed automotive designer Ray Dietrich left Chrysler in May of 1938, he was hired by Markin as an engineering consultant to Checker at $100 per day. His first commission involved the redesign of Checker’s welding jigs, later ones included redesigning the Kalamazoo plant’s assembly lines and overhead conveyors.

At the start of the war, Checker created a Special Projects Division that produced specialized truck bodies, ¼-ton T-1 / CCM-12 Bantam Jeep trailers and K-35 communications trailers for the US Army Signal Corps. Dietrich helped the division design Checker’s famous tank retriever, a huge 16-wheel heavy-duty trailer designed to remove disabled tanks from the battlefield.

Checker also contemplated producing Jeeps for the war effort, and went so far as purchasing three Bantam BRC40 prototypes to review in early 1941. For many years it was thought that Checker had produced the vehicles on their own, but further investigation by Bantam historian William Spear and others has uncovered that the two remaining ‘Checker’ Jeeps, one in the Classic Car Club of America Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan, the other, purchased from the estate of Checker engineer Jim Stout and now in California, are actually Bantams with some Checker badging and ID plates.

A surviving contract between Checker and Bantam dated February 11, 1941 indicates that the two firms planned on placing bids for production of the BRC40 and would share in its production if either party was awarded the contract. A review of the bids reveals that although Checker had the lowest bid, the Army felt that they would take too long to gear up for production and awarded the contracts to Ford and Willys. Checker did receive contracts to build the Bantam-designed ¼ ton trailer and truck cabs for Ford. 

Checker commissioned former Auburn chief engineer Herbert J. Snow to come up with designs for the post-war Checker. Snow used a clean sheet and came up with a rear-engined, rear-wheel-drive taxi. Known as the Model B, the car’s basic design had been used year earlier on the Czech-built Tatra and Tjaarda-designed Sterkenberg, and after extensive testing of two prototypes, the configuration was nixed due to its inherent instability during cornering caused by its rear weight bias. 

Snow’s second design, which was called the Model C, didn’t make it to the prototype stage, however his third, the Model D, was a transverse-engined, front-wheel-drive design that resulted in the creation and testing of two prototypes, a 5-passenger sedan and a 7-passenger taxi. Herb Snow had worked on the Cord 810/812 and was well aware of the potential drivetrain problems that resulted from the configuration, and set about to fix them. The Model D’s were tested into 1946, but the tooling required to produce it in quantity proved to be too costly and it was abandoned in favor of a conventionally laid-out drivetrain based on the pre-war Model M chassis.

Ray Dietrich assisted Checker’s Herb Snow and Jim Stout on the design of the firm’s prototypes and had a hand in the design of the Checker A2, their first post-war production model. Dietrich’s body design for the front-wheel-drive Model D prototype was slightly modified for use on a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive chassis which was introduced in the December 15th, 1946 issue of Automotive Industries. 

Production of the $2370 vehicle commenced in early 1947 and surprisingly it did not include a trunk although a rear-mounted luggage rack was available. The rear end was reminiscent of GM’s torpedo fastbacks, and car’s front end was clearly influenced by the 1941 Cadillac and even included a rectangular version of its egg-crate grill.

Checker’s 1948 Brochure advertised that the car’s body was “monocoque constructed in that the frame, girders, sides, top and floor were all welded together into a single unit.” The fact that it could be converted to a normal passenger car in less than two hours was also highlighted as was the ease by which commonly damaged body parts could be replaced:

1) Grill moulding sections are made of pressed steel. In case of damage, cam be straightened or replaced in sections, or entire grille may be removed without disturbing radiator.

2) Front fender may be removed without disturbing the grill or splash panel.

3) Radiator may be removed without disturbing other sheet metal parts.

4) Front fender rear extension may be removed without disturbing fender or any other metal parts. This is also true of the running board.

By 1948 Checker was up and running at 100%, even surpassing it’s pre-war sales levels. The Checker A2 was well received and in that year the firm built 4,500 cabs, 1,000 truck bodies and 300 bus bodies. By that time Ray Dietrich left to pursue more challenging work, such as assisting Preston Tucker and Alex Tremulis with engineering the 1948 Tucker. In 1949 he opened up a small design and fabrication firm of his own in Grand Rapids, Michigan, called Raymond Dietrich Inc. But abandoned the firm in 1953 and returned to being a consultant for both Checker and the Ford Motor Co.

An 8-passenger version of the A2, called the A3 limousine, debuted in August 1948, and a face-lifted and re-engineered A2, dubbed the A4, arrived in 1950. The A4 and its companion A5 limousine featured a tighter turning radius, wraparound bumpers, new rocker panels, revised front doors, a fully functioning trunk, easy-to-clean vinyl interior, and an enlarged windshield that rose higher into the roofline for better vision.

The two Checkers received a new horizontal grill when they were reintroduced as the A6 taxi and A7 limousine in 1953.

Swiss coachbuilder Fritz Ramseier et Cie (aka Carrosserie Worblaufen) of Worblaufen bei Bern built a nine-passenger Checker A3 convertible sedan for display on the Checker stand at the 1950 Geneva Auto Salon. Also exhibited where a standard Checker Sedan and two Checker limousines. 

In 1948 Checker started producing bus chassis for the Dearborn, Michigan based bus distributor, Transit Buses Inc. The firm had been organized in 1941 as a selling organization for the rear-engine Ford Transit Bus, whose bodies were built by the Union City Body Company of Union City, Indiana. 

When the war ended, Transit and the Ford Motor Company couldn’t reach an agreement on the vehicle’s future, so Transit designed an updated 31-passenger model and hired Checker to produce the pusher chassis which was powered by a transverse-mounted Continental Red-Seal engine. 

The buses were assembled at the Union City plant and sold through Transit’s Dearborn-based distribution network. Sales started off well, over 500 of the vehicles were built during 1948 and 1949, 300 of which were purchased by the City of Detroit. However sales of the new vehicles were far-below Transit Buses expectations so they sold the entire operation to Checker early in 1950. 

Checker introduced their Series E Buses in the summer 1951 and although the firm was now owned by Checker, the bodies continued to be built by Union City and marketed by Transit Buses Inc. The City of Detroit ordered 450 units in 1950, however sales fell off dramatically in 1951 and 1952. Between 1950and 1953 less than 500 are thought to have been built, and that number included the 450 units purchased by Detroit. In the meantime Checker engineers had designed a new series of 28 to 42 passenger buses, however the entire project was scrapped and all bus production ended in September of 1953. 

During the Korean War Checker won a portion of a $22 million Army contract to build 1 ½-ton M-105 trailers, which were commonly mated to GMC’s XM211 6x6 2 ½-ton truck. By 1952, Checker was rife with cash and Markin embarked upon a major expansion program which included a new office building, test track and two new cab manufacturing and assembly facilities. 

The City of New York began strictly regulating taxis in 1929 and starting that year, one of the requirements was that any vehicle used for livery or taxi service in the borough of Manhattan had to be able to carry 5 passengers in the rear compartment. Prior to World War II, most manufacturers produced long-wheelbase 9-passenger limousines that met the requirements. After the war, the number was greatly reduced and only Checker, Desoto, and Packard manufactured vehicles that included the required space and requisite jump seats. 

The law was finally changed and in July of 1954 the previous 5-passenger standard was eliminated and standard four-door Detroit-made sedans became eligible for taxi cab service in Manhattan. The long-wheelbase cars that were previously embraced, were now outlawed as a new maximum wheelbase of 120” was implemented. Although all involved denied it, lobbyists for Ford and General Motors were likely behind the new regulation as they were tired of being shut out of the lucrative Manhattan market. 

Although Markin probably didn’t realize it at the time, the July 1954 regulation started a sequence of events that would eventually put Checker’s automobile manufacturing division out of business. Prior to the 1954 regulation, 9,000 of the estimated 12,000 taxis operating in New York City were Checkers, but by 1965 only 2000 Checkers remained. 

In December of 1956, Checker announced the new Checker A8, a vehicle designed to meet Manhattan’s new wheelbase regulation. Not only did the car have a 120” wheelbase, it also featured Checker’s first independent front suspension, power assisted steering and brakes plus a totally new body with easily removable fenders and two-piece doors skins designed for quick repair.

The new vehicle offered a number of modern options including an electrically adjustable driver’s seat, backup warning alert and a remote opening passenger-side rear door. More typical options included an automatic transmission, heavy duty suspension and a roof rack. Cab customer’s could specify what brand and type of tire to be installed and the Continental engine could be custom-ordered with a choice of heads, an overhead valve head for maximum performance, a standard L-head design and a special low compression head for use with low octane fuel. 

Between 1958 and 1960 Armbruster & Company of Fort Smith Arkansas converted a number of Checkers A8/A9s into six- and eight-door limousines for export to the Middle East, particularly Turkey. The vehicles included large roof-mounted luggage racks and were commonly used as jitneys, airport coaches and inter-city buses. 

The A8 was modified in 1958 with a new grill, dual headlights and another designation, A9. Less obvious changes included a larger rear window and a slightly lower roofline. The A9's revised sheet metal included all-new stampings, although the mounting points were kept the same so that much of the A8's sheetmetal could be used on the new model if necessary. The A9's cowl and windshield, trunklid and front and rear bumpers were the only stampings that remained unchanged.

A somewhat less noticeable change also occurred that year; the Checker Cab Manufacturing Company became the Checker Motors Corporation. Although Checker had offered consumer versions of their taxis for a number of years, it was not until 1959 that the fact was promoted in their advertising. In 1959 Checker established a small dealer network and one year later began marketing the A9 sedan to the public as the Supurba. Also introduced was the A9/Supurba Station Wagon, the first Checker since the Checker Utility of 1935. 

In 1961 the Checker A10 debuted, which wasn’t terribly noteworthy except for the renaming of the top of the line Superba Special to the Marathon. The Marathon featured a redesigned grill and separate rectangular parking lamps placed just underneath the twin headlights. The Supurba continued to use the older grill with its integral round parking lamps. Additionally the Marathon also bore a chrome-plated spear that traveled from the front fender into the rear door that was not found on the Supurba. 

Also introduced at the end of the year were the all new Checker nine and twelve passenger limousines. The cars were built using the station wagon’s tailgate and rear quarters mated to a 154½-inch or 189-inch wheelbase which included either three or four pairs of doors. A Chevrolet sourced 8-cylinder engine replaced the Continental six and most of the cars included a GM-sourced Turbo-Hydramatic automatic transmission. 

The massive 8-door 12-passenger wagon had an overall length of 270 inches and still holds the record for the world’s longest regular production passenger car. Period advertising clearly stated that the Aerobus was “Not A Stretch-Out” -But “A Built-For-The-Purpose-Limousine.” The name Aerobus resulted from the vehicle’s adoption by a large number of Midwest livery services for transporting flight crews to and from the airport and it became the official designation for Checker’s six- and eight-door wagons in 1962. 

When Checker went to a standard 120” wheelbase in 1955 they eliminated the few executive limousine customers that they had previously counted amongst their customers. Checker brought them back to the Kalamazoo fold in 1962 when they introduced their 129” wheelbase Town Custom Limousine. 

Designated as the Checker Model 11E (E for extended), the vehicle’s generous rear compartment was created by widening the rear doors by 9” which provided room for two jump seats that unfolded into a bench seat, providing rear seating for up to six. The $7500 car was available with or without a rear divider and could be ordered with a variety of convenience options. Despite the fact that it cost as much as two base Marathon sedans, the long wheelbase E-car would survive into the 1980s under a variety of names which included Marathon Limousine, Marathon Deluxe and Custom Limousine. 

Period Checker advertising boasted that the limousine was… "the perfect car for VIP pick-up and delivery, municipal and local government officials, livery, corporation, resorts and hotels, schools, funeral directors, religious institutions ­whenever and wherever superbly comfortable transportation without ostentation is required."

In 1963 the Checker A12 replaced the A10 which had debuted only two years previous. It would also be the final year for the Superba and from 1964 on, the Marathon would be the marque’s only consumer offering.  

1962 was Checker’s best ever, and the small Kalamazoo automaker built a record 8,173 automobiles. During the 1950s and early 60s Checker produced an average of 6,200 cars per year which during the 1950s were almost entirely taxis. Checker’s passenger car business greatly expanded during the late 50s and in 1962 almost 3,000 cars were sold to the public. By the mid 60s that percentage decreased to less than 20% and by the mid 70s, Marathon sales had fallen well below the 10% mark. 

Bishop Fulton J. Sheen and Happy Rockefeller (Nelson A. Rockefeller’s 2nd wife) were well-known Checker owners, and even the US Government owned a Checker - a 1961 Marathon sedan was purchased by the State Department for the US ambassador to Moscow, Llewelyn Thompson. Thompson had complained that his Cadillac Series 75 was “not suitable for the cobblestones and rough roads encountered in the Soviet Union.” 

In 1964 Continental decided to stop manufacturing the Red Seal engines that had been favored by Checker for almost 30 years, so the automaker converted their chassis over to accept engines from the Chevrolet Division of General Motors. Most of the cabs used the 'stovebolt six', but two 8-cylinders were optionally available throughout the entire line, and a V-8 was included as standard equipment on the Aerobus which had previous used an overhead valve Continental six. 

Checker specialized in offering specially prepared vehicles for niche markets and introduced a Hy-Rail railroad conversion package for the Checker wagon in the mid 60s. The package was available by itself or could be fitted to either a new or existing vehicle at the Checker factory. The Hy-Rail system was manufactured by Fairmont Railway Motors Inc. of Fairmont, Minnesota and had been available as early as 1961 directly from Fairmont. 

During the mid-60s Checker took photographs of a wagon-based police car and ambulance that were fitted with the requisite emergency warning lights and badging. A few years earlier, a Checker catalog had included a picture of a sedan-based police car, so the later photos may have been taken to show possibilities rather than a production proposal. 

In 1966 Checker introduced two lower-priced models, a Deluxe Sedan and a $4,541 limousine which was called the Checker 9-passenger 129” Sedan. Both vehicles were devoid of the Marathon’s side moldings and were noticeably absent from the following year’s catalogs. 

During the 1960s a Swedish Checker distributor by the name of Patrick A. Seton sold Checker mini-buses that were built from stock sedans by removing the rear seats and replacing them with custom-fabricated child-sized bench seats, providing room for up to 13 children. Checker Wagons were also offered that featured two inward-facing bench seats in the rear quarters. Seton also offered a 6-door Aerobus that was modified to carry prisoners, a design that Checker Motors borrowed for the 1972 Checker Convoy. Seton also offered Checker-based ambulances and funeral cars that were built by Heinels, a Malmo, Sweden coachbuilder. 

The Heinels funeral car was built using a Checker Sedan whose rear end was removed from the B-pillars rearward. The chassis was stretched by 35” then a glass-enclosed hearse body crafted onto the chassis. The back seat was removed and replaced by a raised platform upon which the casket rested. A row of occasional seats were installed just ahead of the casket platform which allowed 6 pallbearers to travel with the deceased to the cemetery. 

Seton also sold three distinct Checker ambulances. The first was a standard wheelbase Checker wagon that included a bare minimum of first aid equipment and warning lights. The second was also built using the wagon, however the rear roof section was raised 8” starting just ahead of the B-pillar. The third ambulance utilized a stretched wagon that was fitted with a high-top roof and custom bodywork from the B-pillar back. 

The Swiss coachbuilder deGeorgi built a trio of similar high-roof ambulances for a Zurich hospital in 1966. The vehicles were built using 6-door Aerobuses whose bodies were chopped off at the A-pillar and replaced by a high headroom aluminum van body that was built expressly for ambulance use. The vehicle featured extra-tall commercial-style glass in the driver’s compartment and a full-height attendant’s entrance on the passenger side of the vehicle. Patients were loaded via barn doors located at the rear, and the raised fiberglass roof included a molded-in backlit Red Cross medallion. 

In 1968 Rowan Industries, a New Jersey-based petroleum exploration firm that had financed Alejandro DeTomaso’s takeover of the Italian coachbuilder Ghia, commissioned DeTomaso to design a prototype limousine that they hoped to sell to a US automaker (perhaps Checker?) to compete against the Cadillac Series 75 limousine. A Checker limousine was chosen as the donor chassis and Ghia’s Tom Tjaarda and Giorgio Giugiaro were pegged to come up with a design. 

The resulting car, the Ghia Centurion, was a restrained, yet attractive Berlina that debuted at the 1968 Turin Motor Show and was subsequently displayed at the 1968 Paris and 1969 New York Auto Shows. The interior was trimmed in typical limousine fashion with leather in front and cloth in the rear and met with mixed reviews; David Burgess-Wise commented that the car “had been designed for people wearing top hats” and Car & Driver pulled no punches inferring that the “sinister” vehicle had been designed with the Dons in mind. 

Checker was not involved in the project and the Rowan Industries project did not progress beyond the prototype stage. The prototype remained in New Jersey after the New York Auto Show and is currently undergoing restoration in Massachusetts. 

Another Checker-based luxury vehicle was proposed by industrial designer G. Richard Thomas that was called the Summit. Thomas designed a new front and rear end for the Checker and began work on a prototype using a 129” chassis with a modified Checker greenhouse, but unfortunately the project was so under-funded he couldn’t even complete the prototype.

Checker amassed another first in US automotive history during 1968 when they became the first domestic auto manufacturer to offer a diesel engine. The long wheelbase Town Custom Limousine was noticeable absent from the 1966-1968 Checker catalogs however it was available on special order and could be ordered in less-expensive base trim. The Limousine returned as the Marathon Deluxe in 1969, the same year that Checker introduced its next niche product, the Medicar.

Starting in the mid 60s Checker had offered a medical transport option on their sedans and limousines whereby the rear seats could be removed and replaced by a raised solid floor which contained a ramp that exited the rear compartment via the passenger-side rear door, which could be opened a full 180 degrees, allowing the entire width of the rear door opening to be utilized during entry and exit. When the medical transport option was installed on the long-wheelbase limousine, the car’s spacious interior could easily accommodate either three wheelchairs or a single chair and ambulance cot with the front seat removed.

The main problem with the converted sedans was a notable lack of headroom, which was solved with the Medicar. Checker raised the roof by 10” creating a usable interior height of 55½”, the same height found in other competing medical transporters. The car featured a built-in ramp housed in the car’s rocker panel and included all of the features found on the previous Checker medical transporters and could also be retrofitted as a high headroom limousine. Most existing Medicars are painted black with a black vinyl roof although I’ve seen pictures of a blue one, so it’s possible other colors were offered as well. Records indicate only 50 (or 100?) Medicars were built between 1969 and 1971 when the car was discontinued, however the medical transport option - sans raised roof - was available through 1982.

On July 7, 1970, Morris Markin passed away, leaving the nearly stagnant company in the hands of his son David who at that time was more interested in playing tennis than manufacturing automobiles. However, Markin eventually got himself in gear, and started looking for other sources of income, one of which was Checker’s special projects division which began to produce body stampings, truck boxes and sub-frame assemblies (Camaro & Firebird) for General Motors and others in the early 70s. 

By the late 60s, the six-door Aerobus had few takers and the vehicle disappeared from the Checker catalog in 1970. In 1972, Checker introduced the Convoy, an eight-door Aerobus specifically designed for transporting prisoners. The rear passenger compartment included two inward-facing bench seats, a third forward facing bench at the rear and a rearward-facing bucket seat next to the driver for the prisoner’s minder. The entire prisoner compartment was boxed-in with a heavy welded wire cage with a single locking door at the front. Prisoners exited the vehicle via the second passenger side door, just behind the guard’s buck seat. 

At least one prototype Convoy was built, however it appears that few, if any, were sold and none are known to exist. Sales of the Checker station wagon and eight-door Aerobus ground to a halt soon after and the both was noticeably absent from the 1975 Checker brochure. 

Apparently a number of former Aerobus customers complained and a new Aerobus appeared in 1976. In a questionable move, Checker brass decided to build the vehicle using the rear end and jump seats from its limousine which gave the 8-door vehicle seating for 15 passengers, however that also meant that it lost 75% of the earlier vehicle’s luggage carrying capacity. Unlike its predecessor’s uniform door spacing, the door spacing on the new Aerobus looked awkward, and many thought it looked as if it had been cobbled together, and a number of operators complained that the body flexed so much that its door moldings popped off while rounding a corner. 

The new Aerobus was not a success, and between 1975 and 1976 when the project was scrapped, only 107 examples were sold. The 76-77 Aerobus was clear evidence that Checker’s current management team was more interested in cutting costs than producing the solid vehicles that Morris Markin had built its reputation on. 

Far more successful were the custom Checker limousines sold by Ft. Lauderdale’s Checker Southeast Corporation. Marvin Winkoff, the former vice-president of the nation’s largest Checker dealer, Checker Motor Sales Corp., of New York, moved to Florida in the early 70s and established the Checker Southeast Corp., of Ft. Lauderdale. Winkoff gave stock Checker limousines a more upscale look by installing vinyl landau roofs and oval opera windows in the cars blanked-in rear quarters. Winkoff’s creations were available in both wheelbases and could be outfitted as private cars or taxicabs. Two-tone paint, leather seating surfaces and built-in bars were available options and the small firm sold over 200 of the custom vehicles into the early 80s. After Checker went out of business, Winkoff became a successful south Florida real estate and insurance agent. 

Checker’s bumpers took on a more substantial look on September 1, 1972 when Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 215, went into effect. The law called for passenger cars, beginning with model year 1973, to withstand 5 mph front and 2 ½ mph rear impacts against a perpendicular barrier without damage to certain safety-related components such as headlamps and fuel systems. 

The government wasn’t done messing around with bumpers, and starting in 1979, Checker’s bumpers really began to look like guardrails due to a March of 1976 bumper standard that required passenger cars beginning with model year 1979 (1980) to withstand 5-mph front and 2½-mph rear impacts without damage of any kind. 

In 1982 the law was revised and starting in 1983 the no damage provision of the previous law was dropped from 5-mph to 2½-mph. However, the 1982 revision had no effect on Checker as they already withdrawn from the cab manufacturing business. 

During the mid-70s David Markin let it be known that he was looking for a partner who could revitalize the company. Edward N. Cole, a retired General Motors president and former engineer approached Markin with an offer he couldn’t refuse. Cole and Victor Potamkin, the metropolitan New York/New Jersey car dealer offered to purchase 50% of the firm for $6 million. 

Markin accepted and in 1976 Cole became Checker’s chairman and chief executive officer and Markin was demoted to president. The additional working capital was to be used to help develop a more efficient downsized taxi that would put the firm in a much better financial situation. 

Cole’s first project involved a downsized 6-passenger taxi, built using stretched Rabbits supplied by Volkswagen of America. Two prototypes are known to have been built and tested, however the scheme came to an abrupt halt when Cole died at the controls of his private plane in a crash that occurred while en route to Kalamazoo on May 2, 1977. 

Another downsized taxi scheme was proposed in 1980 by Autodynamics, a Madison Heights, Michigan engineering firm. The car would be built using stretched Chevrolet Citations (X-cars) built using dent-resistant plastic fenders similar to those used by Saturn during the 1990s.  At least one stretched Citation prototype was built and a 1995 visitor to the Checker plant recalled seeing it during his visit.

In 1981 Checker suffered its first financial net loss in almost 50 years. Although the $488,326 was small potatoes compared to the money that Chrysler was losing, it was significant amount for such a small manufacturer. During the 1970s, the firm regularly produced over 5,000 cabs per year, but during 1981, that number had fallen to 3,200 and the prospects for the following year looked even worse. 

300 hourly workers were laid off during the winter of 1981-82 and Victor Potemkin divested himself of his Checker shares leaving David Markin to fend for himself. Markin tried to renegotiate a contract with the factory’s Allied Industrial Worker’s union, however they remained uncooperative, and in an April, 1982 letter to his employees, Markin announced that taxi production would stop that July. 

The letter, which was printed in the April 8, 1982 issue of the Kalamazoo Gazette, hinted that the decision was linked to refusals by Local 682 of the AIW union to grant the automaker concessions. At the time an unnamed union official stated “We don’t know whether or not to believe the letter.” 

However, Markin was a man of his word and on Monday, July 7, 1982 he sent out another letter to his employees announcing that the last Checker taxi would be rolling off the assembly line that Friday, July 12th. Although pink slips were given to 190 union workers, a further 600 kept their jobs as Checker’s profitable metal stamping division would remain open for the foreseeable future.

During the rest of the 1980s Checker focused on expanding their automotive part manufacturing business which supplied lift gates, chassis subassemblies, metal stampings, truck boxes, door skins and various other body panels to General Motors, Chrysler and Ford.

In 1989 David Markin and three other investors gained control of International Controls Corp. (ICC), a holding Company that also controlled Great Dane Trailers. ICC became CRA Holdings, and in 1995 CRA was reorganized into three wholly-owned subsidiaries: Yellow Cab (owns and leases taxi cabs in Chicago), Chicago Autowerks (taxi-cab repair and other services) and CMC Kalamazoo. Other subsidiaries include American Country Insurance Company, a provider of property and casualty insurance, Great Dane, (the largest manufacturer of truck trailers, containers and chassis), and South Charleston Stamping & Manufacturing Company. 

During the 1990s CMC Kalamazoo – aka Checker Motors - continued producing various parts and body panels for General Motors, and their future looked bright. Markin’s CRC Holdings was eventually reorganized as Great Dane Limited Partnership, and the firm was sold to Chicago-based CC Industries in 1996.

Although CC Industries remained Checker’s parent company, Markin retains a controlling interest in CC’s Kalamazoo-based operations and today, Checker Motors and its parent company, Checker Holdings, continue to produce automotive castings, door skins and other body panels for General Motors.

Markin maintains a large collection of Checker vehicles in a portion of the Kalamazoo plant, two of which are on display at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan.

A post-mortem blow to the Checker cab was delivered in July of 1999 when the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission declined to grandfather in the city’s few remaining in-service Checkers when stringent new emissions went into effect on August 1st of that year and the last in-service Checker Taxi was retired on July 26, 1999.

David Markin remains an avid tennis player and supporter and divides his time between homes in Palm Beach and Kalamazoo. He was instrumental in the development and building of the Arthur Ashe Stadium, home to the U.S. Open, in Flushing Meadows, New York, and has served as chairman of the U.S. Davis Cup Committee and president of the United States Tennis Association. 

At the time of his 2003 divorce, Markin’s wealth was estimated at just over $100 million. Unfortunately for the Checker heir, his ex-wife Susan is in line to receive half of that amount when their well-publicized divorce proceedings are finalized.

© 2004 Mark Theobald - Coachbuilt.com with special thanks to Joe Fay

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Harvey Eckart - Mack Buses: 1900 Through 1960 Photo Archive

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Robert R. Ebert  - Flxible: A History of the Bus and the Company

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