ALL SCI-FI

[bulldogtrekker]

Checker Motor Cars Concept Car
Hemmings


This artist???s rendition of Galva II shows the massive rear doors of the 128-inch-wheelbase proposal. (Joe Fay Collection)

[Note: Ben Merkel and Joe Fay, both friends of Hemmings and giants in the Checker community, recently released a book, Checker, The All-American Taxi, which charts the history of the company from beginning to end and includes plenty of rarely seen photos and information. Of particular interest, we thought, was the chapter on Checker???s attempts to modernize its cabs in the late Seventies and early Eighties, so Ben and Joe allowed us to share that excerpt here. ...

By the 1970s the Checker cab design was several automotive generations old. As the decade started, the Checker A11 design had been in production for close to twenty years, with design elements that could be attributed to a 1950 clay design and some chassis components with ancestral linkage to the 1939 Model A. Clearly, it was time for Checker to consider developing a modern taxi that would allow the company to produce cars into the next century. Several projects were executed in the early 1970s in the attempt to develop a new Checker......

In March of 1977, Ed Cole, former GM president, and Victor Potamkin, one of the largest car dealers in the US, bought control of Checker Motors??? taxi subsidiary, Checker Taxi Co, which then operated Checker fleets in Chicago, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh......

Cole and Potamkin partnered with Jim McLernon, President of Volkswagen of America, to explore the feasibility of stretching the VW Rabbit (aka Golf) 21.0 inches in order to create a VW-based taxicab. The hoopla was significant and the US automotive world was watching Checker when, just weeks into the new partnership, Ed Cole was killed when the private plane he was flying crashed on his way to Kalamazoo.





Autodynamics??? publicity photo of the proposed Galva FWD Checker. Although the Rabbit is considered a small car, its quite clear to meet Checker???s passenger compartment standards the Galva need to become very large. (Joe Fay Collection)

Despite Cole???s death, Checker soldiered on with the transformation plan, and three months after, in August of 1977, they unveiled plans for the new Taxi to the public in a Forbes Magazine article.....

One test mule, a stretched Rabbit was created and field-tested. The test encompassed the placement of 500lb (227kg) of sandbags in the rear passenger area of the vehicle, which was driven from Kalamazoo to Chicago, where it was put into loop traffic and monitored for performance. The resulting test was disappointing. Upon its return to Kalamazoo, the mule was parked and the project was killed as it was decided the VW based concept wasn???t suitable as a taxi.....

Checker???s final attempts at introducing a new cab came in early 1981. CMC signed a contract with Autodynamics to develop a new Checker. The project was called Galva II, an extension of the project originally positioned back in 1974. Autodynamics developed a design that would use the latest GM components developed under the GM X-Car program. BDT: The Chevy Citation!!!!!!! What a disappointment!

....There was a lot of excitement, Great press was generated, but ultimately, the new Checker was never put into production. Regarding the decision to kill it, Sab Hori was quoted in Automobile Quarterly:

???We were at a crossroads whether to continue to offer the Taxi or discontinue and go into contract work. To stay in the taxi market required a large expenditure of money. At the time, the whole automobile industry was in a downturn. We didn???t feel it was worth the expenditure of several million dollars. There was still a lot of uncertainty. It would be a tremendous gamble.???.....

The dynamics at the time made it clear that Checker would not only not produce a new Checker, but ultimately, Checker ended all car production in June of 1982 in order to focus on third party production. Funds to be directed for the new Checker were diverted to a new strategy of third party stamping and production. The expansion kept Checker in business well into the 21st century. Although it???s romantic to think about the possibilities of what a new FWD Checker could have achieved, it???s safe to say that the decision not to move forward was clearly the correct one.

- See more at: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2015/08/12/galva-and-galva-ii-the-checker-cabs-that-could-have-been/?refer=news#sthash.KBv63umH.dpuf

[ShadowLandz100]

I still liked what Checker had for cabs in the 1930's through the early 50's in New York City. I saw a few in the 1950 in Midtown New York, they had a unique paint design on the front grill Karl






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Photograph what interests you today for tomorrow it may not exist.

[bulldogtrekker]

Checker Update
Daniel Strohl, Hemmings Daily

...???A lot of auto manufacturers already offer four-door taxis, so no, we???re not trying to bring back the taxi,??? said Steve Contarino, owner of Checker Motor Cars, a company based in Haverhill, Massachusetts, focused on restoring vintage Checkers. ???Instead, we want to bring back nostalgia in a usable form.???

That means targeting two other niches with the two new Checkers. The first model, a six-door sedan that Contarino calls the A888, mimics the old Checker Aerobus designs and conceivably slots into the sightseeing bus and hotel limousine role. ???We???ve already spoken with a lot of hotels in New York City and elsewhere that are interested in one of our restored cars, but they want something with modern braking and steering that they can just put a driver in,??? Contarino said.




Checker offered the Aerobus in six- and eight-door configurations as well as in sedan and station wagon bodystyles from 1962 through 1977. Contarino???s six-door A888 would offer four rows of seating for 12 passengers.

The second model, a two-door that Contarino calls the Sport Pick-up Crossover, would revive the sedan pickup bodystyle, made most famous by the Chevrolet El Camino and Ford Ranchero. Contarino said he envisioned something that could be used as a daily driver, but that also offered the utility of a pickup. ???Globally, we see a need for both types of vehicle,??? he said......




- See more at: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2015/10/01/checker-revival-announced-but-not-as-a-taxi/?refer=news#sthash.f7dKGPfW.dpuf