GTP Cool Wall: Checker Marathon

  • Thread starter BKGlover
  • 22 comments
  • 2,912 views

Checker Marathon

  • Total voters
    50
  • Poll closed .
BKGlover

BKGlover

6,117
United States
Texas
Checker Marathon nominated by Jim Prower



Stats that Matter:
Known best for Taxi Cab
Production:1962-1982
Styles:4-Door Sedan, 5-Door Station Wagon
Engines:Continental and Chevrolet Inline-6, Chevrolet V6 and V8, and Olds Diesel 350 V8(yeah, THAT one)
Transmission:3 Speed Automatic
Layout:Front engine-Rear drive
0-60:Can it do that?
Top Speed: Does it matter?
Wikipedia

Cool Wall Nomination Thread

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Last edited:
It's cool i always liked it looks very classy 1950s Style And im guessing there very reliable wit that Chevy 350 , The Olds 350 Diesel i dunno but i heard it had problems .
 
Cool, only because I have a soft spot for New York and this is brings back too many memories from when I was a kid.
 
I actually like it, but any car that you have to explain how its special is sadly uncool.
 
Justin
I actually like it, but any car that you have to explain how its special is sadly uncool.
Click to expand...

I'm... torn. I don't think it needs explanation. The Checker is iconic. You see a Checker Marathon, even in plain white (if someone were to actually go to the trouble of doing that) and you know exactly what it is. It has been part of the NYC landscape for decades.

-

But is iconic automatically cool? The Trabant is iconic. In the sense that every time you say "communist car", people automatically think of the Trabant. I'm not sure the Marathon's iconic status automatically makes it cool. Then again, there aren't many reasons to call it uncool.

And it's definitely not "Meh".

Color me undecided. Can't vote without rumination. :lol:
 
Difference:

Driving a Checker would been seen as chic and nosaltic. That would draw the ladybirds. Driving a Trabant would been seen as woeful and only draw the vultures. Seriously Uncool.
 
I voted Meh because while yes it is iconic, it's as iconic as the tri-5 Chevys five years after they were changed. It remained the same even as the landscape was changing to the pony cars and muscle cars, then econoboxes which still had more power, then finally kicked the bucket once the econony and overworn factory equipment conspired to end the thing.

No, I never rode or have even seen a Checker of any kind in person. Why do you ask?

I'll give one thing, Morris Markin had one hell of a strategy. More importantly, it worked.

Edit: Just found the transmission. 3-speed Automatic.
 
Rounds out to a Meh.

Cool for its iconic status and the looks, but Uncool because it's famous as a taxi. It's something I feel that diminishes cool factor for big sedans when they're used in all the taxi fleets.
 
An industrial workhorse. Few cars are so singularly focused as the checker. In that respect it is brilliant and therefore cool.
 
niky

But is iconic automatically cool?
Click to expand...

The Edsel is iconic for being one of the biggest automotive flops and ugliest vehicles ever. That right there should answer your question.
 
Except, they look pretty cool if you ask me, and all my friends agree they're WAY better looking than any new car.
 
Uncool. They come across as a hipster car, you own one because it's "ironic" or whatever reasoning hipsters give for doing things the way they do them. Plus it's a cab and there's nothing cool about a cab.
 
It's an iconic part of New York history, inseparable from the city for 30 years; and it's incredibly impressive that they managed to make it that long without any changes. It was basically the perfect car for the task, far more than even the Crown Victoria that basically replaced it; built on a design that was already built around parts from other manufacturers purely on the basis of how reliable and widespread the parts were.



But it's also a taxi. Seriously Uncool.
 
Hmm. If I'd thought of the hipster connection before I voted, I would have gone with uncool.

But my free-association memories of the Checker are from various 70's and 80's movies, Sesame Street, "TAXI" and vague memories of my childhood in New York. All good vibes. Which means it deserves at least more than a "Meh".
 

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