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Photos courtesy of Checker Motor Cars
There have been dozens of different vehicle body styles, but the Checker Aerobus is from a forgotten era, created before what we now call “limousines” and “airport shuttles”.
With news that plans are in the works to resurrect the iconic Checker cab taxi if legislation is passed in the U.S., Checker Motor Cars is currently a business that currently restores and sells the well-known workhorse, including the incredible—and often forgotten—“Aerobus” body style.
Hauling cargo is one thing, but getting people from A to B is a different challenge altogether. Unlike a limo, where the interior layout is most important, a shuttle vehicle should be able to quickly and safely pick up or drop off its passengers, so what you really want is a number or doors so that each row can hop in with ease, which is exactly what the Aerobus is.
These extended taxis are based on the Checker Marathon, a car that was cheap to make but overbuilt in just about every respect. From 1960 to 1982, major North American cities had swarms of Marathon taxis on their roads, ferrying fares around.
Introduced in 1962, two years after the Marathon’s debut, the Aerobus was powered by V8 engines, first from Chrysler, then from Chevrolet. At the very least, the Aerobus slinked from the factory with V8 engines tuned for durability, not performance. Only available with a power-sapping automatic transmission and power-sapping power steering, and power-sapping heavy duty air conditioning, in its fastest state of tune the Aerobus would top out at 160 km/h (99 mph).
Both wagon and sedan versions were made, with either three or four rows of bench seats, with access doors on either side. The whole shebang weighed at most a mighty 2,405 kg (5,302 lbs).
Just 3,568 of these were originally built in total—but with the reborn company planning on introducing them to the market after a prolonged absence, it’ll be far more likely a ride in a modernized Aerobus will be in your future. With updated powertrains, looks, and safety features, who’d honestly not drive this over a boring old shuttle bus?
And if you don’t want an enormous sedan, the new Checker will be offering a Chevrolet El Camino-esque pickup truck version. More information is available on its Facebook page or at the company’s website.
This limousine is certainly beyond praise, just incredible. It is a pity that on the site https://stocktonlimos.net/ where I rented limousines there was no such classic. I would be willing to pay
Limousine in every model got popularity in whole world. The limo rental services are always appreciable. The luxury rides of limo always attract the intention of the audience.
You can see http://backstagelimoservices.com/
Between the ludicrously high projected price tag , ridiculous body style offerings [ how many folks wanting a Checker want airport limos or El Checkerinos ? Answer ? Nobody . The desired format being the classic four door sedan ] .. the extremely limited numbers they’re saying they’ll build … added on to the fact that the ‘ owner ‘ has zero experience .. etc etc
What we have here is yet another automotive Vanity Project destined to fail … more than likely before it ever sees the light of a production day .
Honestly … if these wingnuts were the least bit serious .. they’d be starting off with the 4dr in reasonable numbers as well as at a reasonable price ….. then assuming any level of success is had .. then start thinking about branching out into El Checkerinios and vulgar over sized Checker Airport Limos
” Vanity . vanity , vanity . Everything is vanity ” … especially when it comes to automotive as well as M/C start ups these days .