The Beloved Checker Taxi Cab

Checker cabs were the best taxis ever to hit the streets of our city. Roomy and sturdy as a tank, they seemed to last forever, and their engines produced a familiar sound. Best of all, they had a real old time feel about them; you sensed you were in an old black and white film when you stepped into one, as if a driver was going to turn around and ask "Where to, Bud?"

Through the Seventies the Checkers were the most common taxi cabs in NYC, as well as other major US cities, and were made by the Checker Cab Company of Kalamazoo.

Shoppers loved the Checkers since they held so much stuff, and old people appreciated the ease of entry and exit - plus the leg room. In fact, the back of a Checker was so vast that I had a friend who was able to fit her electric wheelchair in one - completely assembled, with her in it!

Sadly, Checker stopped making its taxis in 1982, although some of these workhorses continued serving our city for more than 15 years afterwards. The last official yellow Checker cab in NYC was retired in 1999.