By: Margery Krevsky
What do fire bombings, dead race horses, rental cars and Checker Cabs have in common?
Our saga of the great American taxi begins at the start of the automotive business in the early 1900’s with an entrepreneur in the tailoring and clothier business named Morris Markin. He was a Russian immigrant transplanted to Chicago, Illinois. As a crafty business man in search of profits he also handled a money lending operation which was well known and respected in the state. When a financial reversal for the owner of Commonwealth Motors in Joliet, Illinois made it impossible to repay a $15,000 loan to Markin he added auto manufacturer to his list of business credits. Taking over the business in 1921 Markin learned Commonwealth Motors was unique,
as it marketed vehicles to cab companies under the trade name of Mogul. But he found auto manufacturing for cabs a difficult business to reap a profit. Cab companies were not as concerned about a new model every year and kept cabs on the road until they exhausted visual appeal or driving ability. Suddenly he faced the same situation as the former owner and was about to go into bankruptcy. Just as he was about to go under himself an unexpected big order for cabs was placed from Checker Taxi, a cab company in Chicago. Markin saw this as an opportunity to gain a foothold into the cab business itself. Taking the profit from this transaction he created a new company called the Checker Cab Company. He honored the contract to Chicago Checker Taxi completely, but the stage was set now for a great Chicago rivalry.
1982 Checker taxicab in green and cream with Checker’s trademark checkerboard trim. This is one of the last models produced, rolling off the assembly line on July 12, 1982. Called the “Marathon” its stable styling was the classic taxi people recognized everywhere in the USA for over 20 years.
While Markin was creating a cab empire, at the same time, John Hertz was operating a successful taxi service featuring livery transportation (horse and buggy) and motorized taxi service called “Yellow Cab”. Hertz trained his drivers to open doors, respect his passenger and engage in common courtesies like saying “thank you”. Also, the drivers had clean uniforms and were instructed to keep the cabs “spotless”.
Because of auto manufacturing overproductions, which Markin was dealing with as the owner of Commonwealth Motors, Hertz cleverly bought these excess cars at reduced prices and began renting them to customers under the marketing term “Yellow Drive-Ur-Self”. This was the beginning of the rental car phenomenon. A life time feud began when Markin realized the success Hertz was having not only as a Chicago cab competitor (Checker Taxi), but also making a profit from his reduced priced overproduction vehicles in a brand new business. He retaliated by buying Checker’s stock in 1924 and by 1937 had gained full control of the Checker Taxi Cab Company.
The Classic Yellow Checker Cab: American culture is full of Checker Cabs from Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film Taxi Driver where the main character Travis Bickle drives a Checker to the 2000 movie Unbreakable about a slightly modified Checker Cab restyled to have tank like appearance.
The cab war was on. Fighting between Checker Cabs and Yellow Cabs (Checker Taxi Company) was open warfare resulting in fighting between the companies with drivers ganging up on one another between fares. The ultimate occurred when Markin’s house was firebombed. Markin was stunned by the violence and left Illinois buying the Dort Automobile factory in Kalamazoo, MI and relocating the Checker Cab Company’s main headquarters to Michigan.
John Hertz founded the Yellow Cab Company in Chicago in 1915. In 1929 he left the cab business selling to Morris Markin. He created the concept of rental cars and was a board member of General Motors
Hertz also had a reckoning event when a suspicious fire occurred at his stables killing his prized race horses. Hertz took his money and left the business. Markin bought his shares and about the same time acquired controlling interest in another cab company called Parmalee. He was now the cab czar. In 1940 his combined cab company consisting of Yellow, Checker and Parmalee was now the largest cab company in the USA. The company dropped the automotive manufacturing division in 1961 as the cab revenues were the money making entity.
An interesting aside in this saga is in 1977 after the death of Morris Markin, retired GM President Ed Cole bought into Checker Cabs with the intent of re-energizing the company and developing a more modern Checker. His plan was to take partially made Volkswagens from VW’s factory in Pennsylvania, reconfigure them as a taxi in the Checker Motors factory in Kalamazoo and create a new era of cabs. Tragically Cole was killed when his plane crashed near Kalamazoo. The plan never went forward.
Because taxis were often in use 24 hours a day and were involved in numerous accidents the fender and door parts needed to be replaced often. So the original taxi design, called the “Marathon”, became outmoded after 20 years in use as the parts fit problem became a major issue. Also, the stamping dies were wearing out and could no longer be used. Re-tooling was a major expense, which could not be justified, so the decision was made to stop production. The last models were produced for the 1982 model year and the final automobile rolled off the assembly line on July 12, 1982. Checker Motors operated until 2009 as an automotive subcontractor, primarily for General Motors.
Margery Krevsky is the author of Sirens of chrome: The enduring allure of auto show models published by Momentum Publishing. Available at: www.amazon.com, www.sirensofchrome.com and www.momentum.com. And select Borders and Barnes and Noble book stores across the country.
Story of the week brought to you by:
MotorCities National Heritage Area
http://www.motorcities.org/index.html