Despite, or perhaps because I live far away from the Big Apple in New York City, their classic Yellow Cabs hold a certain allure. There are not many vehicles left in this age of globalization that so clearly evoke a specific place, and the image of the New York City taxi perseveres in the public’s psyche even amidst the rise of Uber and Lyft.
So imagine my surprise to find three iconic NYC taxi cabs parked in midtown Atlanta. What are the odds of encountering some of the most recognizable vehicles of all time in one place? Plus the inclusion of a modern also-ran successor.
It is presumed that these vehicles belong to a film shoot of some kind. It’s surprisingly common to pass off Atlanta as New York City due to Georgia’s favorable taxation for film productions. And it’s not hard to see how the Cadillac Escalade limousine and Nissan NV200 would pair nicely to form a convincing modern-day New York street scene.
However, Crown Victorias are officially extinct from that city’s streets due to its age restrictions on taxis. Are they supposed to represent a flashback scene from the late 2000s? The presence of the iconic Checker Taxi suggests the film is portraying New York across multiple eras.
About that Nissan NV200; while not as visually iconic as the Crown Victoria or the Checker Taxi, it deserves recognition for being ambitious in a way the Ford wasn’t. The NV200 taxi was developed in partnership with the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission as the “taxi of tomorrow.” It received extensive modifications including rear-controlled A/C and careful consideration for increased accessibility, while the ergonomics of getting into the seats were enhanced with strategic grab handles refined through intensive testing.
However, this endeavor to create one official NYC taxi vehicle fell apart due to legal problems and a lack of support at the last minute. The old Crown Victoria had little competition when new, but the NV200 had to beat more efficient but less specialized Priuses and Camry hybrids. In the open market, it could compete but never dominated. Since the NV200 taxi was discontinued in 2018 and NYC taxis aren’t allowed to be more than 7 years old, Nissan’s ambitious “taxi of tomorrow” has but one year left to live in the wild.
At the very least, this unusual footnote of a vehicle should be remembered as the only way to acquire a passenger-oriented NV200 in the United States. Neither the Nissan nor its Chevrolet City Express badged engineered twin (not available in taxi spec) could be bought by civilians with rear seats or side windows, curiously.
In fact, that 7 year rule was supposed to phase out the iconic Crown Victorias in 2018, as the last model was built in 2011 as a 2012 model year vehicle. Famously, two devoted cab drivers kept their Victorias on the road until 2023, with 550,000 and 491,000 miles on the odometer respectively.
However, if there’s one American taxi that’s more iconic than the Crown Victoria, it’s the Checker Taxi.
While these vehicles are commonly referred to as Marathons after their civilian version, this particular example appears to have always served as a taxi from new. A true Taxi with capital T, as these cab models were referred to by Checker Motors.
Since these vehicles were produced virtually unchanged from 1960 to 1982, the only easy way to narrow down the model years is the bumpers. This one doesn’t have the ’74 and up “girder” style, but rather the less common smaller bumpers.
Especially in New York City, taxis tend to live a hard life; even durable Checkers tended to become the taxi of Theseus a mere few years into their career. It’s genuinely remarkable that this vehicle is rocking a near-perfect condition early-style chrome bumper given the unobtainability of pristine Checker trim pieces.
In fact, it turns out this particular vehicle is a 1965, making it a notably early build. It belongs to a local film prop agency with a particularly CC-worthy inventory focusing on the 1910s-1970s. Checkers have low survival rates, so this film prop really is something special. Let’s hope no movie’s script calls for a taxi crash anytime soon. It’s a dangerous business for a classic car to be in.
Based on the genuine meter flag sticking out of the dash, this really is a Taxi and not a Marathon. Curiously, there is a stick shift sticking out of the floor. The factory manual was a column shift, so this unassuming Checker is likely packing something a little spicier than the factory equipment under the hood. Checker was never shy about throwing all sorts of unusual engines under the hood. Since this vehicle appears to have been restored, the resto-mod approach to the powertrain seems to be in the spirit of the car.
The unbeatable rear legroom in the Checker was always this car’s best feature. It might be drab, flat vinyl, but all the room for “activities” more than made up for it.
The stubby tailfins accentuating the slab sided “styling” of the Checker weren’t exactly elegant when this car debuted in 1960. Even then, it was a clunky evolution of the earlier A Series introduced in 1956. These were hilariously outdated by 1970. But when the Marathon / Taxi went out of production in 1982, the styling was so quaint as to be almost desirable again. Today, it’s a true classic, kitschy as it may be.
I don’t think anyone would accuse the Marathon of being a pretty car; then again, the Crown Victoria isn’t conventionally beautiful either. Both are iconic in part due to being traditional to a fault. I don’t think there will ever be a car that is more obviously a taxi than the big, truckishly proportioned Checker with its limousine length and embarrassment of legroom.
The Crown Victoria undeniably carried Checker’s taxi torch well. Always the odd one out, the Nissan NV200 taxi innovated away from the sedan shape but left behind the iconic appearance of its spiritual forebearers. That vehicle also forgot to be iconic and will likely be forgotten by many.
It’s a shame how the NV200 and New York legislature combined to fumble the ball. There was not one “NYC taxi” but just many different cars painted in the same livery. The NV200 was seen often in NYC, but it never was ubiquitous or distinctive enough to become an icon. In the absence of a proper successor, the Checker and the Crown Victoria remain the undisputed mind’s eye image of the “American taxi” even after they have mostly disappeared from the roads.
What do you think of this collection of movie vehicles? The atmospheric street lighting reflecting off the remains of a recent rain certainly helped me to feel as though I was in a movie. It’s not often you find such icons of decades past all arrayed in (nearly) chronological order like we have seen here.
Related CC readings:
Automotive History: An Illustrated History Of Checker Motors
Wish they kept making the Crown Victoria with another redesign – new interior and engine,, modern safety features, etc. Or if Ford had been more invested in the Transit Connect – if memory serves correct, they could have been more ambitious with having hybrid and/or wheelchair acessible vans ready to go on day one.
Conversely, whoever thought of a Ford Escape taxi is on my enemies list. Anyone with legs couldn’t fit in those, period.
I always found the back seat of Panthers very disappointing as a taxi: simply too small, with modest leg and head room, and just not easy to get in and out of. Give me a NV200, a Checker, or even a Camry, which has a significantly better rear seat than a CV.
Last time I was there some 10 years ago? there were plenty of black Lincoln “Town Cars”
still running around, not sure if their private owners are subject to the 7 year rule, but they tended to look kinda beat, sadly. Uber and Lyft seem to be taking over like everywhere else. More recently we were in Chicago, and almost all of those drivers had Toyotas of one kind or another… smart.
I also remember scruffy Town Cars sticking around. I’ve only been once and it would have been around 2014 but I saw few Crown Victoria but many black Town Cars. I think they were technically limousines instead of taxis or something.
😮
The Checker (which I rode in with my folks to get from Grand central to MSG to see the circus as a kid) positively dwarfs that Panther (Crown Victoria) cab, in every direction!
So the great U.S. automotive downsizing trend begun in the mid-1970s really altered current perceptions of ‘full’ size.
My wife considers my 2010 Honda Accord to be ‘huge’, alongside contemporary Corollas & Ford Foci. She did sit in my late fathers’s 1969 Chrysler 300, but time has probably erased her memory of that leviathan. That same Accord would classify as compact next to that Nixon-era Mopar, or even intermediates Charger or Chevy Chevelle.
Interior-wise, the Honda comes within just a few cubic feet of total passenger volume of some of those greats, thanks to continuous improvement with regards to interior and exterior packaging. Not to mention that both the Corolla and the Accord stand 3-4 inches taller than most full and mid size sedans from 50-60 years ago. That also increases the impression of greater cabin space.
As my wife once said, the old Chrysler and even the recent Crown Vic were “all hood and trunk”.
I’ve probably only ridden in US taxis a handful of time, maybe two handfuls. But I used to travel to Taiwan on business regularly from 1997 to about 2012. During that time I saw the typical Taiwanese taxi, also yellow just like these, grow from Nissan Sunny (Sentra). Corolla, or Ford Lazer (Escort/323), very occasionally Civic, sized cars to Accord, Camry or Altima equivalents. The latter seemed very roomy. The fares were all the same and cabs were usually plentiful so it became a game of waiting for the newest, biggest and cleanest cab. During this period there was also a transition from mostly manuals to mostly automatics.
Regardless of how scruffy an older Nissan or Ford might look, the A/C always worked great. But the drivers still kept their windows open until they picked up a fare, so they could spit betel nut juice out the window.
The Checker is not just big in length and width. It’s incredibly tall too! It’s proportioned more similarly to a modern crossover than a modern sedan.
That’s why I wrote ‘dwarfs the Crown Vic’ in every direction’, which I think includes up.
What we, since the late 1970s, have called ‘full-sized’ or large, was little more than a new body on top of a revised(to varying degree per mfgr) INTERMEDIATE/ ‘mid-sized’ chassis. Essentially with both the 1977 Caprice and 1979 Panthers(LTD Crown Vic / Grand Marquis) and lengthened Panther (Town Car), were mid-sized made to feel like full, for several $thousand more than for a legitimate intermediate, or the outgoing full-size.
What folks call “large” today (Accord / Camry / Fusion / Taurus(post 2010)) would barely classify as mid-sized in 1974. More like the larger end of compact.
What do I think of this collection of movie vehicles? That the owner of the Checker is absolutely clueless by putting whitewall tires on it. Truly dumb, and really spoils the look.
This car is more like La La Land than Taxi Driver, to further the Hollywood comparison. Period correct may not be the look. A real working NYC taxi would never have that nice of chrome either. It would be scuffed up and dirty.
Sure they would, in their first year or two. They weren’t all old and beat up in their time. In the ’60s, when this was new, NYC taxis were still kept up pretty well. That started to change in the grimy ’70s. But they never, ever had whitewalls.
Recreating any period always falls apart when the cars look so polished and clean! But we accept it. I suspect non car buffs (ie everyone else) don’t notice.a thing.
Memories or NYC yellow cabs. In the late 1970s I was the Interior Designer for an upscale fashion retailer based in Houston. Four to five times a year I was in NYC for a week or more reviewing fashion trends and buying interior design stuff for our stores. My boss, the man owned the dept. store chain, called me at my NYC hotel and requested I pick up a prop that had to be delivered to a network news studio by 6 AM. The segment was with the news caster, Jane Pauley, all about our Ultimate Christmas Gifts. I was a bit hung over after a night of clubbing, and at 4 AM caught a yellow Checker to the airport and pick up the prop. Prop turned out to be a 6-foot tall mink covered teddy bear. Thank goodness there was room for me and the bear in that Checkers back seat. I flew back to Houston with the bear sitting beside me in first class.
Early 80s, I moved to NYC and lived in the West Village. Loved those yellow Checkers for the roomy interiors as I could load furniture found at flee markets. Also, with a Checker, you could get multiple new found friends in the same Taxi.
I forgot that when I lived in New York City, they were the extended length vehicles. The difference in rear legroom from standard CV’s made a huge difference.
Perhaps someone is making a movie about the history of NYC taxis. Otherwise I can’t come up with a reason for having all of these parked together. Interesting find!
My formative NYC experiences in the 1980s were characterized by always wanting to snag a Checker if I was cabbing it. But as the decade wore on, eventually that became impossible and we had no choice but to ride in the Crown Vics or the relatively rare Caprice (those were definitely not preferable as they were nearly always busted in one way or the other). I can appreciate the improved accessibility of the Nissans, but geeze, they certainly did not look like a proper taxi to someone who grew up with Checkers. I’m glad I was pretty much gone from NYC by the time they predominated.
Interesting your comments about the Caprice taxis being rare. I didn’t live or visit NYC at that time, but most of the media images and footage I saw seemed to suggest by the late 8os the Chevrolet cabs were by far the most common. In the earlier 80s, there seemed to be more Chrysler products than Fords too. It seemed to me until the Caprice went out of production in 96, Chevrolet was the most common taxi. This image below of a bunch of NYC taxis was more along the lines of how I thought the NYC taxis were distributed by make in the late 80s.
In line with Paul’s comments above regarding the Checker incorrectly sporting white walls, the one Crown Vic is similarly off. While the one parked next to the Checker Taxi looks to be a proper cop/taxi spec car with its plain grille and black steel rims, the one parked next to the NV has a fancy chrome grille and wheels indicating a higher trim version.