Having taken a good look at the Junkyard Checker Marathon, let’s step back a few more decades and check out the Model A, which arrived in 1939. It was available in two body styles; the sedan and this landaulet. Yes, once upon a time it was considered classy to ride in a semi-open taxi on the crowded and exhaust-filled streets of New York.
The Model A may look fairly conventional in side view, but the front end was truly bizarre. The odd cut of the front fender is a hint at what is to come.
Looks like some odd custom some kids cooked up in their shop. It doesn’t look quite as odd as it does seeing it in traffic, and there’s a number of them in this film:
It’s from the 1940s, and colorized. In addition to the odd Checker Model A’s (not as many as you might expect), the perfectly smooth pavement caught my eye. It looks like a billiard table top, even the color.
I’ve seen several pictures of these landaulets with canopies, which undoubtedly makes sense in the heat of a summer day. The landaulet model did not reappear in the Model A2 that replaced it in 1947.
Full Checker Motors History here
I’m a firm believer that the ideal taxi is a used car, so purpose-built ones should be right out of the question. That face wouldn’t do much to change my mind on the matter.
DeSoto also made a similar landau.
Love the lack of stop lights and crosswalks. Is that the reason there aren’t damaged cars everywhere you look, or is there some other factor in traffic moving smoothly with fewer collisions?
Actually I noted a lot of wrinkly grilles, bumpers, and fenders. The new 1941 Desoto front bumper (1:49) is crooked – or is the whole thing leaning?
I lived in Manhattan for five years and visited for decades. Watching the movie, I saw the lights and I saw the damaged cars that were there. Relatively speaking, there were very few of either relative to the last fifty years.
There are traffic lights with green & red but no yellow. Atop poles on the SE and NW corners (taking the direction of travel as N), none hanging over the street though. They aren’t very bright and the colorization process didn’t get these very well.
Yes, and NYC still had some of these signals the first time I visited in 1962. They were concentrated at intersections near the Hudson River waterfront in lower Manhattan. Green and red were illuminated simultaneously for a few seconds to simulate yellow.
Less traffic than today, even though it seems fairly congested. And does the lack of marked crosswalks explain the rampant jaywalking? It’s almost like the pedestrians still claimed the streets as part of their territory and had some sort of shared coexistence with the drivers. Notice even when the postal truck crossing from right to left blocks the driver’s view of a woman crossing the street, she’s not in any apparent danger.
As in so many older views of city streets, I’m struck with how much “busier” the streetscapes of today are, with so many lane markings, crosswalks, stop lines, and lots, lots more signage. Does all that visual clutter add as much safety as we think, or does it put drivers in a state of information overload and distraction?
They were every were in Manhattan looking like a Buck Roggers style hot rod ,from the front end. Love the Jay Walking pedestrians and the blue DeSoto pulling out in front of the car by Central Park.
I love the movie .
Back in the day the average passenger car wouldn’t stand up the taxi service .
-Nate
Which is the reason Checker existed.
That front end would be easy to spot at a distance, no doubt the reason for it.
The last of the 5 Vanderbilt mansions on 5th Ave was torn down after Grace’s death in ’42. It’s been replaced here, so they must have rebuilt during the war. Everyone looks very trim–was it the smoking or the food rationing?
There was no TV to veg in front of, people were a lot more active, and their diets were exponentially better than what sustains many today. No Super Size, no Big Gulp, no high fructose corn syrup. Modern medicine keeps a lot of today’s fat people from stroking out like they would have back in the 40’.
In 1940 there were only 3 automobile manufacturers offering a “turn-key New York Taxicab & Limousine Authority approved” taxicab, ready to begin running the streets and picking up paying passengers. Those 3 were; Checker Motors, DeSoto Division of Chrysler Corp, and Packard Motor Car Co.
The reason only 3 companies offered New York taxicabs is due to the special requirements the NYT&LA had in place. The requirements and restrictions were such that a typical automobile couldn’t be used in New York City. Here are some of the high-lites [these are from memory, and not the exact regulations]:
The rear passenger compartment had to seat 5 people [no riders allowed in driver’s area].
The driver’s compartment must be separated from the passenger compartment. The lower part of the separating panel shall be of a solid type. The upper part shall be either sliding glass panels [with all exposed glass edges covered in metal] or of a metal grid, with either type to provide a method for the exchange of money and receipts. Either type shall permit an unrestricted and full view of the taximeter.
An exterior folding trunk rack was required, and if equipped with an internal trunk area, the trunk lid had to be permanently shut. If the spare tire was in the trunk, the internal area not used for the storage of the spare tire, had to be separated so no passenger luggage could fit inside. This requirement was to help prevent the driver from ‘forgetting” the passenger had luggage inside the trunk.
Rear door opening glass had to have a metal rim around all glass edges.
The rear doors had an increased gap [with a minimum of 3/4″] between the vehicle’s body and the rear door. This gap along the hinge area was to be covered with a rubber [usually foam] windlace, covered in material matching the passenger compartment. This requirement helped ensure passenger fingers didn’t get squished if the door was closed on them.
Both rear doors had to be equipped with switches that caused a red light on the dashboard to be lit if either door was opened or not fully closed. Some of the Checker cabs had 2 red lights, so the driver knew which door was not fully shut.
All rear passenger compartment upholstered material had to be either leather or leatherette material, and the floor covering was black ribbed rubber, the ribs to go front to rear.
An ashtray with a closing lid was to be fitted for each passenger.
The rear passenger compartment shall have a device or series of devices to increase the flow of air around the passengers during hot weather. This can be a folding metal frame covered in waterproof fabric [landaulet style], an opening [sliding type] metal sunroof, or a “pop-up” vent type opening panel in the roof, either metal or glass.
Checker Model A versions used the folding top as seen in the photo. The DeSotos usually had a metal sliding roof panel, as did the pre-WW2 Packards. The post-war 1946 to 1950 Packards had a vacuum operated rear window that opened.
To make the post-war regular Packard sedan conform to the 5-passenger requirement with a separate driver’s compartment, Packard’s export division [who also handled all the taxicab orders] came up with a tiny one-person compartment for the driver. The attached photo shows the 1946-47 Packard taxi and you can see the interior with the driver’s compartment.
Interesting info. I had no idea.
The front end of the Checker is actually nicely done if kind of bizarre. The oddest thing is that the fenders are open to the front like a pre- 1930’s car.
My assumption about that – perhaps not borne out by the deep knowledge of others here – is that the front fenders were most vulnerable to dents and dings in NYC traffic, and that leaving them open would mitigate that problem. The 1940 brochure does say that the front end “stands out from the usual run of traffic and is an invitation to ride and enjoy yourself.”
Those open front fenders look like they could probably lift the front tires off the road above 75 MPH… if it would go that fast…
The reason only 3 companies offered New York taxicabs is due to the special requirements the NYT&LA had in place.
Were these governmental agencies?: …the floor covering was black ribbed rubber, the ribs to go front to rear. If so, the opportunities for graft were rife. Don’t certify my competitor’s taxicab! Their floor covering ribs run left to right!
Roader said:
“Were these governmental agencies?: …the floor covering was black ribbed rubber, the ribs to go front to rear. If so, the opportunities for graft were rife. Don’t certify my competitor’s taxicab! Their floor covering ribs run left to right!”
The regulations were written by the VERY powerful New York City Taxicab and Limousine Authority, The same agency that still regulates the design and number of Taxicabs allowed in NYC.
Someone did a nice job adding sound to an already fascinating bit of film. Not sure what the particular origins of this might be but probably second unit work assigned to get stock footage to be used in process shots like rear-screen projection combined with in-studio first unit camera work with actors doing a scene:
Daytime, New York City, 5th Avenue.
Interior: A Checker cab heading southbound.
We see Actor “1” behind the wheel. He is handsome.
His dark hair is neatly combed. He uses “Wildroot Hair Tonic”.
His teeth shine gleaming white. He brushes with “Pepsodent”.
His eyes glow with an eerie light. He’s consumes a daily health tonic of Elixir Paregorico
Antiespasmodico and Early Times Whiskey
He is a recruit driving his last shift before leaving to report for basic training with the
new Army Air Force.
Outside through the Taxi windows (insert rear screen footage here) we see the great city and it’s people calmly performing emergency wartime jaywalking.
The film is an amazing document of an ordinary day in NYC. Apparently the rational for the bizarre styling was easy identification by fares among all the other cars. Hailing a Checker would be easier for them to spot. The landaulet roof was a weather-tight metal shell that retracted behind the rear seat. The landaulet idea was carried over from the horse-drawn/early motorized era, popular to view the ‘skyscrapers” while ‘taking the air”. DeSoto Skyview taxis had a sliding sunroof over the rear compartment to attract customers by a similar feature.
Also seen in the film are 1941 Packard 110, Model 1900, Body No. 1462 six cylinder taxis, which were also built in the 1942 Six Model 2030, Body No. 1584. They were unique in that they had a 133″ wb chassis not shared with other models. The body was shared with the 138″ wb eight-cylinder luxury series. The five-inch shorter chassis was in the front axle-to-dash length to fit the six cylinder engine and reduce the overall length yet accommodate additional passenger capacity.
Packard entered the taxi business at this point with a separate company named Packard Federal Corporation that were the Federal truck distributor for the Metro NYC area. The cars had a variety of heavy-duty, rough service features not found in regular private sale models. Production numbers are unknown. Not surprisingly none are known to survive given the rough service taxis endure and the lack of value when taken out of service.
Forgot to mention; I’ve had 2 Packard Taxicabs, and one DeSoto Skyway taxicab. I was fortunate to discover in the 1970s one of our neighbors, Mr. Bob King, Jr, was involved as a V.P. in Packard Federal Corp, his father Bob King Sr, was the founder and President. I was able to interview Bob Jr. at length about his memories with Packard Federal. After one of the interviews Bob surprised me by presenting me with all the Packard Taxicab paperwork & brochures he had.
Some genuine Packard taxicabs can be spotted by the serial number. All 1923 and newer Packards start with a 3 or 4 digit number. Packard Federal began in 1939. No Packard Taxicabs existed before that year.
For the 1939-40 Packard Taxicabs, Packard Federal ordered the Packard Six with a Packard Eight [120] 7-passenger body & no interior, and they converted the cars in house, to the Taxicab specifications. It is believed the serial numbers have the last 2 digits of 86, but none are known to exist.
For the 1941 model year, the factory offered a purpose-built taxicab, with the model number 1482A. The addition of the letter “A to the regular 1482 Six sedan made it a Taxicab.
For the 1942 model year the Packard Taxicab sedan was given it’s own number: 1584, and possibly the numbers 86 for the longer wheelbase NYC version. Again, no one knows for sure, as none are believed to still exist.
For the post-war models, the first 2 digits represent the series number that roughly represents the model year. The 3rd digit designates the model type, and the 4th digit defines the body type. All Taxicabs [and cars for export] have the number 8 for the 3rd digit. The sedans have the 4th digit as the number 2. The NYC “partition sedan” taxi has the 4th digit as a 6 for the 22nd series, and the number 4 for the 21st series cars. The 22nd series long-wheelbase NYC cabs have the digit 0
No actual pre-ww2 Packard taxicabs are known to exist, it is likely they were driven as taxicabs all thru the war and then when finally worn out they were sent to the scrap metal drives.
There are 4 known 1946-47 Packard sedan taxicabs, and 2 1948 Packard sedan taxicabs, all 6 are the regular full front seat versions. At least 1 of each was never used as a taxi, the 2 cars I had were ordered as part of taxicab fleets and then used by the cab company’s owner’s private car. My 1948 Taxi was bought by the owner in that manner, and I bought it directly from him in 1970.
There is one 1948 Packard long wheelbase NYC type taxicab [2280] said to exist in a collection in northern New Jersey, but I’ve not been able to locate either the car or the owner. It is said to be in very poor condition.
As a side note and end to this post; I had the opportunity to ride in a friend’s 1947 Packard 2186 Taxicab in 2018, as it joined a large number of Packards in South Bend, Indiana. The location was the original Studebaker Proving Ground’s oval test track, and my friend’s Packard Six’s speedometer showed we were cruising at about 80 mph around the track. I’m sure it was around that high speed, as the car was able to stay in the upper parts of the highly banked turns! [All that time the taximeter was charging 25 cents a mile as well!]
Bill: Thanks for filling out more of the Packard taxi details, especially from your first-hand experience with principles of the Packard Federal Corp.
Here is a link to the current owner and restoration project of the sole surviving lwb 1948 NYC taxi. You probably know Mr. Lamm. Its a small Packard taxi world.
https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?start=0&topic_id=23077&order=ASC&status=&mode=0
Yes, I know Roger, it’s his car that we rode in on the Stude Oval track. I had forgotten he had rescued the LWB car. I’ve not been very active in the Packard realm for about 3 years as I recover from a serious medical issue, but I should contact Roger again to say hello.
There’s a strong first-comic-book-version-of-the-Batmobile vibe to the subject Checker cab.
Now about the garish front of the pre-war Checker Taxicabs:
I was visiting the ACD Museum in Auburn, Indiana a few years ago. I had asked special permission to take a closer look at their pre-war Checker Taxicab. In talking with Mr. Sam Grate of the museum, he speculates the reason for the unusual front treatment of the car, while the rest of the car was fairly ordinary, was a simple one . . .
When hailing a taxi in New York City, your first view of a vehicle is the front. Checkers were known for their roominess and overall superiority over other taxicabs. So Checker devised a front clip that was easier to spot from a longer distance, than the other taxis.
Simply put, that garish front end was designed to increase the number of rides generated.
That makes sense! How obvious.
Indeed it would! Watching the film, one’s eyes immediately fix on that bizarre front!
Conversely, DeSotos and Packards had to depend on colors to distinguish themselves from their privately-owned brethren plying the streets.
The first thing I thought of when I saw the front styling of the fenders was that it looked like a Jeep.
I was thinking a mixture of the Brewster-bodied Fords and the present-day Lexus scowling face. Although the headlight bezels are pure Art Deco, which is a design theme that tends to be associated more with 1930 than 1940.
Love the ’42 DeSoto at 1:51. Too bad they didn’t continue the hidden headlights after the war.
There’s at least 4 of them in this film. Quite a treat!
Oh, those Packards!
Looks as though not quite each and every 1940 American-market car had the standardised 7-inch round sealed beam headlamps.
Neither did the Graham Sharknose, the Willys or the Crosley. Maybe a few others.
Nor my 1939 Dodge Sedan…..
-Nate
I’m not surprised by that one, because no matter how many times I do the arithmetic, it keeps on looking like 1939 was before 1940. 🤓
Yabbutt ;
My 1946 Chevy 3100 series pickup truck had the original 6 volt seal beams in it, different brands did things differently .
I hate the crappy plastic headlights n modern vehicles ! they go opaque and that diffuses the headlight beam I’ve tried polishing them, unlike old taillight lenses the headlights never get really clear again .
I had to do research and find the factory part #’s for my Rangers headlights then search until I found N.O.S. ones, what a pain where I sit .
When I was running ‘A’ Model Fords I could take the glass bulb in headlights apart and repair them, polish the reflectors with carbon black and so on ~ when the reflectors got rusty I could have them re chromed, worked as well as proper re silvering .
Glass is always better .
Some old guy in East L.A. is now enjoying my ’39 Dodge .
-Nate
…and 1946 was after 1940—the year almost all US-market cars adopted the 7-inch round sealed beam, with most of the few stragglers joining in for 1941. So what else other than sealed beams would you expect to find on a 1946 model?
Before 1940, headlamp reflectors were silver-plated. A freshly-polished silver reflector is about 98% reflective. The trouble with silver is that it tarnishes, quickly sapping the reflector’s ability to reflect. Silver’s replacement was (and is) vapor-deposited aluminum with a protective clear topcoat—about 96% reflective, and much more durable than silver. Chrome does not come anywhere close to being adequate as a reflector material. Even the most costly, beautiful chrome plating, the kind that makes bumpers look 10 feet deep on a show car, is only about 67% reflective. That’s not nearly good enough for optical purposes.
Glass and plastic headlamp lenses both have inherent benefits and drawbacks; as with most things, the quality of the implementation is more important to how well or poorly the job gets done. There have been bad glass lenses and good plastic ones, though there have been an awful lot of inadequately-durable plastic ones, to the detriment of pedestrian lives.
What a strange design. I suppose they did s tick out of the crowd, which must have been the intent… But then the postwar A3s were the exact opposite, weren’t they?
The double suicide doors are also pretty distinctive. Must have been the last American car made with those.
Nicely done video.
I am guessing the reason for the ultra-smooth, seamless pavement is lack of detail/uneven detail in the original film, and with colorizarion and light-correction the effect is amplified.
Kind if like being “painted over”.
Dumb question perhaps, but I really don’t know:
Was asphalt used back in that time, or was it all concrete?
I like the “anything goes” vibe with the cars and pedestrians. Really need to count on common courtesy to not be run over a couple of times a day. 😊
@TheMann ;
That’s very common Down East ~ it’s on the pedestrian to not be killed .
When my son was 17 years old I took him back to Boston to see how things were different, we rode my 1972 BMW SWB R75/5 and had much fun ~ at one point I had us dart into a busy 6 lane wide boulevard with double trolley tracks down the middle, we crossed in front of a cop car, they didn’t care because we were paying close attention so no one had to slow down nor swerve to avoid us .
When I arrived in Southern California in the Summer of 1969 I was flabbergasted when I stood on the curbstone and the traffic stopped for me….
-Nate
Major city asphalt streets like NYC and Washington, DC, used special heating machines to heat existing asphalt streets until the tar started melting, then the machine was removed and the road rollers smoothed it until there were no cracks!
I remember as a child going to a private high school in DC back in the 1960s, and seeing these huge heating machines [they were about 2 lanes wide and equal in length]. They used an incredible amount of propane and made a huge roar while the fires were burning under the metal housing. As I recall, a separate propane supply truck was nearby, providing the fuel.
I wasn’t able to find an example of these huge machines, the nearest I could find is a smaller infra-red version example here: http://twentywheels.com/view/31553-poweray_tech_os90_infrared_portable_asphalt_heater.html
I suspect there were multiple reasons why the road repair crews stopped using these machines, first because they were probably very dangerous, and secondly, they used incredible amounts of increasingly expensive propane fuel.
But when the roads were finished, It was like riding on air! There were almost NO cracks in the roads, just block long stretches of seamless tarmac.
Thanks, Nate and Bill, for the replies.
There is a horse cart, kind of sad to see that still happening in the 1940s
Until recently, Baltimore still had dozens of men leading horses pulling carts filled with veggies thru the residential side streets of the city. They were always known as Arabbers, even though they were predominately African-Americans and not traditional Arabs. For multiple generations, many inner-city Baltimore residents, got their veggies from a cart that delivered them to their front doors.
While a few Arabbers still ply the streets, most have quit. The primary reason they stopped was because the main horse stables, owned by the city, were declared unsafe and no longer sanitary, and the city said they needed to find another location that met the city regulations [an almost impossible task!].
To learn more, check out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabber
My sister who lives in Baltimore, came upon an Arraber accident a couple of months ago. Looked like he lost control on the way down a hilly street.
Two other cars of note are at approximately 3:47-3:50 is a GMC taxicab that looks like a 1938 Chevrolet because it used Chevrolet sheet metal. They were built by the Yellow Coach and Truck Division that folded later into the GMC Division.
At 5:21 is a tan 1934 Packard Eight or Super Eight convertible victoria parked in front of brownstone apartments. ,
If someone knows how to capture still images, that whole film would make a great vintage ‘curbside classic for us to analyze.
You watch it on a portable device of your choice and take a screenshot if material is not copyrighted.
I lived in Manhattan during the 2003 blackout. All the traffic signals went down. You would think it would be complete anarchy but the taxi drivers loved it.
Instead of having to take off like jack rabbits and then coming to a screeching halt every block as usual, they just cut the pace down a bit and drifted slowly through through intersections instead. Pretty smooth sailing, actually…
Having seen some huge rubber bumpers on NYC taxis in the 70s, I wonder if any cab maker or fleet ever considered rubber fenders like British post office vehicles.
RE– Taxi rubber bumpers;
Yes, starting in the late 1970s large hollow rubber bumpers were available on Checkers and other vehicles like light trucks. But these also had limitations, the main one being that the New York City climate in the winter was below the freezing point for water.
Many of these bumpers froze because the water was not mixed 50/50 with anti-freeze. If I remember, each bumper held 6 gallons, so that meant each car needed 6 gallons of anti-freeze in the bumpers too. Because Taxicabs often “compressed their bumpers”, this caused the water/anti-freeze mix to shoot out of holes in the tops of the bumper housings. These holes were originally sealed with push-on plastic stoppers, and many of these stoppers were lost because they were popped off the cars and left behind after each “bumper compression”.
And another problem with these bumpers was theft. Yep, theft! Anti-freeze is not cheap. Some “less than honorable” people discovered the bumpers had enough 50/50 mix to fill up a typical car’s cooling system! Pop one of the stoppers out, insert a syphon hose and a bucket on the ground, and a bumper could be quickly drained.
That’s so New York.