1968 Checker Marathon

You don't see these very often in any condition.

http://austin.craigslist.org/cto/3601498434.html

 

Before scrolling down to read the text, I thought that it didn't look like it was used as a cab......

 

Poor old wag, seen better days, sad it came to this stage of it's lefe, neglected, abondoned... dam shame.

 

tough restoration

would be hard to put that one back on the road affordably

 

In 1968, these were running Chevy drive trains, with either a 230 Six or a 327 V8, and with a manual three-speed column shift or a TH350 auto trans, so mechanically, this would be simple. It also had Stewart-Warner round gauges for a very simple dash layout.

Obviously, the body and trim would be the hardest parts to source, but there are Checker guys around and a fairly active Checker national club, too.

This would be a sweeeeeeet tow vehicle!!! Tough as freakin' nails! And 425 miles away...

 

One thing about the Checkers: They were built TOUGH. It may look pretty rough, but I bet that the over all condition is better than expected. The engine bay is big enough for what ever you feel like dropping in, up to and including a Duramax Diesel. This would be a great project for anyone needing a good tow vehicle!

 

i had a chance tp buy one of these 15-20 yrs ago was a 62 had a merc/ford driveline in it tranny was bad overall condition was decent was rusty INSIDE the 1/4s on the inside of the car the outside was NICE

$300 should of bought it i went back to get it and it was gone

 

Yes - Chevy engine, but had a Borg-Warner trans, almost unbreakable.
6 cyl. had a bigger stall in the convertor, and a pretty low 1st gear.
I drove a Yellow Cab in Chicago, 69-71, and never had a trans problem, nor heard of one that did.
Probably 125-150k miles on the same cab.

 

Yep, Civilian issue checker (Non Taxi). It has been years since I had seen one much less a wagon version. Pretty neat old wagon.

 

Yeah.. it IS heartbreakin isnt it? Too rare to outright junk... in too bad of a shape to fix up unless you have more money than sense...

 

It would still be neat to have in the garage just to look at once ia awhile.

 

in the garage hell no! It's ugly and weird i would drive the wheels offa that! i love ugly cars!

 

The tow-rig possibilities here are HUGE! Hell, I'd even consider a Cummins 4BT Turbo conversion for this. It's not like numbers-matching originality matters on a Checker, so I'd go for practicality, mileage, and towing ooomph. A set of nice Escalade seats front and back maybe?

Any Checker people know if these ever had disc brakes on them?

For a grand, it's tough to go wrong here, as long as it has a valid title. Now, how would I get this beast home...?

 

I know brakes + shocks were the same as chevy, maybe all the suspension??
Mine had jumpseats, and I worked both O'Hare and conventions, so bought those cheap 'overload' coils that bolt over the shocks, [hated dragging] but they worked very well.
Maybe the yards would have interchange?

 

Only 998 total Checkers built in 1968. Figure ten percent of those were wagons (99), and maybe 15% remain (14-15) around? Pretty scarce when new, really scarce now. Would make a killer build!