1982 Checker A11 Winkoff from North America - Comments

Seat belts wore out.

The car almost rusted away when I wasn't looking.

I love this car. It is under powered, slow on take off, and corners like an elephant. It is basically ugly, and gets poor gas mileage.

However, it seats eight people when the jump seats are used, and rides like a brick on glass (smooth). Best of all - it is a Checker!

Yea, it's not hard to believe how it could rust away when you weren't looking.

Checkers were not easy to look at even when they were new.

As a cab driver I wish that they still made the Checkers, as for the Crown Victoria's we use today as taxi's there is not enough room especially with a shield put in. I'm sure if they still made Checkers with todays technology they would be evn better cars for the taxi-cab business.

1977 Checker Marathon

I ordered this car from Checker Auto Sales in Durham, NC. The owner (Mr. Lewis Carver) of the company sold the car to me and I dealt with a Mr. Henry Jessop for service. One of the things that I learned about Checkers that were built toward the end of automobile production is that they were designed to run 2-3 hundred thousand miles in 2-3 years and be discarded. They did not even try to match the rather poor fit and finish of cars made in Detroit at that time. That was not the object, the philosophy behind the car was that it was a tool to be driven hard, wash it out with a water hose, take good care of the running gear and when it was completely worn out, junk it. After the initial purchase, I struggled with learning and dealing with the philosophy of this car. I complained to Checker and they really tried to help fix the problems that I had. The biggest issue was the 305 cu. in. Chevrolet engine, it leaked oil from the rear main bearing oil seal almost from the day I bought it. Checker even paid to have two different Chevrolet dealerships to completely rebuild the engine trying to stop the problem. The engine always leaked oil. The paint job from the factory was pretty rough and Checker paid to have the car repainted by the painter of my choice. The car was less than six months old and there was already rust forming under the body filler. I must say that most of the problems with the Checker were aggravated by my attitude toward the car. I really obsessed over it and spent way more time and energy trying to make it something that it wasn’t. After two years of spending most of my spare time and money on it, I sold it to a friend in South Carolina, he and his wife drove it a ton of miles and still refuse to sell it! They love it. I had a friend from Europe drive it and he said that it was the best driving American car he had ever driven. The guy that painted the car had about all he could stand of me and the car, but the irony of this is that he always had either a new or used Suburban and guess who stamps the body panels for them, yep, Checker. I think that they still do that today.

I have a 1981 Checker Winkoff A11 Extended Chasis that I need to get rid of if anybody has interest.

Where is the checker and how much are you asking? e mail me at slammer992@aim.com.