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Car Of The Day: January 4, 2010; Golden Wheel '70 Checker Marathon
Topic Started: Jan 4 2010, 12:39 AM (569 Views)
Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
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Today's car of the day is Golden Wheel's 1970 Checker Marathon.

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Wikipedia
 
The Checker Marathon was an automobile produced by the Checker Motors Company of Kalamazoo, Michigan, between 1961 and 1982.

Marathons were produced in both four-door sedan and four-door station wagon forms, and the rare eight-door "Aero Cab".

The Marathon was introduced in 1961, superseding the Checker Superba Custom and differing from the Superba with its better interior appointments. The exterior of the Marathon had a full width egg crate grille, differing from the Superba's narrower grille and inboard parking lights.

With the exception of United States government mandated 5 mph bumpers and mechanical changes, the Marathon remained virtually unchanged during its 21-year production run. The final Marathon was manufactured in 1982, when Checker exited the automobile manufacturing business. The company continued operation at partial capacity making Cadillac parts for General Motors until January 2009 when it declared bankruptcy.

Notably, the Marathon's front suspension A-frames interchange with a 1956 Ford.


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For more information and pictures of the real car please visit: Checker Marathon

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This is the definitive Checker casting. Matchbox and Summer have both produced small scale Checkers, but this is by far the best casting. Here it is shown in vintage NYPD livery. Real Checkers would be an unusual choice for a police car, but there is method to the madness in Golden Wheel's case. They produced four new castings and released them in a four pack. '30s, '50s, '70s, and '90s taxis, police, and fire chief cars all using the same castings. I never did figure out what the '30s car is, but the '50s is an early '50s Chevy and the '90s is a Caprice Classic.

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Wikipedia
 
A version of the Marathon was, during its production run, the taxicab of choice for New York City and many other American cities. The size of the car (seating many passengers), the robust construction, the lack of yearly changes to the styling (simplifying parts management), and the bolt-on rear quarter panels all contributed to the Marathon's ubiquity on the streets of Manhattan. For example, virtually any film set in New York City in the 1970s or 1980s will show a Checker Marathon.


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bangerkid45
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Ultimate American Banger Enthusiast!
Great casting! Im glad you put it as COTD! One of my favorite Marathon castings besides the Matchbox one
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james_autos
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Minivan
Looks way better than the Matchbox!
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
bangerkid45
Jan 4 2010, 02:19 AM
Great casting! Im glad you put it as COTD! One of my favorite Marathon castings besides the Matchbox one
:P You gave it to me on the condition it was made COTD. ;)
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Sak
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Ezekiel 25:17
James, can you picture an Austin FX3 as a police car? Of course not. And I can't picture this one as one, either. the tragedy is, it's a great tooling, and they did a GREAT JOB on the police livery. Shame it's not on a Plymouth Fury.
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craftymore
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Support your local demo derby.

This more than makes up for the lousy one we had for COTD yesterday. . . Scale wise, how big is this one? A winner in my book for zure.
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james_autos
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Minivan
Quote:
 
James, can you picture an Austin FX3 as a police car?


They'd be good at accommodating crims (with seating for 4-5 in the back), but not so good at catching them (with a top speed of about 50mph). Funnily enough though, I've never actually been in one :o
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be77bt
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be77bt
*In Memory Of*
I like it .
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Sak
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Ezekiel 25:17
Zach, I saw them at the York show. Let's say they're not exactly small. 1:60 or so.
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STUTZ
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Diecast junkie
Kindda cool casting.

Does the police model have a meter like the taxi model? :lol:
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ivantt
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New casting? Quick! Take it apart!
Okay, I'll sort of let this one slide as far as being a cop car, although I got SAK's back on it and it really does walk the fine line line of sillyness.
All that said, I'd love to have this one in my collection.
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craftymore
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Support your local demo derby.

Sak
Jan 4 2010, 09:21 PM
Zach, I saw them at the York show. Let's say they're not exactly small. 1:60 or so.
Thanks for the info George. B)
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Dragnet_Supporter
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SUV
Very nice, both car and police design. Never got this one.
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