Miguel Sánchez
PHOTOS VW-CHECKER RABBIT TAXI: JAMIE ORR / CHECKER
Between the asphalt and the night a taxi emerges. The atmosphere is dark and heavy. Just like your driver's state of mind. A veteran from Vietnam with serious insomnia problems. Escaping from tossing and turning, he has gotten into the night shift in New York cabs. Thanks to this work, you will walk through streets full of pimps, razors, camels and other fauna of the early morning. A poisonous breeding ground for a life that will inevitably end badly.
It begins so Taxi Driver. One of the best films in the history of American cinema. So much so that many people know it even without having seen it. The reason? Well beyond the parody mirror scene… The truth is that the image of the yellow taxi has risen to the category of popular icon. Another one of the many times in which a huge Checker Marathon A11 he rules the scene.
And is not for less. First of all the A11 has a resounding presence. One of those that fills the screen. All of it is a massive mass of metal propelled by bubbling Chevrolet, Continental, or Oldsmobile engines. And secondly because they were sold as churros. Not surprisingly, the Checker was a New York taxi for decades!
However, all of this was about to take a radical turn in the mid-70s. Because it was here that the little VW Rabbit / Golf came onto the scene. Of course, lengthening its battle to facilitate passenger access to the rear seats. Even if it looks like a lie, the idea of exchanging a huge American car for a small European utility was about to take shape thanks to the Rabbit Taxi. This 2019 Volkswagen enthusiast Jamie Orr has rescued the prototype.
ED COLE. A GREAT EXECUTIVE WITH A TASTE FOR COMPACT CARS
See a little Rabbit - that's what Golf was called in the US - prepared for taxi in the land of giant cars it never ceases to amaze. However, the surprise is not so great when we examine the trajectory of its ideologue. Neither more nor less than Ed Cole, president of General Motors from 1967 to 1974. A "Rare avis" that in the country of the giants stood out for developing the measured Chevrolet Corvair and Vega.
Therefore, when after leaving GM he becomes the majority shareholder of CheckerIt is no wonder that he took notice of the little Rabbit to renew the taxi fleet. And that is precisely what this company was dedicated to: to coach industrial passenger vehicles for different groups of taxi drivers throughout the United States. A most lucrative business in which the A11 model was already stagnating.
Therefore Cole thought of agreeing with Volkswagen to manufacture the Rabbit Taxi. Promisingly easy, the Germans were so keen to market their compact in America that they had bought an assembly plant in Westmoreland from Chrysler. Thus, one or two small first-series Rabbits were brought to the Checker Motors Corporation's Michigan facility to begin the experiments.
A RABBIT HAS ESCAPED. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RABBIT TAXI
A priori transforming the Rabbit into a taxi was something relatively simple You just had to stretch your battle. For it Ed Cole's engineers started the car right behind the B-pillar. After this they rebuilt the chassis and the rear doors, leaving generous rear seats when putting the parts together again. Regarding the engine, the mechanics of the Checker thought of a diesel from Perkins, Oldmobile or even Mitsubishi.
However, Ed Cole's criteria was the one that prevailed: keep the original four-cylinder gasoline. A personal intuition that proved correct after the intense tests carried out on the prototype on the streets of Chicago. Even carrying up to 500 pounds -226 kilos- in sandbags, its consumption per city was quite contained. At this point, everything was looking very good for the Rabbit Taxi, forecasting about 50.000 units a year.
But ... Right here came the tragedy. Ed Cole died in May 1977 crashed in his private plane. With the supporter of the prototype breakthrough disappeared, the story of the Rabbit Taxi began to deflate until it was forgotten. The new president of Checker -David Markin- reduced the forecasts to 30.000 units, for months later cancel the project in favor of adapting the Chevrolet Citation. Curiously, this idea did not go ahead either. So bad taste left that the prototype was shredded. However, the Rabbit Taxi did survive.
45 YEARS OF MIRACULOUS SURVIVAL
Although David Markin was the executor of the Rabbit Taxi, he kept the prototype using it for years as a daily car. A paradox that may be explained by the fact that its large rear seats, low fuel consumption and German reliability are perfect for family use and intensive on a day-to-day basis. Be that as it may, the truth is that after a few years they sold it, at the same time falling into the warehouse of a purchase-sale in Kalamazoo -the city of the Checker-.
And so it was that for years this little VW-Checker Rabbit Taxi languished not far from the factory that saw it born. Forgotten until photos on Instagram sparked the interest of VW collector Jamie Orr. This man just rescued it for restorationAlthough it may seem like a difficult mission, it may not be so difficult. He himself says that in the Rabbit "Generations of mice have lived", but at the same time announces that the engine, brakes and transmission are in relative good condition.
Something that extends to the interior and the oxides. Right now Orr is in talks with VW to verify the history of the vehicle even in its moments before it passes through Checker. An exciting job to put a car in its deserved place that, Had it not been for a fatal plane crash, it could have changed the urban landscape of cities like New York or Chicago. It would have been curious to see Rober de Niro in Taxi Driver with a VW Rabbit, right?
