1980 Checker Marathon Deluxe

Checker started making their final iteration of the classic A11 Checker Taxi and the slightly plusher A12 Marathon, intended for consumers, in 1960 for the 1961 model year and production continued largely unchanged for over twenty years.

That makes precisely dating this Marathon Deluxe limousine a difficult task. The round side marker lights, amber up front and red in the rear, tell us it's a '68 or later. The heavy steel girder bumpers front and rear indicate it's a '74 or later. The final clue is the windshield wipers, which work in parallel and tell us it's a '78-'82 (earlier cars had wiper arms that swung from the center to the edge, in opposition to each other.

For 1980 Checkers used Chevy powerplants, in the form of the 3.3L OHV V-6 or the 265 or 305 V-8s. (You could also get a diesel Olds 350, but why would you? Ick.)

The limousine version was cushier than the regular Marathon and can be identified from the outside by the half vinyl roof and the thick C-pillar with an opera window.

It was available in regular and long-wheelbase versions, 120" and 129" respectively, with the latter separately identified as the A12E chassis. This is one is one of the shorter ones, identifiable by the shorter rear doors.

In 1980 a Checker Marathon Deluxe started at $9,653, or about $37,000 in today's cash.

This one was photographed in September of 2021 using a Canon EOS 7D and EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS zoom lens.