I was raised in Studebaker’s and owned 2 myself. I then changed to Chrysler products. The Studes and Mopars had two advantages for me. Thei cost less to buy used than a Ford or Chevy and Fit me much better. With GM cars and trucks, even the class 8 tractors, I never had enough room in any of them. The seats were too low, never enough headroom and when it rained I had to drive bent over to see out the windshield. The Ford trucks and school buses fit me much better but a lot of their cars lack enough legroom.
I pwned 2 Chryslers, 1 Desoto, so many Plymouths and Dodges that I can’t remember how many or whether they were Darts or Valiants, Dusters or Denons, Omnis or Horizons, Aores or Reliants. I owned 2 DM cars and both were a mistake a 72 Impala, the worst car I ever owned and a 98 Olds Intrighe that actively tried to kill me. I bought the Olds because I liked the handling on dry roads. It cornered flat and had wide tires but if you took advantage of that handling on long curves all the oil would plaster itself against the side of the oil pan and a sensor would think you were out of oil and shut off the engine!
By 2012, when I decided I needed a new sedan, the car in the size class I wanted was the Chrysler 200. Ir was probably the worst car in the class even though it was a new design in 2011 because it was based on an old Mitsubishi Galant chassis. I wound up with a Toyota Camry which has been a wonderfully reliable car with great gas mileage, but it doesn’t fit quite right and the heat comes out on my shins and not on my feet.
I do not know where all the checker cabs went, I wanted one but none were available except at outrageous prices. Remember driving the tollway and seeing a massive graveyard of dead transmissions!
I think the last Checker was built in 1982, or something like that. My friend bought one as his personal car. He loved it because it had a rep of running 1M miles and built like a tank. He could load his band (with equipment) in the car and go anywhere.
The last Checkers did use Chevrolet engines. However, until the mid 1960s, the Checkers used the Continental Red Seal engines. The engines could be had in flathead or overhead valve versions. The Checkers were really rugged vehicles.
lol, Yes, but were easier to work on than a '56 Chevy. They didn’t have a need for all that fancy stuff… like padded dashboards and seat belts. They were in financial trouble, but I understand the last straw was GM refused to sell them parts any longer. Rumor had it that GM wanted a cut of the “action”.
Yellow and Checker has quite a rivalry… real gang-land stuff. Finally the owner of Yellow had his stables catch on fire and sold out to Checker. I wonder if that’s where they got the idea for Godfather.
The “last Checker” in NYC was sold at Christie’s in 2006, for $9400. It must have POed the owner when, in 2015, a couple rebuilt Checkers started taxi-ing again.
They stopped making them them because Checker didn’t have the money to meet all the new safety regulations. Emissions was covered, for the most part, by GM, the engine supplier, but nothing else. The old car just couldn’t be updated without a total redesign.
My parents were definitely a Ford family. My dad and his dad owned at one time or another a Model T and A, and from there many Fords, all the way up to a 92 Taurus. I was never been much interested in cars in the way many people of that era were. I was more interested in space flight and electronics. I do recall the many times my dad would take me w/him to the Ford dealership in a small town owned by one of his friends. He’d talk to the owner while I listed to the mechanics in the shop debating the Ford vs Chevy issue ad infinitum. For the life of me I could never figure out what they were arguing about, the arguments pro and against each brand seemed pretty much the same. I finally decided they just enjoyed having the discussion.
I’ll add that I must still be a Ford believer non-the-less, b/c I’ve never liked the looks of the Camaro and definitely prefer the Mustang’s lines. Oh, and I own a older Ford truck, which seems to work pretty well.
I guess I’m more of a Chevy guy. It really depends on the year, though. My dad drove Ford trucks, my grandfather Chevy. I always thought there’s got to be a reason they stuffed small block Chevy engines and LS motors in everything - even Mustangs.
I haven’t really liked GM’s offerings since 2007 or so (speaking mainly of trucks). But I wasn’t a huge fan of the 5.4 3 valve either.
If I had to buy new today, I really don’t know what I’d get. Lots of complaints on 2018 and 19 coyote 5.0’s burning oil on the truck forum I frequent. I don’t like the looks of the newest Silverado. Maybe I’d try the ecoboost twin turbo v6.
Luckily, I’m cheap. So no real threat of me buying new until something I drive now dies.
I have seen that for many year’s just about every make of car someone will put a chevy engine in it. I had to be different I put a chryser 318 into a 81 ford truck to replace a bad ford 300 6 cll.
The 318 was a durable motor. Then again, so was the 300 6. Most engines of that era were pretty durable. Underpowered and thirsty by today’s standards, but durable. I think fuel injection would’vehelped those old motors last longer, though.
I think the chy. 318 & the ford 300 6 was two of the best engine’s ever but my ford was so bad I would pull up to the pump’s & fill the crankcase & put a quart of gas. I was never a big chevy fan.
I loved the tbi 350. I sort of fell in love with it when I bought a 1994 Silverado for scrap price that a guy was going to sell for scrap. The truck ran great, but was rough. I made it presentable and fixed all the goofy, easy issues (partially crushed beer can helping support the heater core and all of those awesome repair jobs over the years). If I could find a nice 1994 or so Silverado for a decent price, I might be a buyer. If they’re nice, they’re kind of pricey. I figure I’d be less impressed now anyway. I haven’t driven one in a pretty long while and memories of old trucks are always better than reality. I think I may have just liked it because it was so easy to fix some of the owner caused issues. And I’m not even a real mechanic!
This century’s FI… definitely. We used to celebrate when a car rolled 100K. I think Chevy engines went into other cars because they were plentiful in junk yards, or you could pick up one at the dealer. Today, the Chevy big block has grown to 600 cubes. At least I believe that’s what my brother has.
I had a preference for the 225 slant-6. I was pleasantly surprised to find the 2005 Neon was its great grandchild. But many of the engines of the late 50’s to 60’s were well built, all considered.
Fast is a relative thing, and sound? If mosquitoes are your thing, I guess.
The new Type R that’s out is nearly 40 grand… for a CIVIC. For $25k I can get a brand new 4cyl Mustang and get similar numbers as the R. I have a 2018 Mustang GT.
After my disaster of a car that was a 1995 Ford Contour I swore off Fords and said I’d only buy a Mustang if I was going to buy another Ford- that’s not the case these days, though. After that I bought a 99 Civic that I got rid of only because I wanted something that was higher off the ground for winter driving.
I was raised Škoda (Favorit), went Opel (Vectra), got Rover (414 i think), went VW (passat), got annoyed, bought Alfa Romeo, crashed it and landed at Ford Fiesta 1.4TDCi.
It’s by far the slowest car I have ever owned but… I arrive at the shopping center, I pick a spot, I feel weird about it - “am I in the center? Does the back stick out?” I walk around it and find there is 50cm of space all around.
I get home, do the oil change, I almost can’t feel the mass of the car as it’s just one metric ton. I sit it in the back of the car… “how is there more space for legs than in my previous huge cars?”.
Opening the trunk - push a button, opening window - push a button, the doors, the hood everything weighs next to nothing, radio works, I have a detachable roof carrier “Why was I driving all of that heavy useless junk before?!”
My parents had a Nash, Chevy 150, Chevy Impala, Cadillac Series 62, and an AMC wagon. I had an Austin America, Mercury Capri GT, Porsche 914, Chevy Cavalier (2), Chevy Corsica, Ford Taurus, Ford Windstar, Buick Regal LS, Olds Silhouette, Chevy Cobalt (2), and Honda Accord (2). Its a long list, and includes cars for me, Mrs JT, and our children. We still have the Cobalts and an Accord EX-L 4-Cyl. We had great luck with our GM vehicles. My favorites are the Austin, 914, Silhouette, and the latest Accord, all for different reasons.
None of my Hondas are what most people would consider fast, although I can’t say I’ve always used them responsibly. My Civic is the DX discount model, and all three of my motorcycles have been 750 cc models. The Nighthawk 750 I used to own could get up there, but all the experts consider it uninspiring in stock form.
