My first thought was “railroad car” and someone could have a really big garage, but my second thought, and the actual answer, is “Checker Cab”. Booyahh.
You beat me to that suggestion…too. One of my favorite cars.
I knew that too! I used to see them all the time on the series “Taxi”…
That is a good answer, but please refresh my memory of the model years of the two cars in the Puzzler. If the newer car was new enough to have “recoverable bumpers”, then it would not look exactly the same as the older one.
Please refresh my memory of when the term “recoverable bumpers” was used in the puzzler. Learn to listen, listen to learn.
The friend was not sure if the Puzzleteller (I can’t keep them straight) had ever driven the car. You can’t drive a railroad car, so that’s out.
Long story short, I’m right, don’t worry about it. Scoop of vanilla, scoop of chocolate, don’t waste my time. I’ve got crime to fight.
Do you have another idea, or are you just trying to nitpick the correct answer?
Talk to Tom and Ray about the long lag time for posting Puzzlers on this website.
That term was not in the puzzler. What I am saying is that, if we are comparing…for instance…a 1965 Checker with a 1976 Checker, the later model would have had recoverable bumpers. Although the body style did not change over that span of years, the much bigger bumpers on the later model would immediately stand out as a noticeable difference.
What were the model years of the cars in the Puzzler??
As a regular/public car it should be the Checker “Marathon” that was the name of the vehicle sold to the public. Also the old car would have to be a 1968 or newer because earlier ones would not have the side markers, an obvious give away, too old and new, bumpers also did change over the years. But the basic body style did not chnage.
Or you might consider the Avanti, designed by Raymond Lowey for Studebaker in the '60s and made by Avanti in the '70s and later.
The non-Studebaker Avantis did not have the “rake” (low front/high rear) that the genuine Studebaker Avantis had. I can tell the difference from quite a distance.
Also, once recoverable bumpers became a requirement, that gave the car a different enough look so that one could tell the difference between model years.
Just as with the Checker sedan, even though the Avanti body shell itself did not change, an astute observer could definitely tell the difference–even from a distance.
They specifically did not specify years, only decades, so “recoverable bumpers” can go screw. And yes, I knew it was “Marathon”. As the kids would say, “pwned”.
“Or you might consider the Avanti, designed by Raymond Lowey for Studebaker in the '60s and made by Avanti in the '70s and later.”
Designed in the 60s and made in the 70s? Hardly a good fit for this Puzzler, what?
They “specifically did not specify years”?
Were they definitively definite about any details?
;-))
They specified “early 60s” and “mid-70s”. Both the side markers (mentioned by Tommy2shoes) and the bumper (changed in 74) should be giveaways. They should have said “late 60s” and “early 70”.
As is, bogus.
The last series Checker hit the road in 1956. There was a grille change about 1959. I think Checker began offering cars for non-taxicab use in 1960. The last Checker rolled off the line in 1982. What always amazed me is that Checker probably turned out less than 10,000 vehicles a year, but seemed to make a profit. Yet GM produced way more cars than that in each of the divisions–Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, etc. and went bankrupt. Do you suppose it was because Checker had most of its workforce actually making cars while GM had too many of its employees supervising workers who made the cars?
I think it could be due to the billions of dollars spent on R&D to find new ways of making components non-user serviceable.
Checker went bankrupt last year too:
Although I’m sure the “correct” answer is a Checker Cab…
What about a Military Surplus jeep? Did the jeep ever change in its army incarnation visibly?
Maybe the answer is the Ford-designed, AMC General-built MUTT.
The military switched over from Jeeps to MUTTS somewhere around 1960.
The difference between an early 60s and a mid 70s Checker Marathon would be readily apparent, especially if they were side by side. The early 60s model would have a rain gutter above the windshield that is continuous with the side rain gutters. On the mid 70s model, the side gutters would continue down the posts at the sides of the windshield. I think they made the change in 1968.
Even more obvious than the presence or absence of a rain gutter is the difference in the bumpers from the early '60s to the mid-'70s. As I stated in my earlier post on 1/16/10, by the the mid-'70s, Checkers had “recoverable bumpers”–which are very noticeable.
Also, by the early '70s, Checker sedans–just like everything else sold in the US market–had side marker lights on the front and rear fenders. On Checkers, these lights were particularly large and, hence, very noticeable.
Sorry Tom & Ray, but because of the above-noted differences in models, your answer to the Puzzler is BOGUS!