The Checker Aerobus

Put simply, this 1970 Aerobus sold by https://www.cosmopolitanmotors.com/ is 22 feet 6 inches long, has eight side doors, seats 12 occupants on four rows of bench seats, and has space for 40 cubic feet of luggage. It weighs 5,305 lbs and has a 66-foot turning circle, so power-assisted steering and power brakes are essential standard fittings.  Most importantly, it was the longest mass-production passenger car. 

Checker launched their A8 series in December 1956, and by 1960, its Marathon was set to become the archetypal New York taxi. The Kalamazoo company saw a market niche for a specialist vehicle based on the Marathon Station Wagon to transport a multitude of passengers from the airport to their hotel. The result was the Aerobus, which debuted in 1962. 

Checker boasted: “you give your guests first-class accommodations during their stay. So why give them anything less on their way to your hotel or motel? Greet them with a Checker Aerobus Limousine!”. Furthermore: “The Aerobus was built from the ground up for the purpose of moving people. Not a stretched car, not a converted stock car, but a built-for-the-purpose, built-to-last vehicle of amazing stamina and comfort”. 

The Aerobus offered a business a courtesy car that was highly robust and cheaper than a stretched Cadillac or Lincoln, albeit rather less opulent. The Checker’s interior featured the “highest quality vinyl” upholstery and “two floor mounted auxiliary heaters”. Above all, an Aerobus was a promotional tool for any resort, as it looked far more impressive than a minibus.  

Buyers could initially choose from the eight-door twelve-seater or the six-door nine-seater version for hotels with space issues. The early models used a 5.2-litre Chrysler V8 engine, which was succeeded in 1965 with a 5.4-litre Chevrolet unit and, in 1969, a 5.7-litre plant. By then, six-door production ended. One brochure claimed the Aerobus “was designed for: for businesses, institutions, resorts, service firms, schools…even big families!”  and “‘handles with ease of a passenger car”.  

You might have thought the potential for UK sales was limited – a 66-foot turning circle and narrow city streets were not a good combination. However, an Aerobus did appear at the 1965 London Motor Show, and the concessionaire Evans (Continental) Ltd. offered an LHD version for £2,950, around double the price of a Ford Zodiac Mk. III. Government regulations of that era classed the Checker as a minibus, restricting the top speed to 40 mph except on the motorway. 
 
Evans’ director, a Mr. Turner, told the press, “We feel that there will be a market for it, especially as executive transport, or for VIP passengers visiting special events – even undertakers have shown an interest”. Calling WIMbledon 0163 could result in a test drive you would never forget, and Evans reported one undertaker acquired two Aerobuses and the sale of another to a gentleman with ten children.  

Autocar of 11th March 1966 borrowed an Aerobus from Evans and praised the smoothness of the Checker’s engine and transmission. They found “it can even be cornered in a spirited fashion”, while: 

it is less worrying to drive the Checker briskly, especially at night, than to dawdle, as other drivers often underestimate its length and overtake slowly, leaving no room for the Checker driver to pull out to pass any obstruction.

The original Aerobus ceased production in 1974, but between 1975 and 1977, the Checker made a small number of a new Marathon saloon-based version.  Whoever acquires this 1970 example sold by https://www.cosmopolitanmotors.com/ will own one of the most distinctive vehicles in the history of the American motor industry. Plus, “a limousine that’s built to be a limousine”.