unclescott58

A country bumpkin makes his first trip to big city to see the sites. He ends up on the observation platform at the top of city's tallest building. As he's enjoying the view, this city slicker walks up to him and starts talking. City guy says to him, "Boy it sure is windy up here!" The country guy responds, "Yep." City guy, "Did you know the wind comes straight up the side of the building?" Country guy, "Nope." City guy, "In fact it's so powerful, that if you were to climb over the railing and jump, you would only fall a few stories. Then the wind would pick you up and put you right back on this platform!" The country guy looks at him and says, "Listen I maybe a country bumpkin, but I wasn't born yesterday. There is no way." The city guy says, "Oh yeh! I'll prove it to you." So the city guy takes off him his hat, jacket, and glasses, hands them to the country guy, climbs over the railing and jumps! And sure enough he drops only a few stories! Then slowly he starts to rise. And gently lands back on the platform. Well, the country bumpkin is amazed by this! He hands the city guy back his stuff, climbs over the railing and jumps..... He falls 100 stories to his death. There were two guys who observed this whole thing. One turns to the other and says, "You know, that Superman sure doesn't like country bumpkins. Scott

What do dyslexic agnostics with insomnia do all night? They stay wake wondering if there really is a dog. Scott

Okay, here are four jokes I just ran across in a little free paper called TidBits. The four jokes all deal with the same chacter, and is titled, "Four Strikes from Little Larry". - A new teacher was trying to make use of her psychology courses. She started her class by saying, 'Everybody who thinks they're stupid, stand up!' After a few second, Little Larry stood up. The teacher said, 'Do you think you're stupid, Larry?' 'No ma'am, but I hate to see you standing there all by yourself!' - Larry watched, fascinated, as his mother smoothed cold cream on her face. 'Why do you do that, mommy?' he asked. 'To make myself beautiful,' said his mother, who then began removing the cream with a tissue. 'What's the matter, asked Larry 'Giving up?' - Larry's kindergarten class was on a field trip to their local police station where they saw pictures tacked to a bulletin board of the 10 most wanted criminals. One of the youngsters pointed to a picture and asked if it really was the photo of a wanted person. 'Yes,' said the policeman. 'The detectives want very badly to capture him.' Larry asked, "Why didn't you keep him when you took his picture?" - Little Larry attended a horse auction with his father. He watched as is father moved from horse to horse, running his hands up and down the horse's legs and rump, and chest. After a few minutes, Larry asked, 'Dad, why are you doing that?' His father replied, 'Because when I buy horses, I have to make sure that they are healthy and in good shape before I buy. Larry, looking worried, said, 'Dad, I think the UPS guy wants to buy Mom.....' Scott

Weren't the old Hubleys, at least the metal ones, 1/20th scale? I know they did Model As. But I don't recall a '32 Ford. Scott

Let's us know how it went. I've use the stuff with great success. I hope it works as well for you, as it has for me in the past. Scott

Wow! I hit the link to 6066 GMC guy you posted above. Looks like a great source for info on these engines. I've bookmarked it for later use. Thanks for that one Bill. And thanks for the link to the past discussion on this subject too. Scott

I would prefer a Club Wagon version with the stock windows and seats. But, I'd be happy with a plain stock cargo van too. Scott

Very, very kool! Wow! I only have one question. Is the lettering used on the truck, decals that came with the kit? They really help with the look of the vehicle. Scott

Nice job. But, through the photos I would never guessed it was painted Ivory. The color in the photos does not appeal to me. Especially with the green. It would be interesting to see this kit photographed under lights that would bring out the true color. Other than the photographed color, I like the model. Very nice. Scott

Over the last couple of weeks, at repair shop only a block or two from my house, I've seen parked there a very nice '55 Ford Fairlane. An equally nice '59 El Camino. And a not perfect, but very nice, what I believe to be a CJ-3 Jeep. They were not all there at the same time. In the past six months, I also saw an early 50's Cadillac there. I'm wondering if they are getting a reputation for being able to work on old stuff? Have to keep my eyes open when passing by. Scott

Good point Harry. They stamped parts for the big three and other companies for years. They build complete Ford pickup cabs sometime in the 1930's or 40's. After they quit building their own car in 1982, they countiued stamping parts, mainly for General Motors. They stayed in business unit 2008. Then the problems GM was having, and the Bernie Madoff scandal finialy took Checker down. Scott

A pickup truck based on this generation Checker is for sure a custom built unit. Built by somebody other than Checker. In James Hinckley's book on Checkers, the only Checker truck he shows or talks about is a '33 Checker Model T converted into a flatbed by somebody other than Checker. By the way, James Hinckley's book, is titled "Checker Cab Co. Photo History." Published by Iconografix in 2003. It a great book on the subject. But, I think titling it as "Photo History" does the book a bit of disservice. The book has a ton of photos, but also plenty of written information on the history of Checker automobiles (and other vehicles built by Checker). Another great source is the Checker Car Club of America. Their site comes up through a Google search. The other night I was reading a section on owning Checkers, on their site. It was mentioned there, that Checkers handling is not the best at speeds over 80 or 90 mph. Too much air gets under the cars at thoughs speeds. Interesting. This brings up two thoughts. One, I never thought of anybody driving a Checker at 80 to 90 mph. Second, if one owns a Checker, should they then put spoilers on it? Scott

It way look like '56 Ford. But, from my understanding it was their own parts. I could be wrong on that though. Scott

Wow! It looks very good. I hope mine turns out half as well. Scott

Looks great. I found it to be a very fun kit when I built mine. Scott

Very, very nice. I like it. Scott

Very nicely done. I'm impressed. Scott

I think it would be cool now to own a civilian Checker Marathon as a personal car today. Make mine a '65, '66, or '67 Marathon sedan or wagon with a 327 V8 under the hood. Scott

Cordoba and a Charger. Cool. Scott

Looks good. Nice. Scott

Beutiful model. Very nicely done. Scott

Wow! Very nice. Scott

We've covered this in another thread in recent months. The Chevrolet "W" will not work. Some good info and photos from what I remember in that other thread. And I believe it was around here in the "Model Building Questions and Answers" section around the beginning of summer. So it shouldn't be too hard to find. Scott

Yippee! That means it's getting closer to getting into our hands! Scott

Amazing amount of wrong info or half correct info shows up in places like this. Let's clarify the style of Checker most people here are talking about. The basic Checker, the taxi cab version is the model A9/A11 built from 1959 through 1982. It replaced the the simular looking model A8, that shared the basic body structure, built from 1956 through 1958. Late in 1959, for the 1960 model year, Checker introduced a non comercial version of the A9 with slightly nice trim, call the model A10 Superba. There was also an even nicer model, the A10 Superba Special. Both were available as a 4-door sedan or 4-door station wagon. Starting in 1961 the Superba Special became the Marathon. Then in 1963, they became the A12 Superba and A12 Marathon. 1963 was the last year for Superba. 1963 also saw the taxi cab version become the model A11. If you walked into your Checker dealer to buy a civilian model Checker in 1963 you could choose from an A12 Superba 4-door sedan, an A12W Superba 4-door station wagon, an A12 Marathon 4-door sedan, an A12W Marathon 4-door station wagon, and the new for '63 the A12E Marathon Town Custom 4-door limousine. Build on a 129" wheelbase vs 120" for the regular models. This held true through 1966. After which the long wheelbase Town Custom was dropped in general. Popping up in later years on a limited basis as a model called the A12E Marathon Deluxe. By the way, Checkers idea of a limousine did not always include a divider window. Though the divider was available. Also, the regular 120" wheelbase Checker models rear compartment was big enough to accommodate optional folding jump seats. So you can imagine the rear seat leg room in the long wheelbase model! On to engines. 1959 through 1964 were mainly power by the same engines used in Kaisers and Frazers. The Continental 226 cubic inch straight six. Flathead standard. Overhead valve head optional. From 1965 on they pretty much used Chevy sixs and small-block V8s. There were a few Chrysler V8s put in Checkers for a short time in 1964. In 1968 Checker also offered a Perkins in-line 4 diesel. A11 comercial vehicles is were you get some different variations. The basic Checker A9 and A11 was a 4-door sedan of course. They also offered the comercial Aerobus line. This was a stretched Checker station wagon, available in 6 or 8-door models. Mostly seen in use around airports. They also offered a high roof 4-door sedan called the Medicar. It was mainly designed to accommodate people in wheelchairs. As far as I know, there were no comercial Checker 4-door station wagons. Only the non-comercial Superba and Marathon versions. But, with way Checker worked, I'm sure if you wanted one, they would build it for you. I hope this clairifies a few things for you guys. Scott