Or could we get a good deal on a fleet & "FLOOD" NHRA & IHRA with Checkers in Stock/Super Stock?

Adger Smith

At one point, a long time ago (1963, maybe?) I read a road test in a magazine in which they tested a Checker Marathon which had a 283 2bbl (dunno if they ever came with a 4bbl; why would they?) and a THREE-SPEED Borg Warner tranny,
I remember thinking at the time (this was before you could get a decent hi-stall converter for a 'glide), why doesn't somebody run one of these cars in Stock Eliminator? The transmission would have been a huge advantage over a stock-stall 'glide.

The Checker Marathons were available to consumers for daily-driver transportation, so maybe a 4bbl WAS available.

Dunno if they were in the Classification Guide back then, Probably not...

Bill

In 1969 the Checker Marathon had as an optional engine the Chevrolet 300 HP 327 !
And in 1971 had the Chev 245 HP 350 CI with a Rochester 4 bbl.
And in 1975 had as an option the Chev 145 HP 350 CI with the Rochester 4 bbl....
They were built into the 80' but my book oonly goes to 1975.
Info comes from the Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946-1975 given to me by a good friend from Arkansas ! THANKS....

The 1971 Checker with the 245 HP 350 CI engine and Shipping Weight of 3,800 pounds should fall right into P- Stock !!!!

The 265 is the baby lt-1...Its actually not a bad combo...There is a guy running in GT/MA with it in a grand-am...Can think of his name. The motor is a short stroke, smaller headed LT-1...Could be an interesting project in a caprice wagon!

New york has a bazillion Crown vic's, and they want to go eco friendly! Ok, load your family of four and luggage from a two week vacation into a prius (one of the cars OK'd) and we'll see how you make out!
Just another kick square in the nuts for detroit. The approved cars are a couple of toyota's and a honda, and a couple hybrid suv's including the escape.
When foreign content is mandated, there's a problem, a very big problem.

Am I bitter? DAMN RIGHT!!!

Nitrous is like an old man with viagra, as soon as the bottles empty, your all done!

Oh, and Mike, the guy who designed the Tucker was...Preston Tucker.




Nitrous is like an old man with viagra, as soon as the bottles empty, your all done!

Ron Roddel runs this combination with the little black Grand Am.
It is probably the fastest GT/MA in the country on any given day. It went 1.13 under this past weekend at our S/SS race in not real stellar air and I'm willing to bet it could have gone faster.

That's a combo that needs some Hp adjustment! hehehehehe

See ya at BIR!

See ya in Staging!

Actually, Preston Tucker was the Obvious Brainchild and Owner of the Tucker, but he wasn't the design engineer. The Chief design engineer was Alex Tremus, but Tucker also hired design engineer Ray Dietrich away from Checker.
Checker had earlier hired Ray Dietrich way from Chrysler. They created the Tucker look. I believe Tucker was an engineer but maybe not a design engineer. Oh, and they say Dietrich would not take credit/responsibility for the ugly front end of the Checker.
And yes, I did go look up the names just now as I wrote everything I remembered about the Checker yesterday. [:-sunglasses-:]
The Checker motor Co was a very interesting Co. though, more than just ugly cabs. If you like automotive history it's worth learning a bit about.
Just like the Tucker, great story, and the Big Three tried to squash both of em.


Mike ( madness & ) Mayhem