Paul Eakins loved the unusual, and besides his museum instruments
he also owned and oversaw the restoration of the infamous armored
limousine once owned by Al Capone.

When Paul Eakins visited New York City he also became intrigued with
the 'Checker Cab' taxis of the era.  He returned home wanting a Checker
automobile, so he called the president of Checker Motors, the late
Morris Markin, in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Mr. Markin was a remarkable man: a tailor by trade, and an automobile
builder.  With that combination, you can rest assured that the Checker
Cabs he designed and built were comfortable as anyone has ever ridden
in, as any Checker owner would tell you.

Around 1974 Paul ordered a new white and blue Checker station wagon.
The company arranged to drive the new car to Sikeston, Missouri, right
to his door.  Paul used the car to drive to his other museum in St.
Louis.

I bought the Checker station wagon from a young man in Sikeston, which
is only 18 miles from my home.  By this time, the Checker had logged
140,000 miles and was showing signs of its age.  I did not know it was
Paul Eakins' old car, though, until I go it home and started to prepare
it for a "frame off" restoration.

In the glove box was the factory warranty, and Paul Eakins name was
on the document.  When Chris and I got the car driveable we visited
Mrs. Eakins, who was very pleased the Checker was still running.
As a matter of fact, she almost cried.

I assured her that the car would be restored and taken care of, and
if she ever wanted it back, I would make sure it would go back to the
family.  Other than that, it is _not_ for sale.  I have a picture of
the Checker somewhere.  If The MMD would like it for the archives,
I will scan it and send it in.

Here is a side note about Morris Markin and the Yellow Cab Company.

The Yellow Cab Company of Chicago tried to force Checker Cab out of
business by cutting taxi fares in half.  Most independent cabs were
financed by loans, and the Checker operators became worried: there was
no way they could make their car payments if they charged the half-
normal fares that Yellow Cab charged.

The operators made a bee-line for Markin's office and explained their
plight to Mr. Markin.  After a period of silence, Morris told them
not to worry about it -- he would suspend all Checker taxicab loan
payments as long as the fare war lasted.  (Try to get someone to do
that these days!)  The cabbies were relieved, and went back to work
charging the same fares as Yellow Cab, who soon called off the
price war.

When Morris Markin was questioned by the Checker stockholders about
the suspended payments (and the stockholder's suspended dividends),
Markin simply pointed out that, if the Checker cab operators went out
of business, so would he.  He knew that this was an effort by his rival,
John Hertz (who founded Hertz Rent-a-Car) to force Checker out of
business.

John Hertz and Morris Markin remained rivals for years, a story
in itself that eventually involved mobster Al Capone.

Andy Taylor, proud owner of four Checkers

 [ More at http://www.checkercabs.org/html/checker_history.html