ThirstyFish

The taxicab that you see in the photograph is the Checker A8/Marathon which was produced, virtually unchanged, between 1956 and 1982. It was made by a small independent manufacturer, Checker Motors Corporation in Michigan. It remains the the most recognized taxi cab vehicle in the United States and has been featured in numerous TV shows and movies.

Checker Motors Corporation, besides producing the vehicles, was also the owner of the famous Checker Taxi company. Checker Motors stopped producing Taxicabs in 1982 because it could no longer compete with larger manufacturers that offered fleet discounts. It changed its business to manufacturing parts for the likes of General Motors until 2009, but was finally shut down in 2010.

Although old icons are replaced by new ones all the time, the replacements almost always lack the aura of the originals. You can read about this idea in a prior post, They Don't Make Them Like They Used To...