1965 Checker Marathon Town Custom Limousine - SCV 13 🇮🇹

The  Vatican purchased this Checker Limousine in Germany in 1965. Presumably this car was chosen for its utilitarian and humble stature, yet the Limousine was only available through special order. The car was  brought to the Garage Nobile in Rome where it received final fit-out and registered with plate SCV 13 as part of the fleet of Vatican limousines assigned to formal protocol duties.

After years of service, the Checker was decommissioned and sold. Its whereabouts were known but not confirmed until the car came to the attention of the NB Center.  In 2009, it became part of the NB Center collection in Rome. The car required a complete restoration to return it to its “as-delivered” condition. The engine was worn out beyond repair and was replaced with a brand new Chevrolet V8. The body was carefully restored to like new condition by craftsmen in Italy while many component parts were sent to the United States for specialists to restore.

Sales of passenger cars were never a big business for Checker; only 930 non-taxi cars were sold in 1965. It is possible this car is the sole survivor in Europe. 

Company
Checker Motors Corporation

Make
Checker

Model
Marathon

Body Style
Limousine, 4-dr, 7-pass.

Body Manufacture
N/A

Model year
1965

Wheelbase
129.5 inches

Length
208.3  inches

Engine
V8, OHV, 283 cid

Horsepower
195 @ 4800 rpm

Transmission
2-speed Turbo-Hydramatic Automatic

Original Base Price
$5,491

Brand Production
6,136

This Car Production
930 (non-taxi)

Checker is aptly named as it has a bit of  a “Checkered” founding story. Beginning as the DeSchaum Automobile Company in Buffalo, NY in 1908 it would morph into the Suburban Motor Car Company in Detroit, MI in 1910. Suburban would evolve into the Partin Manufacturing Company. Eventually, under the hand of Morris Markin, it would become the Checker Cab Company in 1922-23.

Checker exclusively served the  niche market for Taxi Cabs from 1923 through 1959. Early on their cars gained a reputation for being spacious and durable, the two biggest requirements of a Cab.

In 1958, the company announced their intention to enter the passenger car business producing cars that were utilitarian and durable sharing the unadorned and quirky styling of their taxi stable mates. The company changed its name to the Checker Motors Corporation. The Marathon was introduced in 1962 and consisted of standard and long wheelbase sedans like the taxis, a station wagon and later a limousine.

The only new feature for 1965 was the change to Chevrolet engines. The base engine was now the 230 cubic inch inline-six but purchasers could pay an additional $110 for the 283 cubic inch V8.

The Marathon would remain in production both as a passenger car and taxi through July 1982. 

To understand the Vatican Limousine Collection of the NB Center you need to understand why the Vatican had American cars in the first place. In 1861, the Kingdom of Italy was created by the unification, both voluntary and forced, of the small countries and city-states that made-up the Italian peninsula. Many of the areas taken by the unification were Papal States, under the direct rule of the pope. The pope and the ruling body of the papacy, called the Holy See, retreated from these seized lands to the Leonine City on the shore of the Tiber river across from central Rome. This became the de facto headquarters of the Papacy and by extension the seat of the Catholic Church.

The new King and parliament of the Kingdom of Italy had no wish to be seen suppressing the Church or the pope, after all, the vast majority of Italians were Catholic.  Through an act of the Parliament, called the “Law of Papal Guarantees”, the Kingdom of Italy granted certain powers and sovereign prerogatives to the pope. But, because this law was created by the government of the Kingdom and the pope did not recognize the rights or powers of the Kingdom, the pope did not accept this law. He declared himself a prisoner of the Leonine City, aka the Vatican, unable to leave the grounds for fear the Kingdom of Italy may seize the Vatican as their own. This stalemate,  called the “Roman Question”, remained the status quo from 1861 through 1929.

The government of dictator Benito Mussolini finally negotiated an end to the Roman Question through the Lateran Pacts. This agreement, made February 1929, created the independent sovereign State of Vatican City and granted the full legal and political independence of the pope from the nation of Italy.

For the first time since 1861, the pope was free to move about outside the Vatican. Since no pope had left the Vatican since 1861, they never needed a car. While cars did exist inside the Vatican and the pope had even been given cars prior to this time, they never really had any place to go. To mark the occasion of the signing of the pact, the American Graham brothers, owners of the Graham-Paige Motor Company, donated a car to the Vatican for the use of Pope Pius XI. This 1929 Graham Paige 837 Landaulet by LeBaron became the first car for the exclusive use of a pope outside of the Vatican walls.

The car proved very reliable and comfortable. While the pope had other cars at his disposal, the Graham became the chosen vehicle. The car served both Pius XI and Pius XII  before it was retired from regular use in 1947. The car can still be seen today in the Vatican museum.

In the years since the Graham entered the papal fleet, the Vatican came to appreciate that American cars were less expensive, easier to maintain and less gaudy than the offerings of most European manufacturers. In 1932, the Vatican began to purchase cars from General Motors. In that year they purchased several Buicks and a couple Cadillacs. This was followed in 1938 with the purchase of two Buicks and two Cadillacs. While other brands were purchased for various duties, all the cars dedicated to transporting dignitaries of all types, except the pope, through the end of World War II, were Buicks or Cadillacs

Immediately after the war, the Vatican placed an order for a custom Cadillac for the exclusive use of Pope Pius XII. This car was delivered in 1947 and soon followed by orders for another Cadillac, Packards and eventually Chryslers. American cars dominated the transport of dignitaries and the pope, at the Vatican until the mid-1960s.

Today, the largest collection of Vatican cars outside of the Vatican are in the NB Center collection. From a 1932 Cadillac to a 1965 Checker Marathon, including the Cadillac  customized by Derham Body Company for the use of the pope starting in 1947, these cars survive because Nicola Bulgari and the staff of the NB Center set about to locate, save and preserve these artifacts while documenting their history.