Hemmings Find of the Day: Cooper-Monaco

There’s so much coolness contained in this find, I don’t know where to start. Actually, I do – with the lead photograph, which features a killer paint scheme on the 1959 Cooper-Monaco currently being offered by Legends Automotive of Litchfield, Connecticut. Also in the photo – awesome moustacheage and a CMP. Legends’ description of the Cooper-Monaco:

CM4/59 was delivered new to John Coombs in 1959 and driven with success by Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren at Silverstone, Aintree and Goodwood etc. Very well documented car with a truly exciting provenance. This Cooper Monaco is fitted with a fresh Coventry Climax FPF engine and is immaculately prepared in every way. Ready to compete in the most prestigious FIA historical events. Located in Europe.

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Bill Burke bellytank re-creation hits the salt

When we last left Geoff Hacker and the Bill Burke bellytank re-creation that he commissioned, they had just set out for Bonneville. Unsurprisingly, the tank has been well-received by the Speedweek thrill-seekers, and geoff seems to be having a blast.  Geoff said Peter Vincent plans to photograph it on the salt, and Bill Burke should be out there today to look over the tank.

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Six Degrees of Automotive Separation: Opel and Audi

Do the German automakers just really like circles in their logos? Think about it: Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Opel all incorporated the annular element. Hmmm….

Anyway, with the long history of both companies, they must’ve made enough connections in the automotive world to be linked somehow, right? If you can see the connections, explain them in the comments.

The rules, as before, are simple: A connection consists of one company owning another, merging with another or sharing another’s parts. Explain your connections, and as before, the point isn’t necessarily to do it in the least number of connections, but to do it with style and with obscure connections. If you need examples, check out our previous Hemmings Six Degrees of Automotive Separation Challenges.

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Lost Checker Dealerships aplenty

While poking around on the Checker Taxi Stand recently, I found a few scraps of information on old Checker dealerships. While Checker did, to an extent, have a network of dealerships as we typically think of them, most civilian Checker sales were done through independent dealers (and dealers of independents) who sold the occasional Checker to supplement their normal sales, or were done by cab companies that placed an order for an extra Checker or two when they placed their fleet orders for the year. One example of the former is DeWitt Motors in Akron, Ohio, which we already noted as an AMC dealership.

In poking around the Taxi Stand, we did come across the above latter-day photo of “Checker Charlie” Broder’s former Checker dealership at 228 East Sixth Street in Tucson, Arizona. Gotta love the aesthetics of the place.

I wanted to find out more, so I checked with John Weinhoeft, the editor of The Checkerboard News, who just happened to be compiling a list of known (as of 1972) and suspected Checker dealerships for the Summer 2009 issue of the newsletter, which includes about half a dozen overseas dealerships. So now we have a list similar to the 1983 AMC dealership list.

John also reminded us that the Checker factory itself also served as a dealership. In fact, for a period in the 1960s when Checker wanted to build its civilian sales, the company offered to pay your way to the dealer to pick up your new civvy Checker, kinda like those fancy Europeans with their programs offering factory delivery. Located on North Pitcher Street in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the Checker factory still stands today. How much longer – with Checker going through the throes of bankruptcy – is anybody’s guess.

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