Posted on Facebook on June 14th 2016 by SpeedyCop
“Unique project opportunities always present themselves when you are flat broke, and flooded with projects. This one was no exception, and it was 6 hours away. However, there was absolutely NO WAY I was passing this magnificent beast up for scrap value! It’s a 1976 Checker Aerobus that has been converted into 1957 Chevy Bel Air limo. It spent the last 9 years sitting in the weeds in North Jersey developing sill rust, with the front suspension disassembled for a rebuild that never happened. My current plan is to paint it red, redo the white cloth top, and possibly slap the whole thing on a beefier, more modern truck/bus chassis for diesel power and better suspension/brakes. Then, I’ll use it as my LeMons tow rig! I soaked it down in a bleach/water mixture. More pics to come when I find time to clean it up…”
It appears that SpeedyCop, was never able to start the restoration/upgrade of the customized Aerobus 15/57 Chevy. Eventually this project ended up in Haverhill, Mass. It appears that this car languished in Haverhill and may end up getting crushed in a mass Checker crushing expected in November.
So what exactly is an Aerobus 15? In 1975, Checker started to look into the development of a replacement for the first generation Aerobus killed in 1974. Apparently the cancelling of the Aerobus did not stop demand, many operators looked to Checker to come up with a replacement model.
The second generation Aerobus was unofficially called the Aerobus 15. The prototype looked like any other post 1958 Checker and like the Aerobus, it had eight doors, but there is a major difference from the first generation Aerobus.
According to form CMC Plant General Manager and Head of Engineering John Logan: “A year after the Checker wagon & the Aerobus was cancelled, John Love, VP of CMC, stated in a staff meeting one morning, we need a 15 passenger Aerobus. No one commented, except yours truly. “I said why don’t we build one?”. This caught David’s (CEO David Markin) attention and he asked, how are we going to do that? I explained we can build a 8 door Aerobus with a standard rear end with the extended, 9 inch rear door and export aux. seats. After some discussion, David says, Build One. I with help of some key union people built a prototype. David approved it and we built 46 more that year & 60 the next year.”
The Aerobus 15 was designed based off of a long wheel base A12E platform, not a A12W wagon platform. From an overall size perspective, the Aerobus 15 is slightly larger than th original Aerobus, but the extra foot in length allowed for three additional passenger capacity for the new Aerobus. The Aerobus 15 was technically a more efficient vehicles from a passenger cost standpoint, the new Aerobus could carry more passengers with marginal impact on gas mileage
Now at a Lawrence, Mass auto crusher, the Haverhill Checker Hoarder, dumped this rare beast and 39 other Checkers at the yard. ICTA member Dave Kniffen wrote last week “If u wanted unique, as if Checker was’nt enough, here is a solid saver, this Checker aerobus has been modified with a 57 Chevy front and rear clip. It was a tedious job and labor of love … a shame to crush”
Video can be found on our ICTA Facebook page
Only a handful of 40 dumped cars may be abled to be saved, this is one of them. About 10 Checker have already been crushed, the remaining Checkers are available for sale as a salvage cars with no title. For more information please call 495 Auto Salvagers in Lawrence, Mass. The yard can be reached directly via their web site http://www.495recyclers.com/
Contact 495 recyclers directly at 978-682-3777
Leave a Reply