Companies Based in Kalamazoo, Michigan - Checker Motors Corporation, Stryker Corporation, Bell's Brewery, Heritage Guitars (Paperback)

Chapters: Checker Motors Corporation, Stryker Corporation, Bell's Brewery, Heritage Guitars, Kalamazoo and South Haven Railroad, Kalamazoo, Lake Shore and Chicago Railway, Association for Behavior Analysis International, Borroughs, Structuretec, Fabri-Kal, Aggregate Industries-Central Region. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 49. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Checker Motors Corporation was a Kalamazoo, Michigan based automotive subcontractor that was once the manufacturer of the famed Checker automobile, the iconic American taxi cab. Checker was established by Morris Markin in 1922 through a merger of Commonwealth Motors and Markin Automobile Body. On January 16, 2009, the company filed for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court . Morris Markin, a clothier from Chicago, Illinois, became the owner of a Joliet, Illinois, auto-body manufacturer when its owner defaulted on a $15,000 personal loan from Markin. The facility made bodies for Commonwealth Motors who marketed the vehicles to cab companies under the trade name Mogul. The former company was Lomberg Auto Body Mfg. Co. Concurrently, Checker Taxi a privately-owned cab company in Chicago that had no affiliation with Markin placed a large order for Mogul cabs with Commonwealth. Commonwealth itself was on the verge of bankruptcy, so Markin merged the two companies in order to honor the contractual commitment with the Chicago Checker Taxi. Markin named his concern the Checker Cab Company. However, there was no overlap in ownership. John Hertz began in the taxi business in 1910, both building Yellow Cabs and operating the livery service. Because of plant overproduction, Hertz used the excess cars by renting them to patrons through his "Yellow Drive-Ur-Self" division (the forerunner of Hertz Rental Car). Seeing Hertz's succe...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=101839