Museum Curator, Sam Grate, invites you to join him in a series of monthly car-side presentations featuring different automobiles from our galleries.

Join us for an in-depth look at the many automobiles in our collection and discover their part in our history. If These Cars Could Talk is a monthly program offered by museum staff for free to the public on the first Saturday of each month.

E.L. Cord became the controlling stockholder of the Checker Cab Manufacturing Company in 1933 and installed the company’s founder, Morris Markin, in the office of the president. The Checker Cab Manufacturing Company joined the Cord Corporation alongside other Cord interests such as Lycoming Motors. In an effort to streamline production, Cord began installing his own Lycoming engines in all Checker Cabs, including the example in our collection. In 1937, the newly created Securities and Exchange Commission turned their focus on the complicated business relationship between Cord and Markin, which ultimately led to stock manipulation charges and the collapse of E.L Cord’s industrial empire.

This presentation will be held in the museum galleries next to the car from 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm on Saturday, July 3, 2021 and is offered to all patrons for free with museum admission. For more information, including the specific location of the presentation, please call ahead at 260-925-1444 or see an associate at the admission desk.