There are a lot of interesting and fun ways to spend money. Some people buy high-end sports cars, SUVs, or trucks but we think we’ve found a better option. This BMW 750iL with a slipping transmission and a taxi cab body deserves the love of someone who can actually get it running right.
That’s right, if you thought that a BMW 7-Series with a V12 and a taxi cab body wasn’t sketchy enough, it’s also suffering from a transmission that slips. Under the classic Checker Marathon (yes, that’s the make and model) you see here is the chassis, interior, and drivetrain from a BMW 750il. Let’s clarify what the auction winner will end up getting here.
The Checker Marathon was the defacto taxi cab of New York for decades. The seller on eBay says that this body is specifically from a 1981 example. From what we can tell, this thing has been a rat rod project for some time so exterior maintenance probably won’t be a major concern for its next owner.
Don’t worry, we’re sure the mechanical bits will require enough love on their own. The V12 in these cars is notoriously touchy. That’s not to say that they’re totally unreliable but the computer system can trigger faults if you look at the engine the wrong way. In addition, there might be some legal baggage that comes with the car too.
More: Waymo Is Looking To Charge Users For Autonomous Taxi Rides
First spotted by the folks over at TheDrive, commentators there noted that in May of 2020, this same car was reported as stolen online. In fact, many commentators online claim that it’s still hot and that typos like claiming that the BMW is from 2001 instead of 1997 are intentional so as to throw off the authorities. It’s also worth noting that evidently, the VIN is from the Checker, not the BMW, which is kind of strange on its own.
Going down the rabbit hole with this car shows documentation of the build process back in 2018. It seems like the original builder was a big Checker fan and wanted to have the classic body with all of the luxury offered by the donor BMW. In complete working and legal order we can totally see the appeal. Short of that we’re not even sure that it’s safe to look at this auction without incurring some sort of debt.
