Mike Riley, a Superior Court Judge of Ellington, Connecticut has been sitting on a fleet of Checker cabs from the mid to late 1900’s for some time now.  Riley tells The Wall Street Journal that, he was working as a mechanic while in school, when one day an abandoned Checker cab got towed into the garage.  He later purchased the cab at an auction for $200, fixed it up, and drove it through college.  Apparently the car was so spacious, Riley says that you could fit eight guys in there.  “We took it from Connecticut to Fenway Park so many times, we called it the Fenway Flier.”

Mike Riley tells WSJ that he has owned a lot of Checkers cabs over the years, and he currently has five, one which is a 1981 New York City cab that he bought over 20 years ago and restored himself.  It must be one of his more impressive cabs, because he’s put about six figures into over these past 20 years.  Riley’s three kids all drove a Checker cab in high school, and now that they’re all grown up – each one married this year, they all wanted to use the 1981 New York cab in their wedding.  Seeing something he’s given a large amount of time to, next to his family, and career, in all three of his children’s weddings had to be a sight to see.  Recalling the amount of time and money put into that particular cab over the years, Mr. Riley confirms that the memories are priceless.