at the time; that said, the Model A front end has always garnered strong opinions from automobile fans. Early artists’ renditions of the Model A depict an integrated streamline design from fore to aft, but the production car sports a unique, even gothic front clip. It's unclear why the major change in the front end styling was made to the production vehicle, but it has been said that the “sugar scoop” fenders, inherited in part from the preceding Model Y, were purpose built to provide safety from tire damage in minor city traffic accidents. At the time, other taxis with streamlined fenders ran the risk of having a tyre pierced in a minor accident, whereas the Model A had a higher probability of driving away. The Checker Model A was only made for two full years, 1939 and 1940. 1941 was a shortened model run due to WWII. Post-WW2: Models B, C, and D Over the years the rumour grew up that Morris Markin melted down all the body tools and dies for the war effort. Automobile production ceased as Checker supported the army by supplying them with trailers to be used with a new invention of the war, the Jeep. During this time Checker was one of many producers of the G518 Ben Hur trailer. As the war ended, Checker was facing the challenge of designing and producing a new postwar car. During this period Checker utilized two innovative consultants, Herbert C. Snow and Ray Dietrich. Snow was formerly the chief of engineering at Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg. While at A-C-D, Snow was the engineering leader who designed the front-wheel drive system used on the classic Cord L-29 and 810/812. Morris Markin hired Ray Dietrich as a consultant in May 1938, for the hefty sum of one hundred dollars a day. Like Snow, Dietrich was an experienced designer, having worked for Briggs, Le Baron and eventually Chrysler. Dietrich's rise at Chrysler was credited to his redesign of the Chrysler Airflow; the resulting Chrysler Airstream saved Chrysler from the sales failure of the Airflow. Now, with two of the automotive industry's top engineers, Checker set out to introduce a replacement for the Model A. Called the Model B, the new, very unconventional Checker was to be very different from Checkers of the past, or for that matter any US produced car. Snow proposed a rear engine/rear drive vehicle, much like the Volkswagen Microbus.