For Hawaii voters of a certain age, Gov. Neil Abercrombie will forever be linked to the yellow Checker cab that shuttled him to key political victories in the 1970s and ’80s.

Author Tom Peters argued in his 1987 book "Thriving on Chaos" that the best leaders are almost always those who are "master users of stories and symbols." And while the loquacious Abercrombie has made ample use of his powers of oratory in his 37-year political career, his voice was perhaps never as distinct as when paired with the striking visual symbol of his yellow taxi.

Abercrombie first broke out the vehicle — produced by Checker Motors Corp. of Kalamazoo, Mich. — during his early bids for state office in the early 1970s. (He ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a graduate student at the University of Hawaii in 1970 before winning a seat in the state House shortly after earning his doctorate in American studies.)

As Abercrombie told KSSK radio host Mike Evans, his decision to use a Checker cab to help raise his profile was simple: He had no money for traditional advertising. The sides of the cab carried Abercrombie’s face and name. The Checker cab was pragmatic (its boxlike design made it easy to decorate it with his name and image) and, more importantly, it was a visual symbol of dependable public service.

The cab would play a role in how Abercrombie presented himself to the public over the next two decades, evoking an everyman ethic while at the same time underscoring Abercrombie’s affable incongruity in the local landscape (the ubiquitous New York taxi cab transposed to an island paradise).

To some, the taxi was evidence that the New York-born Abercrombie, while educated at the University of Hawaii, was an outsider seeking to apply mainland ideas and values to local politics at a time when the young state’s population was being pushed to new heights by a massive influx of mainland transplants. To many others, however, it was a fitting visual icon for an up-and-coming politico whose unconventional, at times combative style stood out among his staid peers.

In 1999, nearly a decade after he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Abercrombie pledged the cab to Hawaii Public Radio for auction. Despite a bout of donor’s remorse, Abercrombie went through with the donation. The winning bid came from a person who identified himself only as "Dean-O."

As a condition of his donation, Abercrombie asked that the vehicle’s new owner paint over his name and image.

The governor’s current vehicle is a Chevy Suburban LTZ leased from J.N. Chevrolet.