coker tire
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October 26, 2023
We're proud of our heritage here in Chattanooga, Tennessee, so when the Chattanoooga Motorcar Festival was announced a few years ago, we could've have been happier. The event has grown in its short four-year history, and it's something we look forward to every October. This year, the event featured a road rally, Grand Prix racing on the redesigned road course, a Mecum classic car auction, a Car Club gathering, a B-52's concert, V8's in the Village (we'll talk more about that in a miniute), a Ferrari gathering, a Porsche gathering and of course, Sunday's
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August 07, 2023
The NSRA Street Rod Nationals has been rolling for more than 50 years, thanks to the hard work and dedication from the National Street Rod Association staff, and the thousands of folks who attend the event each year. It's held at the Kentucky Expo Center in Louisville, Kentucky, which has a GIANT vendor building, and room for more than 10,000 cars on the property. Other activities include a swap meet, a nitro-burning cacklefest, a Builder's Showcase, and much more. Vehicles 1993 and older are eligible to participate, but it's mostly 1980 and older with a heavy emphasis
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July 18, 2023
It's always a high priority for Coker Tire, Honest Charley and any automotive aftermarket company to promote the collector car hobby and encourage enthusiasts to actually get their cars out and drive them! First and foremost, driving your car wears out tires, so that's job security for our team here in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but it's also a key element in keeping the hobby alive for future generations. If these timeless classic cars stay stored inside a garage for months and years at a time, it'll be hard to influence today's youth with good old fashioned American iron. That's why Collector Car Appreciation Day was born.
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June 28, 2023
The 2023 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Coker Tire is underway! We started the 2,300-mile journey on Saturday, June 24th in St. Augustine, Florida and we'll be crossing the finish line in Colorado Springs, Colorado on Sunday, July 2nd. This event covers nine states in nine days, using mostly back roads to string together an intricate course that the racers follow closely. We're big supporters of the Great Race, and love to see our customers go out there and put their vehicles to the test. A great percentage of the cars and trucks in competition are rolling on Coker Tire products, but we're always looking to improve upon that ratio of Coker customers. To help with that, we're providing $500 gift certificates to each day's daily winner, plus other incentives. With 16 hosted city stops, including the green flag ceremony and Grand Finish, this event puts a smile on lots of faces, and we're happy to be a part of it. Take a look at some of our highlights, and be sure to check out
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May 22, 2023
The Goodguys Nashville Nationals is one of the best car shows in the Mid South, and features a lot of great hot rods, customs, muscle cars, classic trucks and more. Last year, the Nashville Nationals moved from its downtown venue to the Nashville Superspeedway, giving it more room to grow and MUCH easier traffic flow in and out of the event grounds. We had a booth setup in the vendor area, and we took a little time to walk around and snap a few photos of cars wearing our products. We also had the opportunity to give away the Best Wide Whites award, and it went to Mike and Kate Cioli from Portland, Tennessee. They brought a beautiful 1957 Ford Thunderbird to the show and we later found out it had been in the family since 1969! The Colonial White paint, the 312ci Y-block and classic fender skirts gave this T-Bird a timeless look, and of course, it was rolling on a set of our Coker Classic 205/75R14 wide whitewall radial tires. It was the perfect choice for our Best Wide Whites award!
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May 22, 2023
The Great Race Spring Regional Rally presented by Stahls Automotive Foundation is a new event created by the Great Race staff, and it's something that's been in the works for quite some time. The rally is a great warm-up for the main 2023 Great Race event, which happens June 24th through July 2nd and travels from St. Augustine, Florida to Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Spring Regional Rally uses the same basic concept of time speed distance rallying, but shortens it to three days, and features a cloverleaf design (instead of going town to town). This type of rally happens a few times a year through independent organizers, but the Great Race sanctions this Spring Regional Rally as a way to help rookies learn the ropes, while also providing great practice for the veterans.
The Great Race Spring Regional Rally was based out of Auburn, Indiana for this inaugural event. Next year, it will be held in Chesterfield, Michigan, home of the Stahls Automotive Foundation Museum, and then it will continue to move to other locations. Additional regional rally events are in the works to offer racers more opportunities to compete. The Spring Regional Rally in Auburn, Indiana proved to be competitive and fun, with nearly 70 competitors making the trip to the car crazy town in Northeast Indiana. The city of Auburn rolled out the red carpet for the Great Racers, as did the local automotive museums, such as the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum, the National Auto & Truck Museum and the Early Ford V8 Museum. All three museums opened their doors to the participants, adding to the fun of this springtime rally event.
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March 31, 2023
Coker Tire, the world’s largest manufacturer and supplier of tires and wheels for collector vehicles is now the presenting sponsor of the Great Race, a time speed endurance rally for vintage vehicles. Coker Tire has supported the Great Race in many ways since the 1990’s, providing sponsorship, as well as volunteer help, tire service and much more. With this new agreement, Coker Tire stepped up from its previous sponsorship role into the presenting sponsor of the event, which takes place each summer.
The 2023 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Coker Tire travels from St. Augustine, Florida to Colorado Springs, Colorado, over the course of nine days: June 24 to July 2.
Coker Tire CEO Mike Kealey said, “Collector car enthusiasts have a choice when it comes to tires, and we’re glad the Great Race community values the authenticity and reliability of our products for such a demanding rally.†He continued, “Approximately 80 percent of Great Race participants -
March 31, 2023
The Corvette Expo has been around since the 1970's and it has gone through a lot of phases through its successful lifetime. This event has always been held in East Tennessee, although it has changed venues several times. It has found a home at the LeConte Center in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, a beautiful facility that offers plenty of room for this awesome event. There are hundreds of Corvettes on hand, ranging from the earliest C1's to the most recent C8 generation. We love the variety when walking through the show, because you can see NCRS judging on high end Corvette restorations, as well as modified cars and drivers. Take a look at some of our favorites, and make plans to join the fun next spring for the Corvette Expo. Check out www.corvetteexpo.com for more information!
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December 15, 2022
Corky Coker's collection of antique motorcycles is one of the finest in the world, and it's housed inside the Coker Museum in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee. Corky's collection of cars, trucks and motorcycles features a great variety of our product lines, which covers a huge span of collector vehicles. In this article, we wanted to focus specifically on motorcycles, as the Coker Museum is packed with incredible motorcycles, dating back to the 1900's. From the earliest two-wheel machines to more civilized motorcycles of the 1950s and 1960s, this collection has iconic motorcycles, such as Harley Davidson, Indian, Excelsior, Thor, and more! The collection is diverse, with a mixture of beautiful restorations, true barn finds and bikes with legitimate racing history.
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November 22, 2022
We're always looking for ways to improve our products and customer experience, and this new selection of 303 tire care products is a welcomed addition to our tire and wheel offerings. We're proud to announce the availability of a trio of 303® products, specially formulated for your tires and wheels. Compared to the regular cleaners you can get at the local department store, 303® products are safe to use for your specialty products and the strong formulas work quickly! Our team personally tested 303® products and we think you'll be impressed with the quality of the cleaners.
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October 26, 2022
Raised white letter tires are a popular choice for muscle cars, and we're proud to bring the Cooper Cobra Radial G/T product line into the fold here at Coker Tire. We specialize in tires for hot rods, classic cars, muscle cars and so much more, and the Cooper Cobra line gives us a great range of sizes, 13 in total, and comes in at a great price.
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October 17, 2022
In only its third year of operation, the Chattanooga Motorcar Festival continues to grow in stature, as one of the premier automotive events in the Southeast. Being held in Chattanooga, Tennessee, it makes perfect sense for Coker Tire to be involved in this highly acclaimed event, and we participated more than ever this year. Our biggest contribution to the event was the V8's in the Village presented by Coker Tire and Paragon Corvette Reproductions. This special event celebrated American V8 engines, and made for a fun Saturday in the West Village area of downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee. A special group of Corvettes and V8-powered muscle cars, hot rods and classic trucks rolled into town and enjoyed the day's activities.
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May 26, 2022
As summertime approaches, the crew here at Coker Tire prepares itself for one of the coolest old car adventures of all time. It’s called the Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty Drivers Club and it’s an event that Coker Tire owns and organizes in-house. This event is a time, speed, endurance rally for cars built in 1974 and earlier, and it’s an event with nearly 40 years of history under its belt. Coker Tire bought the operation in 2010 and the Chattanooga crew put together its first rally in 2011. Now, more than 10 years later, we’ve covered a lot of ground in the United States and Canada, and we’re ready to rack up some more miles this summer.
When car enthusiasts initially hear about the Great Race, they often compare it to the Hot Rod Power Tour or other long distance car tours. While the distance can sometimes be comparable, the experience is very different, as
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February 01, 2022
January is always auction season for the collector car market, and one of the big players is the Barrett-Jackson Collecctor Car Auction, held in Scottsdale, Arizona. This event gets LIVE TV coverage and often sets the tone for value trends in the market. We watch the auctions closely to monitor popular vehicles and base our new products around those up-and-coming markets. But more importantly, we travel to the show and set up our 18-wheeler rig to display our tires and engage with our customers. Barrett-Jackson was a huge success for us this year, and we spotted lots of great cars using Coker Tire products. Take a look at some of our favorites, and be sure to check out our Event Schedule to see when we'll be coming to a town near you!
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January 21, 2022
Mecum Kissimmee is the ultimate kick-off to the 2022 season and we've made it back safely from our two-week trip to Central Florida. Mecum Kissimmee 2022 was packed with beautifully restored collector vehicles, ranging from the Teens all the way up to brand new super cars. As always, this is the largest Mecum Auctions event of the year and this time, more than 3,500 cars rolled across the auction block over the course of the 11-day auction. Coker Tire is proud to be the Exclusive Tire and Wheel Sponsor for Mecum Auctions and we were pleasantly surprised by the number of cars and trucks rolling on Coker Tire products. Ranging from wide whitewalls to redlines and everything in between, our product lines were well represented, so we wanted to provide a gallery of photos, as well as a recap video from the Sunshine
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October 19, 2021
When it comes to high end automotive events, there are staples in the industry--Pebble Beach and Amelia Island come to mind. While those events have become a long-standing tradition, the newest addition to this style of event is the Chattanooga Motorcar Festival. This event came about in 2019 and set the bar pretty high, with amazing cars, automotive celebrities and wonderful fellowship. After cancelling the 2020 event due to Covid-19 restrictions, the Chattanooga Motorcar Festival staff had plenty of time to plan for a mind-blowing 2021 event.
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May 19, 2021
The most highly anticipated Great Race of all time is ready to wave the green flag! We'll be heading out to San Antonio, Texas to support the premier time, speed, endurance rally for vintage vehicles, as it blasts off and heads through eight states on its way to the finish line in Greenville, South Carolina. The route passes through scenic areas and the racers will have access to several great car collections along the way. After taking a year off due to the pandemic, we're SO READY to hit the road with 120 vehicles, all built in 1974 or earlier. With more than $150,000 up for grabs, these guys and girls are serious about competition. Watch our page for daily updates, and as always, keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram pages for even more content. To see if the Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty Drivers Club is coming to a town near you, go to www.greatrace.com.
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May 19, 2021
When springtime comes around, we love sneaking up to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee for car shows. There are several shows that take place in March, April and May, giving us lots of excuses to make the drive up to check them out. Such is the case with the Corvette Expo, which now features the Chevelles in the Smokies special section. This event is one of the first events of the car show season, and this year it was packed with participants and people. The LeConte Center in Pigeon Forge offers indoor and outdoor space for show cars, parts vendors and a nice swap meet. There are group driving activities and lots of fun stuff throughout the event. We spotted dozens of great Corvettes and Chevelles wearing our products, ranging from numbers matching big block Corvettes to modified "Day 2" style Chevelles and more. We noticed LOTS of redline tires, a mixture of authentic bias ply tires and our modern
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February 19, 2021
Coker Tire is proud to announce the availability of new BFGoodrich Silvertown radial tires, sized at 275/65R16, a perfect fitment for the rear of hot rods and classic trucks. This addition to Coker Tire's already popular line of BFGoodrich Silvertown radials continues to increase fitments and fill in gaps in the tire industry. This new 275/65R16 is perfect for the rear of a hot rod or street rod that is utilizing 16x8-inch wheels. The tires come in at 30 inches tall, and measure 11 inches wide when inflated. The new tire is available with a 2-7/8-inch wide whitewall and it's also available with a smooth black sidewall. The tires are made in America, and offer great ride quality and an old school look. These tires are now on the shelf and ready for your vehcile.
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May 16, 2018The Southeast Moparty Picnic is an event that raises money for the Greater Chattanooga Colon Cancer Foundation. It's a massive gathering of all things Mopar, and it includes an indoor car show display, a cruise in, swap meet, and vendors. The event continues to grow each year, and expanded to a two-day event this year with a full night of racing action at Brainerd Motorsports Park. The field of cars is diverse, ranging from '50s classics to modern Challengers, Vipers and more. Of course, we loved seeing the iconic muscle cars, including Chargers, 'Cudas, Road Runners and more. There were tons of Coker-equipped Mopars in the crowd, so take a look at our favorites and mark your calendar for next year. The event is always held on the Friday and Saturday of Mother's Day weekend.
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February 20, 2018
Coker Tire Company is widely known as the world's largest supplier of tires and wheels for collector vehicles. Enthusiasts around the world are sourcing authentic tires from a company that started as a small tire and service center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Coker Tire is proud to announce a new tire in its immense line of products, the BF Goodrich Silvertown 225/60R16 whitewall radial tire, a replacement tire for late model luxury cars. Coker Tire's specialty is whitewall tires for a wide variety of vehicles. Whitewall tires have always been a symbol of luxury and style, and auto manufacturers dictated the width of whitewalls through the years. From the 1940's through the 1970's, whitewalls shrank year by year. This ultimately led to a 3/8-inch pinstripe whitewall, and this was the standard whitewall width for many years, even into the 1990's. The new BF Goodrich
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February 19, 2018Phoenix Race Tires, a division of Coker Tire Company is devoted to providing great tires for drag racers, and does so with a wide range of bias ply and radial slicks geared toward the sportsman drag racer. A variety of sizes and compounds are available to fit many applications from weekend warriors in stock suspension street cars to Super Stock cars and dragsters. The newest size in the Phoenix Race Tires brand is the 4.5/28.0-15 front runner tire. This Phoenix front runner tire is sized for mid-size or full-size needing a tall front tire. A common application for this tall front runner is Nostalgia Super Stock. The new front runner is being developed with the latest tire technology and it is DOT certified. It is designed for drag race use, but it is also a great choice for muscle cars, street rods and gassers, and can see limited highway use. The tread design is a throwback to the Firestone style
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February 16, 201860 years. A milestone that brings us back to our humble beginnings, as a simple tire and service center. Harold Coker had high expectations for his business back in 1958, but he couldve never imagined it growing into the worlds largest supplier of tires and wheels for collector vehicles. Although Harold passed away in 2014, his influence is still a major motivator at Coker Tire Company, and its our goal to carry on his legacy. In 1974 Harolds son, Corky Coker, joined the family business and its his vision and dedication that took it to the next level. With trusted employees by his side, Corky traveled the world acquiring original molds to discontinued classic tires in order to bring them back in limited supply. Corkys passion inspired new product developments,
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February 15, 2018M&H Racemaster, the originator of purpose-built drag racing tires, continues to be an innovator in the sport of drag racing. A proud supplier in Coker Tire's Performance Division, M&H announces the availability of DOT-approved drag radial tires in a new 20-inch fitment. The new M&H Racemaster 305/35R20 drag radial offers fitment for many late model performance cars, especially those using aftermarket 20-inch wheels. The new size availability gives Corvette, Camaro, Mustang and Challenger owners to equip their high horsepower vehicles with a sticky race-proven tire. This tire will be a perfect application for any of the special performance packages offered by the "big three", whether it's Chevrolet's Corvette Z06 or Camaro ZL1, Ford's Mustang GT500 or any of the cars in Mopar's SRT program. These cars are making more than 500 horsepower in original form, and certainly struggle to
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February 15, 2018Coker Tire is proud to announce a new size in its immense Firestone product line. The new Firestone 721 series LR78-15 whitewall tire is a perfect fit for 1970's full size classics, such as Lincoln Continental, Cadillac Eldorado and more! The new Firestone tire features alpha numeric sizing, which was the predecessor to today's P-metric sizing. The new size offers period correct branding and sidewall markings with the Firestone 721 series identification, and a 3/4-inch whitewall. The LR78-15 sizing offer OE and optional fitment for many full size American cars, including Buick Estate, Cadillac DeVille, Chrysler New Yorker, Ford LTD and more from 1971 to 1979. This product is a specialty item that fills a small void in the huge automotive aftermarket. Items like this are a labor of love for Coker Tire, as the mold development, research, testing and manufacturing
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February 15, 2018Coker Tire specializes in whitewall tires, so we thought it would be cool to have a little history lesson about the history of whitewalls. To find the earliest usage of a whitewall tire, you have to rewind the clock more than 100 years. Originally, automotive tires were off white in color, due to the natural color of the rubber formula used by tire companies. Zinc oxide would later be used to give the tires a more bright white color. Then, in 1910, B.F. Goodrich used a substance called "carbon black" in the manufacturing process. This formula strengthened the rubber, which was quite important considering the condition of the roads back then. When mixed with the raw materials, the carbon black caused the tire to be black. A short time later, a smaller tire company jumped on the carbon black bandwagon, but only added it to the tread surface as a cost savings. The result? Black tread and
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February 15, 2018The highly contested America's Most Beautiful Roadster award is something that every hot rodder dreams about. The award is presented each year at the Grand National Roadster Show and the intense level of competition inspires some of the most creative and stylish hot rods in the world. This year, the winner of the America's Most Beautiful Roadster award is the 1931 Ford roadster, known as the Martin Special. The highly customized roadster is owned by David Martin, and built by Scott Bonowski and crew at Hot Rods & Hobbies in Signal Hill, California. The car features a massaged body, and a chassis that is tweaked and tuned for performance. Before the car was finished, David entered it in the Silver State Classic open-road race in Nevada, running in the 100mph class. The car worked flawlessly, and so it was torn apart to be painted and upholstered. The car has an Ed Pink small block Chevy, making 500 horsepower, and it's putting it to the ground through a set of our
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November 21, 2017Chattanooga Cruise In Toy Drive 2017 -- The joy of helping others is something brings a smile to our faces, and it's a pretty common thread in the collector vehicle community. These old cars aren't necessary expenditures, so car people can spare a few bucks to help others. We wanted to give back to the community by hosting an annual toy drive event right here at our facility. Given the success of our Chattanooga Cruise In events, we knew this would be a great opportunity to get folks together and gather up some toys and donations for the local chapter Toys for Tots foundation. As with any November car event, the weather forecast was pretty iffy. In fact, there was a 90 percent chance of rain for Saturday, November 18th, which obviously affected the turnout of cars, but we still had more than 100 cars and trucks participate in the Chattanooga Cruise In Toy Drive. Thankfully, the rain held off long enough for us to have a great day on the streets of Chattanooga, watching the pile of toys
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November 02, 2017Day 2 of SEMA 2017 is in the books and we're already started on day 3! We started the day off with the annual SEMA Prayer Breakfast, which is organized and sponsored by Coker Group President and SEMA Chairman, Wade Kawasaki. After that, we were on our feet to see some of the finest automobiles, parts and people from the aftermarket industry. We spotted a bunch of great cars, rolling on Coker Tire products, including a couple of Chip Foose 1932 Fords, and many more classic cars, hot rods and muscle cars. Take a look at our favorites, and look forward to more highlights as the week rolls on. [caption id="attachment_8935" align="alignleft" width="780"] SEMA 2017 features a bunch of high end hot rods. George Poteet's 1932 Ford Tudor is on display in the Ford booth and it's had a crowd around it all week. The
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November 01, 2017SEMA 2017 -- It's that time of year again! The SEMA Show is an annual gathering of the automotive world, and it's the biggest automotive trade show on the planet! We're always excited to see the new trends of the automotive aftermarket, and the SEMA Show is the place to find them. We've been in Las Vegas for several days already, as it takes quite an effort to set up our indoor booth (Central Hall, Booth #22775) as well as our outdoor display in the Silver Lot. We're proud to introduce a new product at SEMA 2017, the new Firestone 721 Steel belted radial, sized at LR78-15 for 1970's Cadillac, Lincoln and other full size luxury sedans. We hosted a press conference on Tuesday to talk about the new tire and to kick off the 60th anniversary celebration of our company. The SEMA event is packed with awesome cars, trucks and motorcycles, and many of them have our tires and wheels on them! Take a look at some of our favorites from setup days and Day One of SEMA 2017!
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September 25, 2017Winding roads, cool cars and a full day of fun. That's what the Somernites Power Cruise is all about, and we're proud to be a sponsor of the Chattanooga, Tennessee leg of the annual event. We've participated in the Somernites Power Cruise since 2012, and we rely on the Somernites Cruise staff to help us park cars during our own Chattanooga Cruise In events. We have an awesome relationship with the guys from the small town of Somerset, Kentucky, which turns into Car Town USA once a month. And while the Somernites Cruise occurs on the fourth Saturday of the month from April to October...it's the September event that always gets our attention, as it features the "Power Cruise" and a leg that starts right here at Coker Tire. We kicked things off with a cookout and cruise in here at Coker on Friday night, and then hit the road on Saturday morning. This year, we had awesome weather, although it was a little warm at times, and the result was a great turnout on our Chattanooga leg. We traveled
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September 18, 2017And just like that, the 2017 Coker Tire Challenge is in the books! We traveled the back roads of Tennessee and Alabama with a little bit of Georgia thrown in the mix, and safely returned for the finish at our facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee. While there were plenty of challenges, crossing the finish line made all of the blood, sweat and tears worth it! Corky Coker, Wade Kawasaki and Jeff Stumb welcomed the racers in, while John Classen gave them time sheets and the scoring team tabulated the scores. The Rookie winners, the Top 5 overall leaders and the Bill Coker Spirit of the Event award winners were announced after the drivers, navigators and support crews ate a wonderful meal catered by Shuford's Smokehouse. With racers from as far away as Oregon, Michigan, Massachusetts, Texas, and even a team from Japan, we just love the dedication within the vintage rally community. We certainly enjoyed having them here in the Scenic City, and we'd like to congratulate Jody Knowles and Beth Gentry
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September 16, 2017When September rolls around, we know that we'll be covered up with events, as events like the Street Rodder Road Tour, Somernites Power Cruise and more occur in the busy month. The Coker Tire Challenge to be the third weekend in September, and we can always count on many of our Great Race rally friends to join the fun at our little hometown regional rally. It's a much more relaxed atmosphere than the hustle and bustle of Great Race, but the competition aspect is still there, so it gives the veterans awesome practice and gives them a chance to win a few bucks too! This year, we had about 40 teams join us on the Coker Tire Challenge, even after a few dropped out due to the unfortunate hurricanes of late. Great Race regulars, like Curtis Graf, Rex Gardner, Gary and Jean Ann Martin, and of course, Brad Phillips from Hagerty were among the field of stellar teams in this year's Coker Tire Challenge.
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September 14, 2017The Shades of the Past Hot Rod Roundup is one of the longest running car shows in the Southeast, and it's also one of the most popular. It's held in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, which is tourist town at the base of the Great Smoky Mountains. Given the proximity of the show to our office here in Chattanooga, we decided to make the trip to Pigeon Forge for this year's 35th annual Shades of the Past show. As we expected, the streets were absolutely PACKED with hot rods, and then we cruised over to the showfield, where a couple thousand cars and tens of thousands of people invaded Dollywood Splash Country. The event has a highly acclaimed Top 25 Award, along with a number of specialty awards. We were pleased to see a bunch of awesome hot rods, customs and muscle cars sporting our tires and wheels at the show. We spotted several in the winner's circle, including a beautifully restored Plymouth Road Runner, rolling on a set of our new Firestone Wide Oval Radial tires! After going through the swap
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September 14, 2017We've had several visits from the Street Rodder Road Tour over the past few years. This year, we had a little different experience, as we got to see the Vintage Air Road Tour, instead of Jerry Dixey's Street Rodder Road Tour group. The Vintage Air Road Tour comes from Texas, and it's led by Rick Love, Vice President of Vintage Air. We hosted a stop at Coker Tire, offering the Vintage Air Road Tour donuts and coffee to get their day started. With Hurricane Harvey coming through the Houston area just days before the Vintage Air Road Tour began, it had an affect on the turnout, but there were still about 40 awesome cars running in the tour, including a few that were rolling on our whitewall tires and BFGoodrich
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August 21, 2017Okay, so it's not really science. Big and little tires are your preference and it's a method of customization that hot rodders have been using for decades. It originated from racing, as most forms of racers (dirt track, Indy and drag racing) would fit racecars with smaller front tires and wheels and larger rear tires and wheels. The smaller fronts reduced rolling resistance and weight, while the larger rear tires provided more traction and a modification to the final drive ratio. The look translated well to street-driven hot rods, and it is a timeless design that is still be utilized to this day. Hot rodders have experimented with various combinations, and continue to do so, while holding a measuring tape and their trusty Coker Tire catalog for reference. Whether you choose the traditional look of bias ply tires, or the upgraded handling of a
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August 09, 2017It was another great year at the NSRA Street Rod Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky. We always go into this show, knowing that it kicks off our busy late summer and fall season, and what a great way to do it! The Kentucky Exposition Center is HUGE and it offers plenty of room for more than 10,000 hot rods, classic trucks and muscle cars to invade the property, and it also provides plenty of space for companies to display their latest and greatest products inside the vendor building. We had our new Firestone Wide Oval Radial tire on display, along with all of our regular favorites for the street rod market. And since we had so much room in our booth, we included a couple of killer hot rods. One is a light green 1932 Ford roadster, built by Johnson's Hot Rod Shop in Gadsden, Alabama and the other is a Washington Blue 1932 Ford roadster, built by Adams Hot Rod Shop in Calhoun, Georgia. These southern hot rods have distinct styling similarities and differences, but drew a lot of attention over
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June 14, 2017We love getting phone calls and emails from our happy customers. It's one of the most rewarding parts of our job, besides knowing that we're keeping collector vehicles on the road with high quality tires and wheels. Lately, we've gotten quite a few pictures of cars and trucks that are now wearing a set of our tires, and we wanted to pass them along to you. Buying authentic tires for a collector vehicle can be a tough decision. Even within our product ranges, there are typically a few choices for any given make or model, so having some expert guidance goes a long way. That's why our team of Sales Representatives are waiting for your call--we can help with tire fitment, brand selection and additional accessories to make your collector vehicle really stand out. We realize that tires and wheels are expensive, and you don't want to take a chance with that type of investment. Listed below are just a few of our most recent customer
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May 25, 2017Chattanooga, Tennessee is a hot spot for all sorts of events, and we feel like we've encouraged a bunch of car folks to visit the city with our annual Chattanooga Cruise In event. This year, the Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty is paying a visit to the Scenic City, and the racers are stopping right here in the Southside! This isn't the first time that the Great Race has visited Chattanooga, but we're going to pull out all the stops to make it the best evening stop on the event! The streets around Coker Tire and Honest Charley Speed Shop will be closed, and we're hoping to PACK the streets with hot rods, muscle cars, restored classics and more to welcome the 120 Great Race teams as they enter the Chattanooga evening stop. It all happens Sunday, June 25th from 4 to 8pm Eastern time, and the first Great Race cars should begin arriving at 5:30pm. We plan to have an open house, just like our regular cruise in events, so
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May 17, 2017Mopar followers are a dedicated bunch, and there have been many shows across the country to pay tribute to these iconic cars. Local Mopar guy, Ken Meredith decided to give it a whirl, here in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and he calls the event the "Southeast Moparty Picnic". For the most part, these Mopar-specific events allow any Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth or Desoto to participate. The Southeast Moparty Picnic entered its second year with big plans to make the event bigger and better. And though Mother Nature made it a challenge, the event was a great success. It moved to a larger venue, offering more room to grow at the massive Camp Jordan facility. Ken also planned a Friday night Super Stock Shootout at our local drag strip, but it was rained out. Luckily, the rain didn't hinder folks from joining us here at Coker Tire on Friday for a free tour of the museum and a cookout to kick things off. Check out our photos from the event and be sure to mark your calendars for Mother's Day weekend in
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April 17, 2017If you didn't attend the 2017 Chattanooga Cruise In then you missed out on one of the largest one-day cruise in gatherings in the country! The event has grown tremendously over the years, and we simply can't believe how many people invaded the streets of Chattanooga, Tennessee on a sunny Saturday in April. We have struggled for years to contain all of the folks who want to attend this event, and this year was no different. We secured hundreds of additional parking spaces by occupying the Finley Stadium and First Tennessee Pavilion, but it still filled to capacity by 10:30am. Chattanooga Police Department's Special Event Coordinator, Sgt. Austin Garrett estimated that 2,500 cars and 25,000 people were are a part of the 2017 Chattanooga Cruise In, and we find it hard to argue...the place was packed and it covered a much larger footprint than years past.
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January 24, 2017The success of the Chattanooga Cruise In has been overwhelming and we're so happy to announce that it's almost that time of year again! Our annual event is scheduled for Saturday, April 1, 2017, and we're confident that it's going to be bigger and better than ever. We have secured even more space to hold all of the participants, and we're expecting upward of 2,000 cars and more than 10,000 spectators throughout the course of the day. The event starts at 8am Eastern Time and the streets of Chattanooga fill to the brim within a few hours. We are now occupying the entire Finley Stadium property, as well as the First Tennessee Pavilion, offering hundreds more parking spaces and an awesome vendor area. The event is free to the public, and we will have lots of added attractions and offers in addition to the massive amount of hot rods, muscle cars, custom trucks and high performance cars on the premises. We will have special event T-shirts on sale for only $10 each, and our Coker Tire showroom
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December 24, 2016The words "Lowrider" and "subdued" rarely go together in the same sentence. Normally, this type of build is over the top with wild custom paint schemes and show car qualities (ex. chrome brake rotors) that truly hinder the functionality of the car. However, the 1965 Chevy Impala that we're featuring here is a functional and very tasteful Lowrider that was on display in The Enthusiast Network's booth at the 2016 SEMA Show. The Enthusiast Network owns Lowrider magazine, as well as titles, such as Hot Rod, Car Craft, Street Rodder and more. The company knows cars, and the guys at Lowrider are experts when it comes to the culture and the right appearance that goes along with the Lowrider scene. You won't see any wild stripes and paint on this one--just a super slick candy apple red finish, that was painted many years ago with old school lacquer materials. And though it has custom details throughout, you'll see that the Blueprint Engines small block is ready to rock, and the beautiful leather
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December 22, 2016McKee Foods is best known for its Little Debbie snack cakes, and it's truly a pleasure to share real estate here in the Tennessee Valley with such an excellent company. They are located just up the road from us in Collegedale, Tennessee, and we recently struck a deal with them to display a very special car in our museum. It is a 1928 Whippet 6, a low-priced sedan that was manufactured by Willys-Overland for only a few years. Although it is quite rare to see a Whippet these days, they were not all that desirable in comparison to the Ford Model A of the same era. McKee Foods founder, O.D. McKee bought a 1928 Whippet sedan in 1931 to serve as a delivery vehicle for his bakery. He removed the rear seat and sold 5-cent snack cakes out of the back of the sedan. Fast forward nearly 30 years and McKee Foods is approaching its major turning point, when O.D. McKee's son, Ellsworth, created the "family pack" of Little Debbie snack cakes. As the company continued to succeed and grow, O.D. wanted to
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December 16, 2016Every year at the SEMA Show, we have a long list of companies to meet and greet. Some have a small presence at the show, while others bring a fleet of vehicles, multiple booths and dozens of employees. Our friends at Omix-ADA pull out all the stops and we're always excited to see what they bring out for the SEMA Show. Their display in the upper level of the South Hall is always impressive, and they typically include a few vintage Jeeps in the mix. This year, we stopped by and talked with Dave Logan, and he gave us the rundown on the awesome Jeeps in the Omix-ADA booth.
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November 21, 2016Alright, this one is a little bit out of the ordinary, but it stopped us in our tracks at the 2016 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. In a sea of highly customized cars, trucks, boats and motorcycles, this utilitarian pickup truck stood out like no other. It is a 1966 Toyota Stout 1900, and it offered great horsepower and a rugged design, which allowed it to serve as the ultimate work horse for many years, especially in Japan and Thailand. This particular truck was in the Toyota USA booth, and its home is in the Toyota museum in Torrance, California. The Toyota Stout pickup offers 85 horsepower, and came from the factory with bias ply tires. The folks at Toyota USA equipped the truck with a set of our BFGoodrich 7.50-14 blackwall tires, which are a perfect fit for the original steel wheels. Take a look at our quick video
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November 21, 2016Giveaway cars are always cool, and we love being a part of these promotional builds. The National Street Rod Association (NSRA) offers a giveaway car every year, and 2017's NSRA Giveaway car is a very cool 1933 Ford three window coupe, built by Reisinger Custom Rebuilding. These guys are no stranger to building awesome hot rods, and this is actually the second NSRA Giveaway car that they've built. This one is a top notch build, with a LONG list of parts provided by the best automotive aftermarket companies around. The '33 Ford coupe rolls on a set of Firestone Dirt Track tires, and has a killer hot rod stance. The car is powered by a hopped up small block Chevy, features a beautiful PPG Vibrance color, and a hand-crafted interior that offers a warm welcome to one lucky winner. The car will be given away on Saturday, August 6, 2017 at the NSRA Street Rod Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky. Ty Hauer
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November 21, 2016Our local car community here in Chattanooga, Tennessee is one of the best in the nation. The Chattanooga Cruise In Toy Drive is proof that we have a bunch of hardcore car guys and gals in this area, and we're so proud to have raised a bunch of money and collected hundreds of toys, so that local kids can have a better Christmas. The weather always plays a part in the overall attendance for car events, and we were shocked with the excellent turnout, considering the rain overnight and the cold and windy conditions that followed. It certainly wasn't ideal car show weather, but we enjoyed it nonetheless, because we were giving back to the community. We ended up with approximately 150 cars, which resulted in a total of 232 brand new toys and $1,782 in cash. We'd like to thank the staff at Coker Tire and Honest Charley Speed Shop for volunteering to help, as well as the folks at Custom Werks Graphics for donating the event T-shirts. Every dollar from our event T-shirts went straight into the Toys
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November 05, 2016With about 40 miles of walking under our belts, we started the final day of the 2016 SEMA Show with a trip to the upper level of the South Hall to meet with our friends at Omix-ADA. We'll do a full post on their awesome collection of Jeeps...for now, we're going to do a quick recap of favorites rides of the day, and then jump right into the SEMA Cruise and of course, the SEMA Ignited event. This is the third year of SEMA Ignited, and it just keeps getting better and better. The event is held across the street from the Las Vegas Convention Center, and wow...what a show! The SEMA Cruise offered an awesome parade, which resulted in one of the coolest car shows you could ever see. Hot rods, muscle cars, crazy imports, off road vehicles, and more swarmed the SEMA Ignited event, as we enjoyed the nitro dragster "cacklefest", wild action on the drifting course, and plenty of action in the show area. Take a look at our highlights from the final day of the SEMA Show, and keep checking back to see
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November 03, 2016The Chevelle SS has always been a desireable muscle car, dating back to its debut in 1964. The car represented mid-size coupes and sedans, available for regular transportation, or big time fun, depending on the engine and power train options. By 1966, Chevrolet offered a big block version of the Chevelle SS, and then changed the body style a few more times before landing on the iconic design that ran from 1970 to 1972. As with any drastic body style change, the new for 1970 look was in the works long before the cars hit the streets. We happened to run across a very nicely restored pre-production 1970 Chevelle SS, owned by David Harter while making our way around the 2016 SEMA Show. The car had signage to reveal its special features, but it wasn't until we spoke with David that we truly understood how many
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November 03, 2016Bryan Fuller is a well known hot rodder and motorcycle builder. He's been on TV, he's built a lot of killer vehicles and he always has a presence at the SEMA Show. This year, he has a few vehicles on display, and one of them struck a chord with us. It's a 1934 Ford sedan delivery, and it's in the OTC Tools booth in the North Hall. Right around the mid 1930's OTC (originally known as Owatonna Tool Company) sold direct to customers, using sedan delivery vehicles with custom display boards to showcase their products. The company grew, and eventually grew out of this grass roots sales approach, but it never forgot the humble beginnings, even after being added into the Bosch brands fold in 2012. To commemorate the company's history, OTC commissioned Bryan Fuller to build a 1934 Ford sedan delivery to replicate some of those early delivery vehicles.
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November 03, 2016SEMA 2016 Highlights are in high demand and we are cranking them out as quickly as possible. We're blowing up our Facebook page and YouTube Channel, so keep an eye on those and then, of course, you can keep checking out our blog page to see the updates, car features and highlights from the biggest automotive trade show on earth. SEMA 2016 is in full swing, as the crowds continue to fill the aisles and we continue to reach out to our industry friends, distributors, media partners and more to spread awareness about our company and our new products. We explored the South Hall this morning, and then checked out some of the cool creations in the Silver Lot just outside of the Central Hall. Check out our SEMA 2016 Highlights from day three and enjoy the ride!
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November 03, 2016The SEMA Show is full of highly customized, highly polished and highly publicized cars and trucks. But when you find a unrestored Ford Model A on the property, it stands out! The guys and gals at Hagerty Insurance started a cool program last year called the "Swap to Street Challenge", which involves Hagerty employees finding and building a car on the grounds at the massive AACA Fall Meet in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Last year, it was a very cool '46 Ford pickup and this year, they tackled the challenge with a Ford Model A. They started with a 1930 Model A chassis, and found a 1931 Murray-bodied slant window Model A sedan body to go with it. From there, they sourced a Flathead four-cylinder engine, and all of the parts to piece this car together. Davin Reckow and Matt Lewis were key players in the build, and they decided to
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November 03, 2016Tri-Five Chevys are super hot right now, and we were so excited to see the Tri-Five Nationals pop up a couple years ago in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Our buddy, Chris Sondles from Woody's Hot Rodz is responsible for organizing the Tri-Five Nationals, and he has a great crew to help him knock it out of the park every year. One of the biggest attractions for the Tri-Five Nationals (aside from the 2,000-plus Tri-Fives) is the Give-Away car. Last year, it was a very cool '55 Chevy, which we featured here on the Coker Tire blog. Then, for 2016, it was a high tech '56 Chevy. For 2017, we're proud to announce that Woody's Hot Rodz built an incredible 1957 Chevy gasser. This thing is nuts! The car is built using a brand new steel body from Woody's and a new gasser chassis from No Limit. It has a legit fiberglass front end from a '60s
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November 03, 2016Our walking shoes are getting wore in now that we're finished with Wednesday at SEMA 2016. We continue finding cool cars and trucks sporting our tires and wheels, but we started the day by attending the SEMA Prayer Breakfast, where Chattanooga, Tennessee residents, Jim and Amy Jo Osborn spoke to a great crowd of automotive industry professionals. It was an action packed day of fun and we found ourselves drooling over hundreds (no, wait, thousands) of beautifully built hot rods, crazy trucks, and everything in between. Of course, we had our eyes glued to the tires beneath this custom creations, and we're here to show you some of our favorite rides equipped with Coker Tire products. At the end of the day, we attended the ETTN reception, the International Happy Hour (where we received three Global Media Awards) and the HRIA reception. It was a busy evening, but it's all part of the greatest automotive trade show on the planet. Check out our highlights from today's action and keep checking
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November 02, 2016Walking the aisles at SEMA 2016 is overwhelming to say the least. You'll see hot rods, customs, muscle cars and just about everything in between, so it's easy to glaze over some of the cool stuff. On that same token, you really have to dig deep to see the entire show and scope out all the cool stuff. One of the cool spots is the "Art Walk" a special area that features automotive artists, including this year's featured artist, Ed Tillrock from . His pencil sketches are out of this world, and as it turns out, his son is quite the hot rodder. Ed Tillrock III has built a number of hot rods, but recently put the finishing touches on a 1929 Dodge Brothers Senior Six Sport Coupe, named "Sinister 8". This distinct hot rod has a bunch of period correct modifications, making it an excellent traditional hot rod. The car rides on
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November 02, 2016The SEMA Show is the largest automotive spectacle in the world, and we're so happy to be a part of SEMA 2016. It's the 50th anniversary of the show, and it's also the 50th anniversary of the Firestone Wide Oval tire. We celebrated the awesome anniversary by introducing our brand new Firestone Wide Oval Radial tire. The day kicked off at the New Products Breakfast, where we placed 2nd in the New Products Display in the Tires and Related Category. We were up against the big dogs, and our new Firestone Wide Oval radial stood tall in a room full of winners. Shortly after the New Products Breakfast, we had a Press Conference regarding the new tire, showcasing it front and center in our indoor booth. Muscle car expert, Steve Magnante hosted the event, while our President, Wade Kawasaki and CEO, Corky Coker spoke about the new tire and how it is a game changer for the muscle car market. We also installed a
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November 01, 2016The Firestone Wide Oval Radial tire is something we've been dreaming about for years. We're muscle car guys and we're tire guys, so we've always wanted to mix authentic looks with the ride, safety and tread life of a modern radial. Coker Tire is proud to announce the brand new Firestone Wide Oval Radial, a product that uses Firestone heritage and radial construction to create the ultimate muscle car tire! These tires are now available and shipping from our Chattanooga, Tennessee and City of Industry, California locations, as well as our worldwide distributors. This is an exciting new product for us and we think you'll agree that it's time to put a new set of Firestone Wide Oval Radials on your muscle car! Along with the new product launch, we're also celebrating 50 years of the Firestone Wide Oval. As the muscle car era exploded in the mid-to-late '60s, the horsepower levels went sky high and that meant the
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October 24, 2016We visit more than 50 car and motorcycle events a year, so we see lots of cool stuff all over the country. Some events, like the AACA Hershey Fall Meet are huge, and require multiple trucks and trailers full of tires. Others events, such as the Euro Auto Festival, held annually in Greenville, South Carolina, are smaller and a little more intimate. We don't attend these shows with intentions of selling thousands of tires--it's more about brand awareness and marketing. This type of event is fun and productive, as it allows us to answer questions and get feedback from customers and potential customers. For 2016, the Euro Auto Festival certainly lived up to the hype as the East Coast's premier European auto show. Check out a few of our highlights and remember that our product offering spans a wide range, including vintage sports car tires, like the ones that roll beneath some of the world's finest sports cars.
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October 24, 2016For motorcycle guys, there are a handful of events that are considered "must-see"...you have Sturgis, Daytona Beach Bike Week, Davenport and so on. We're adding another one to the list and it's not too far away from our headquarters in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It's the Barber Vintage Festival, held at the magnificent Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Alabama (near Birmingham). The 12th annual event was just a couple weeks ago, and we went down to check out the action, and of course, represent our company. We're constantly trying to broaden our product lines, and the motorcycle market is growing quickly, so setting up at the Barber Vintage Festival was an excellent opportunity for us to reach some new customers. It is certainly a fertile market for our product offering, so we're excited to attend more motorcycle events in the future, and we will definitely be back to the Barber Vintage Festival.
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September 30, 2016Hot rods are an exercise in personal preference--there isn't a rule book, or a penalty for "getting it wrong". However, there are iconic hot rods that provide plenty of guidance, and most of them have one thing in common--Firestone tires. The brand is legendary, and it's often remembered as the tire of choice for Indy racing, NASCAR racing, dirt track racing and drag racing. There is little doubt that Firestone tires offer the right amount of vintage style for a traditional hot rod. We offer a great example of the Firestone affect with a 1932 Ford three-window coupe that stopped by our Chattanooga, Tennessee facility this week. The owners had recently bought the car, and their very first modification involved swapping tires and wheels to something more traditional. Although it took a bit of measuring and studying to determine the right size, we whipped up a killer combination with Firestone tires and
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August 17, 2016Center caps are often used on collector vehicle wheels, whether it's a restored stocker or a highly customized hot rod. Some folks prefer the looks of a full wheel cover, but the small "dog dish" center cap is quite popular on our Smoothie, Hot Rod Steel, O.E. wheels and more. It's also a growing trend in the muscle car market, as the plain jane looks of a car with regular steel wheels and dog dish caps draws more attention than a car with more stylish wheel designs. Think about the cool appearance of the COPO Camaro, A12-code Road Runners, and other muscle cars that came with big time horsepower, but skipped on the decorative items, like chrome wheels and other accessories. Car enthusiasts are replicating the timeless look, and we have many original and alternative wheel sizes for many hot rod, custom and muscle car applications. In addition to wheels, we offer center caps in many different designs and sizes
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May 31, 2016The Indy 500--no other automobile racing event has been more prestigious, or more treacherous. The evolution of automobile racing, and the automobile itself can be credited to the buzz that surrounds the Indy 500 and the drive to win the biggest race of them all. And to think, 40 teams entered the race in 1911, all driving cars that you may have never heard of--National, Knox, Westcott and many others. The Marmon Wasp and its driver, Ray Harroun claimed the first Indy 500 victory, and this car still resides in Speedway, Indiana. Several years ago, Corky Coker and his crew at Honest Charley built a replica of the famed Indy racer, so it has been quite a popular display piece since it was finished and debuted at the 2011 Indy 500. And though the 2011 event was technically the 100th anniversary of the Indy 500, we had to wait until 2016 to see the 100th running, due to the pause in racing caused by the World Wars (two year pause for
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May 16, 2016The Goodguys Nashville Nationals is gaining a lot of notoriety in the hot rod and custom world. It's in a central location, and it's hard to beat Nashville, Tennessee as a host city--tons of cool stuff to see, and there is plenty of room at Nissan Stadium. We jumped at the chance to get an inside look at the event, even though we were not set up as a vendor. Coker Tire sponsors the "Best Wide Whites" award, and we've been involved with Goodguys as sponsors for many years, so it's always good to see the event first hand and see how many folks are using our products. We certainly got our answer, regarding the amount of Coker Tire users, and we're going to share a small sampling of them here. There were high end show cars wearing our tires, including the winner of the Goodguys Hot Rod of the Year award. [products] By the way, the association changed its Hot Rod of the Year competition to the Goodguys
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May 12, 2016Spring time in Tennessee is a good time to own a street rod. We have our big cruise in April, and then when May rolls around, it's always time for the NSRA Street Rod Nationals South in Knoxville, Tennessee. We make it up to Knoxville to check out the event every year, and bring you some coverage because it's a nearby event with tons of cool stuff on the grounds of Chilhowee Park. This year, the weather was excellent, which always brings out a great crowd. We spotted a bunch of cars at the Street Rod Nationals South with Coker Tire products rolling beneath them, so check out some of our favorites and support your local NSRA event! [products] [caption id="attachment_7493" align="alignleft" width="780"]
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May 03, 2016On May 1, 2016, Corky Coker visited Anderson, Indiana to pay tribute to a racing legend, Ray Harroun. The town of Anderson debuted a memorial marker for Ray Harroun, and Corky Coker was invited to the event to be a part of the festivities. Corky has a great love for vintage racing, and owns the most authentic Marmon Wasp replica in the world. The Marmon Wasp is typically on display in our showroom here in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but it made a special trip to honor Mr. Ray Harroun for his achievements. Corky dressed in period correct attire, and drove the Marmon Wasp replica around the area, spreading smiles all around. Enjoy some of our pictures, and continue reading to learn more about the man who took Indy by storm in 1911. [products] Although Ray Harroun was born in Pennsylvania, his legacy is in Indiana, where he later lived, and made history as the first winner of the Indy 500, way back in 1911. Ray Harroun was a pioneer, and there is no doubt he left his mark as a champion racecar
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April 22, 2016Long before Mike Wolfe took the TV world by storm with History Channel's "American Pickers" program, he was a wheeler and dealer of anything old. We know another guy who dabbles in vintage goods, especially ones that have wheels (or more specifically...tires). Mike and Corky have been friends for quite some time, and they share a great interest in vintage motorcycles. Mike also has a thing for old cars, and recently acquired a 1936 Ford panel truck. The Flathead V8 powered truck had received some hot rod modifications, but the aftermarket parts just didn't seem to jive. After a phone call with Corky to express his concerns, the boys struck up a deal to bring the truck to Chattanooga and give it the Coker and Honest Charley treatment. The goal was to make it GO faster, STOP sooner and make it a little more fun to slide behind the wheel and go for a ride. [products]
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April 05, 2016Every year, we hope that our annual cruise in and open house, known as the Chattanooga Cruise In, continues to grow. Last year, it was huge, and for 2016, we wanted it to be bigger and better! We secured additional parking areas for our participants, and even those efforts were blown away with the record turnout. We had an estimated 2,000 cars, trucks and motorcycles on hand, and upward of 15,000 spectators throughout the day. It was an absolute blast, as we saw every type of car imaginable, and saw plenty of vehicles sporting our tires and wheels! In addition to the tremendous amount of vehicles on display, Chattanooga Cruise In participants could watch the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow engine build teams do battle in a National Qualifying event for its year-long series. Back by popular demand was the "blemished tire sale", which offered discounted prices on blemished tires. We just love seeing folks carrying tires down the street, and we saw a lot of that on Saturday, April 2nd. The crowd was
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January 22, 2016We're not sure about you, but we often day dream about what tire and wheel combinations would look cool on our cars. Having an extra set of tires and wheels on hand isn't always practical, but it sure makes for an easy attitude adjustment for your hot rod or muscle car. We proved it with the "Malibeater", a 1967 Chevelle Malibu project car, which has been featured in various tech articles in Muscle Car Review magazine. Arvid Svensen brought the car down to Tennessee for the tire and wheel swap, and photographed the combinations for an article in the magazine. All three combinations offer cool looks for the car, but there was a pretty clear winner in terms of style and performance after we had driven the car with all three configurations. Just to add another cool element to this tire and wheel swap, we decided that our least favorite combination would be subject to a tire-smoking burnout. [products]
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January 15, 2016Corky was recently invited to participate in the Vero International Festival of Historic Motoring in Dunedin, New Zealand as the Grand Marshall. The rally this year has over 600 cars separated into three groups, Veterans (1919 and before), Vintage (1919 to WWII), and then all post war vehicles. This is truly an outstanding opportunity, and Corky took advantage of it with his son Cameron Coker, who shared these great photos from their New Zealand trip. [products] [caption id="attachment_7192" align="alignleft" width="780"] Arriving at the airport by the esteemed leadership of the VCC. Mark and Nikola Wilkenson, John Coomber (Immediate past president), Diane Quarrie (Current president), Corky, Cameron[/caption] [caption id="attachment_7194" align="alignleft" width="780"]
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December 22, 2015We say it often, but the worst thing you can do to preserve a collector vehicle is to let it sit. But sometimes, it's hard to make sense of driving an old car year-round, especially when the climate doesn't cooperate for a few months out of the year. We've always suggested that folks jack up their car to relieve some of the weight off of the tires, which keeps them from developing flat spots. You may also try parking the car on small squares of carpet, so that the concrete floor doesn't put so much stress on a single area of the tire. If you've never experienced flat spots, it's simply a flattened out spot in an otherwise round tire. This causes a vibration that is sometimes severe enough to justify buying new tires. Bias ply tires and radial tires are susceptible to flat spotting, but radials sometimes have a hard time recovering due to the rigidity of the steel belt that rides beneath the tread surface. [products] We're proud to announce a new product offered by Coker Tire--they're
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December 06, 2015Slammed is a relative hot rod term, and it usually means when something has been lowered A LOT. But this chopped and channeled Model A sedan brings a whole new meaning to "slammed". It is down in the dirt, thanks to air suspension and a spectacular chassis setup. Dave Tucci of Tucci Hot Rods in Marcy, New York built this slammed hot rod, and used satin brown as the primary color for an interesting look. The finishes, textures and colors of this slammed sedan offer a lot of visual appeal, while the wild tire and wheel combination go with the car's killer stance. Dave's sedan is rolling on a set of one-off wheels, wrapped in Excelsior Stahl Sport radial tires, sized at 550R17 up front and 650/700R20 out back. The radical big and little tire combination is just one of many features that made us take notice and catch up with Dave for a video feature. Thanks for watching!
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December 04, 2015The Ford Model A sure does make for a good traditional hot rod, and it was hard to miss Colby Martin's recently-finished highboy sitting just outside the Central Hall at SEMA 2015. He was set up in the SAN (SEMA Action Network) booth, and had folks eyeballing his super slick creation all week long. The car is traditionally styled, with a beautiful color combination, a killer Chevy W-motor (a 348 with three deuces to be exact), and of course, Firestone Deluxe Champion blackwall tires from Coker! He mounted 600-16 tires up front, and 750-16 tires out back for the perfect rubber rake, in combination with the Ford Wide Five wheels. The chopped top is spot on and the car sits just right on '32 Ford frame rails. The beautifully finished hot rod is proof that SEMA guys are car guys, too! This has been a long term project, and Colby was certainly proud to debut it at the biggest automotive trade show in the world! Check it out!
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December 02, 2015The SEMA Show offers a lot of things to a lot of businesses, and you will find that the four-wheel drive market is huge. Jeep is represented throughout the halls and show areas, with all sorts of custom treatments and radical builds on display. And while there are hundreds of Jeeps at the show, the ones that stand out are often a part of the OMIX-ADA booth. This parts vendor for vintage and modern Jeeps has a special spot in the the upper level of the South Hall, and it always attracts buyers, and Jeep fans. This year was no different, as OMIX-ADA had an interesting collection of vintage Jeeps on display, including the Farm Jeep. A few of them had our military and off road tires on them, so we stopped by for a quick visit. Check out all the cool vintage stuff we found!
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November 28, 2015We're blown away with the number of cars and motorcycles that are being built for The Race of Gentlemen, which is an exclusive race on the beach in Wildwood, New Jersey every fall. The event only allows approved cars into the racing field, so it is inspiring hot rod builders to tackle these early style racer builds, like the Model A roadster seen here. This one is owned by Heath Pinter, a professional BMX rider and hot rodder from Southern California. When he's not ripping up the BMX course (he has one in his backyard!) he's hammering on old cars. His most recent creation is this low slung Model A roadster, which is powered by a Ford Flathead V8 with Sharp aluminum heads, dual Stromberg carbs and Fenton headers. The fenderless roadster rolls on a set of '32 Ford wires, wrapped in our Excelsior Stahl Sport tires, which measure 550R18 up front and 700R18 out back. This thing is lean, mean and ready to race. We love the bare bones appearance, and the stance is spot on. Check it out!
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November 27, 2015There are certain cars at the SEMA Show that jump out and grab you. It might be a flashy paint job, or it might be more about the owner's popularity. Or maybe you saw it on a TV show and seeing it person just stops you in your tracks. This 1973 Buick Riviera is all of the above. It is an over-the-top custom, and it was built on History Channel's TV Show, "Counting Cars", by Danny Koker and the crew at Count's Kustoms. These guys are obviously very talented, and this boattail Riviera really shows off the skill needed to pull off a paint job of this caliber. When the car was starting to come together, we got a call from Tony at Count's Kustoms regarding a tire and wheel package for the wild Riviera. Luckily, we had the perfect combo to suit the build...we started with a set of BFGoodrich Silvertown whitewall radial tires, which are sized at 225/70R15 and feature a 1-1/2-inch whitewall. We mounted these to a set of chrome Supreme wheels for the perfect custom look.
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November 26, 2015The SEMA Show is a sea of glitz and glamour, from high end sports cars to outrageous custom builds, but sometimes it takes a little rust and patina to stand out in the crowd. That's the approach that Bryan Dagel took with the Rat Rod Magazine "Tour Rat" build. Every year, Rat Rod Magazine hosts a long distance tour, and Bryan builds a new car each year. This year, the plan was to go with a traditional hot rod look, instead of the wacky, over-the-top rat rods that you may remember. We love it--the '35 Chevy sedan body has just the right amount of patina and the stance is spot on! Power comes from a small block Chevy, and Bryan put it to good use, driving the car all the way to the SEMA Show from Minnesota. And then he drove it back, even after a tire-melting burnout at the SEMA Ignited event!
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November 25, 2015We love running across long time hot rodders, who have seen just about every stage of our automotive aftermarket industry. Jon Kosmoski is one of those guys, and he founded the "House of Kolor" paint company back in 1956. This guy has formulated custom automotive paint, and he's sprayed an untold amount of cars, trucks and motorcycles over the years. While the House of Kolor brand is now a part of the Valspar company, Jon is still involved, and he still has a passion for building awesome hot rods. His latest creation, a beautiful 1934 Ford Cabriolet, debuted in the House of Kolor booth at this year's SEMA Show. The build came down to the wire, but the finish quality is second to none.
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November 23, 2015If you've been following the Chattanooga Cruise In over the past few years, then you know that it has grown tremendously. For 2015, we only planned to have one Chattanooga Cruise In (our Spring event), due to scheduling conflicts during the fall months. However, thanks to the overwhelming response from our loyal followers, and a little bit of motivation from the man with a mustache, we created the Chattanooga Cruise In Toy Drive. We chose a Saturday morning that worked for our schedule and didn't collide with the local car show schedule, and we made it happen. We joined forces with the Chattanooga area Toys for Tots Foundation, and made this event all about helping local kids have a better Christmas. Several hundred people came out to donate toys and money, and we ended up with nearly 400 cars on display, on the streets surrounding Coker Tire and Honest Charley. Everyone had a great time, and our final tally was two full truck loads of toys, and nearly $3,000 in cash for the Toys for Tots!
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November 22, 2015There are certain cars and builders that create a lot of buzz before, during and after the SEMA Show. Boosted Bela is one of those cars, thanks to the tireless efforts of Andy Williamson, who was heading up the PR for the project. Progress photos, teasers, and lots of hype resulted in a SEMA reveal that blew everyone away. By now, you're reading this and thinking that the ratty looking '56 Chevy in the pictures can't possibly be the car we're referencing, but you'd be wrong. Boosted Bela is a slammed '56 Chevy that is rough on the outside, but super detailed everywhere else. The build was exclusively covered by Chevrolet Performance on The BLOCK, and it absolutely exploded on social media in the days and weeks leading up to the SEMA Show. Once it was on display in the Mobil 1 booth, the car was plastered all over Instagram and Facebook, gaining as much notoriety as cars with $50,000 paint jobs. In fact, Motor Trend Magazine named Boosted Bela one of the Top 15 cars at the SEMA Show. The truth of the matter is that Boosted Bela is just plain cool. It sits right, it has a killer supercharged LS-based engine and of course, it's rolling on a set of wide whitewalls and steelies from Coker Tire. Continue reading to find out more about Boosted Bela and enjoy the photos and video!
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November 11, 2015The SEMA Show is something that millions car enthusiasts want to attend, but since it is not open to the public. This trade only event gets a lot of attention from the media, allowing enthusiasts to get a taste of what the event is about, but the SEMA organization put together a mixed bag of aweseomeness when they created SEMA Ignited--a public event tacked onto the end of the SEMA Show. Last year was the inaugural SEMA Ignited event, and while it was a success, this year's new location and format was WAY better and offered some exciting attractions.
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November 06, 2015So, we've had the throttle down for the past few days and today, we covered a lot of ground to show you even more cool stuff than yesterday. We explored the South Hall, in addition to another run through the Central Hall, where all of our hot rod, racing and performance buddies hang out. We also spent some time at the Ford Out Front skid pad, where Vaughn Gittin Jr. tore up the track with his wicked Mustang drift car, as well as the "Ultimate Fun Haver" Ford F-150 crew cab. Today offered the Coker Tire media team a full schedule, with video shoots of awesome builders, such as Jon Kosmoski, Danny Koker, Colby Martin and more! After putting a bunch of miles on our shoes, we went to the annual SEMA Industry Awards Banquet, where three folks were inducted into the SEMA Hall of Fame. It was Dave McClelland's final time emceeing the awesome event, after 40 years of service--we're going to miss hearing your voice Dave! We also want to say a special congrats to our friend Dennis Gage for his induction into the Hall of Fame. Enjoy some of our highlights from Thursday's action at SEMA 2015, and keep an eye out for additional articles with full features of awesome vehicles that sport Coker Tire products.
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November 05, 2015So, if you watch our blog, or our social media pages, you may remember us covering the inaugural Danchuk Tri-Five Nationals, in Bowling Green, Kentucky a few months ago. It was a huge hit, with nearly 2,000 Tri-Five Chevys on hand at historic Beech Bend Raceway Park. One of the coolest aspects of the event was the fact that the event promoter, Chris Sondles, who also owns and operates Woody's Hot Rodz, built an awesome Give-Away car. As Woody's put the finishing touches on the car, they came to Coker Tire for a cool tire combination to go with the Cragar S/S wheels. Firestone bias ply tires, including a pair of our Firestone Dragster cheater slicks, made for a cool retro look to go with the nostalgia drag theme. The winner of the 2015 Give-Away car got a free trip to the SEMA Show, and will take ownership after the car returns from its show circuit. The car is a cool piece, and we're proud to have shoed it with traditional Firestones from Coker Tire. We're already marking our calendars for August 12 and 13, 2016 for the second annual Danchuk Tri-Five Nationals, and we can't wait to see the 2016 Give-Away car. If it's anything like this '55 two-door post, you can bet the winner will be pumped!
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November 05, 2015Wow, what a day! We started early with the annual SEMA Prayer Breakfast, in which our own Corky Coker was the special speaker. He shared a great message of his career path and his walk with God. After breakfast, we high-tailed it to a press conference on Wade Kawasaki's 1970 Pontiac GTO Judge, which rolls on a set of our Firestone Wide Oval raised white letter tires. We made our way around the North Hall and Central Hall to meet up with some of our sponsored builders. We checked in with 40Cal Customs at the Red Kap booth to see how the "Red Kap Rocket" build was going, and stopped for a quick chat. It was a super busy day, which culminated at the Hot Rod Industry Alliance (HRIA) Awards Reception and a few hours of photo and video editing to condense all this cool stuff into something you can enjoy! We'll be brining you feature articles, as well as feature videos of our sponsored builders, so stay tuned to the blog and our other social media outlets for closer looks at some of the coolest cars, trucks and motorcycles at SEMA 2015!
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November 04, 2015Day one of SEMA 2015 is in the books. We had a big ol' day and met a lot of great folks. The booth was packed with people all day, but our media guys went out and covered a lot of ground to show you the cool stuff from the show. There are dozens of vehicles riding on Coker Tire products, and we plan to find 'em all and show them to you in one way or another. If you don't see it here, you might see it on our Instagram or Facebook page. For now, take a look at some of today's highlights, and come back tomorrow evening to see what else we can get into!
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October 26, 2015The Posies Driven Dirty Tour is a very cool, very relaxed event that involves driving a hot rod across the country with a destination of the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. It's been going on for a few years now (10 to be exact), and it's a cool tour of the country, which includes shop tours, good food and lots of hanging out. All of this leads up to the SEMA Show, which a little more fast-paced. The Posies Driven Dirty Tour starts in Pennsylvania, so it takes quite a detour for a Southern swing into Tennessee, but we offered a warm welcome, as the guys rolled into Chattanooga on Saturday, October 24th. We gave them a tour of our headquarters here at 1317 Chestnut Street, as well as a bus ride to our Distribution Center a few miles away. Then, we had a fried chicken dinner from Champy's and toured Honest Charley. We had an awesome time showing them around and we wish them safe travels on their adventures. The bad thing about the Posies Driven Dirty Tour is...well, that we're not on it! Have fun guys!
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October 09, 2015As you know, we love it when vintage American iron is on the road, instead of sitting in the garage. When we peeked out the window and saw two vintage motorcycles sitting in the parking lot, we had to go investigate. As it turns out, Steve Burris and Bruce Mason stopped at Coker Tire for our daily tour, to check out Corky's collection of cars, motorcycles and memorabilia. They were quite a ways from home, but they had a little more traveling to do before reaching their destination of Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama for the annual Barber Vintage Festival. This vintage motorcycle show and race has become a huge attraction for motorcycle enthusiasts, including these two dudes from Ohio. We're glad they stopped by Coker Tire on their way to Barber, and we enjoyed eyeballing their '48 Harley Davidson Panhead and '37 Indian, which rolls on Coker Diamond Tread 400.18 motorcycle tires. We wish them safe travels on the rest of their trip, and hope they can join us again in the future. If you haven't checked out our daily tours, feel free to drop by Monday through Thursday at 10am and 1pm Eastern time, and Friday at 10am and 2pm to check out our place. Keep reading for more pictures of these awesome vintage motorcycles! [products]
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October 09, 2015We love it when a big company like Hagerty comes up with a cool idea that utilizes its employees in a way that gets them away from their desk for a few days. The Hagerty Swap to Street Chasllenge is a group of Hagerty employees that have been tasked with restoring a '46 Ford truck in 100 hours, while on display at the AACA Hershey fall meet in Pennsylvania. This event is the ultimate swap meet, and the idea is for the Hagerty crew to source all of the necessary parts from the swap meet. Some parts will be used, while others will come from some of the new parts vendors....such as Coker Tire, of course! We provided a set of Coker Classic 600R16 radial whitewall tires and Hot Rod Steel wheels for the Ford pickup. The goal is to restore the truck and drive it back to the Hagerty headquarters in Traverse City, Michigan after the show is over. The cool part about the whole deal is that it's being filmed, and a LIVE FEED is available to see the progress. You can click here for the live feed, and click here to get more information on the build. [products]
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October 02, 2015As you probably know, we make thousands of tires for collector vehicles, with OE and custom fitments for vehicles made from the 1890's all the way to the new Fiat 500. With that said, we are sometimes the only source for certain applications. For instance, Coker Tire is the only source for custom vintage rims for Brass Era cars, or any car that features wooden spoke wheels. Coker Tire's custom vintage rim service and machine shop is based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and longtime machinist, J.D. Scott is in charge of producing steel rims for extremely rare and valuable automobiles, vintage commercial trucks and even motorcycles. Continue reading to find out more about Coker Tire's line of StanWeld vintage automobile rims, as well as other vintage rims. [products]
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September 29, 2015We're big fans of events that require you to DRIVE your collector vehicle. Somernites Cruise puts on a monthly cruise in on the fourth Saturday of the month from April through October, but the September event is extra special as it is the Somernites Power Cruise, presented by Holley. That means that hot rodders from six starting points converge on Somerset for a huge gathering! Back in 2012, Coker Tire got involved and started the Chattanooga leg of the Power Cruise. We had high hopes for being the largest Power Cruise leg this year, but bad weather caught us by surprise and hindered participation, as well as the overall turnout in Somerset. We cruised up Highway 27 to Somerset, and had a blast, as the soggy stuff moved out in the afternoon. Despite the crummy weather, more than 800 cars showed up in Somerset, and we spotted a bunch of them with our tires and wheels. Check out our favorites and be sure to check out www.somernitescruise.org for more information! [products]
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September 20, 2015Boy, these three-day rallies sure seem to fly by, and the 10th annual Coker Tire Challenge is in the books. The 2015 event was a great success, with awesome weather and very few break-downs. The Sunday route is always a short one, and it ends right here at Coker Tire with a warm welcome from the Coker Tire staff. We also enjoyed a hosted BBQ lunch from Shuford's Smokehouse, and a great awards ceremony where we crowned the top contenders from Coker Tire Challenge 2015. Congrats to David Reeder and Sawyer Stone on their victory! Enjoy our photos from today!
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September 19, 2015The Saturday portion of the Coker Tire Challenge 2015 event is always a full day of rallying, and this year, we headed East toward the mountains. We followed the Ocoee River briefly, and then peeled off on Highway 30 for a beautiful drive through varying elevations with lots of twists and turns. From there, we motored north for a pit stop in Etowah, and then got back on the clock for some intense rallying. With lunch in Cleveland, Tennessee (only a short distance away from Chattanooga) we had a very technical course that eventually led us back to Coker Tire, where the racers got their scores for the day. The weather was absolutely perfect, and the scenery couldn't have been better. Check out some of our favorite photos from today's action!
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September 19, 2015It's that time of year again! The third weekend of September is always a time to reunite with all of our Great Race buddies, even though we've only been apart for a couple months. The Coker Tire Challenge 2015 event is a three-day rally with lots of great scenery here in the Tri-State (Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama) area. It's a bunch of fun, and it's not a two-week commitment like the Great Race so it's much easier for local car guys and gals to participate. The competition is a big challenge, but the most fun aspect of the event is being able to spend the weekend behind the wheel of a vintage car. Friday's route sent us into Georgia, where we snaked through the beautiful back roads until we found ourselves in Dalton, Georgia for lunch. Then we doubled back onto some of the same routes to make our way to an hosted dinner at Corky Coker's house in Wildwood, Georgia. He recently finished a huge renovation, and invited all of his rallying friends to check it out. The impressive entertainment area was filled with Coker Tire Challenge participants, who are celebrating the event's 10th anniversary. Enjoy our Friday coverage and click HERE for Saturday coverage, and HERE for Sunday coverage!
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September 10, 2015So what exactly do you get with a ticket to the 2015 SEMA Show? Surprisingly most don't know the answer to that question. What's become ground zero in the world of automotive customization products and trends is still somewhat of a mystery to the average car guy, but why? The SEMA Show started back the sixties as an association for speed parts merchants. As the industry grew, SEMA expanded to include all sorts of automotive specialty equipment beyond speed parts, and the SEMA Show grew with it. This trade show is a showcase for new products and companies to get in front of buyers, driving the industry and specialty equipment trends with it. Today the automotive aftermarket is a 30 billion dollar industry, and last year over 60,000 buyers attended the SEMA Show. Buyers shopped 6,500+ member companies, including the nearly 2,000 brand new products featured. The show is huge, and it's influential. [caption id="attachment_6478" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
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August 17, 2015Last year, we heard about the Tri-Five Nationals, and instantly wanted to be a part of the inaugural event. It helps matters that it is organized and promoted by our buddy Chris Sondles from Woody's Hot Rodz, which is a shop that specializes in Tri-Five Chevy builds and sells many of our products. As the plans for the event developed, Coker Tire stepped up as one of the leading sponsors, and presented the "Celebration of 60 Years of the 1955 Chevy", a special section with original 1955 Chevrolets of many models and configurations. As we rolled into historic Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky, it didn't take long to see that the Tri-Five Nationals was destined to be HUGE. And that's exactly what it was--the official car count was 1,858 registered entrants, all ranging from 1955 to 1957 Chevys, including a few pickup trucks and Corvettes from the famous Tri-Five years. Tens of thousands of spectators took part in the event, which had drag racing, autocross racing, a massive show-n-shine area, a swap meet and a packed vendor area.
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August 11, 2015And when we say NEW sizes, we actually mean OLD sizes that hot rodders have been asking about for years! Back in the '60s, '70s and '80s, it was very popular to use Firestone Dirt Track tires on the rear of a highboy hot rod, and 11.00-16 sizing was quite common. Very famous hot rods rolled on these massive 11.00-16 or similar Dirt Trackers, including the Limefire roadster, the Eastwood & Barakat Sedan, Jake's Coupe (think Pete & Jake's) and many more. Firestone Double Diamond Dirt Track tires were also a key ingredient for Tom Prufer's perfectly proportioned hot rods.
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August 10, 2015We've been attending the NSRA Street Rod Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky for many years. A lot of things have changed during all those years, but it's still a must-go for all street rodders. This year, the event saw 10,000-plus street rods, muscle cars, gassers and more. We saw lots of Coker Tire products on the grounds, and enjoyed the variety of applications. From rough and rowdy rat rods to high end customs, we spotted a bunch of great cars wearing our products. Keep reading to take a look at some of our favorites, and also look forward to a couple more posts with special cars that caught our eye.
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July 29, 2015It feels like we just got settled back into the office after a long two-week adventure on the Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty, but we're already getting close to our own personal vintage car rally, the Coker Tire Challenge! It's a three-day rally that is based here in Chattanooga, Tennessee. You can find information about it on the Coker Tire Challenge website, and you can click here to sign up for this year's event. It's much more affordable than the Great Race, and it's a little more relaxed, so it's a lot of fun without a major commitment. Join us from September 17-20th, 2015 for the 10th annual Coker Tire Challenge! Keep reading to see a few pictures from last year's event.
