hagerty

Chattanooga, 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 it's a great chance to check out what's new in the Museum!

The 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 forget the fenders to give their Model A some hot rod flavor. They called us in on the deal when it came time for tires and wheels. Keep in mind that this build is being

We 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]

It's been a long run, and we're getting close to the end of the 2015 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty. Today was another hot one, but we saw a 20-degree drop when we rolled into our overnight hosted city of San Bernardino, California. An awesome crowd of spectators came out to view the Great Race, and we enjoyed a challenging route throughout the day. A lunch stop in Twentynine Palms, California was packed out, and we enjoyed a few pieces of fried chicken before we hit the road toward San Bernardino. We passed by a crazy Wind Farm with hundreds of windmills visible from our route. It was another big day, and we're in Championship mode, so tomorrow is obviously a day that cannot have any mistakes. Take a look at the day's highlights and stay tuned to find out the winner tomorrow, as we finish on the Santa Monica Pier at 2pm.

What a crazy week! It's always a lot of fun, and a lot of work to compete in the Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty. We consider 2014 a huge success, as both Coker teams crossed the finish line in one piece, here in The Villages, Florida, during one of the greatest finishes we've ever seen. We had a blast this year, and we're expecting to have a lot of fun next year, too. The Great Race is the adventure of a lifetime that you can do every year! Congrats to Barry and Irene Jason for claiming the third consecutive Great Race Grand Championship...this time in a Post WWII car (first time it's ever been done). Click HERE for the overall results from the 2014 Great Race.

There is one thing for sure at this point in the 2014 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty...we're in the south. What makes it so obvious? For one, we had BBQ for lunch and dinner (washed down with a cool sweet tea). Second, it's hot, humid and there are pop-up storms all over the place. We had a great (but abbreviated) lunch stop in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We had to leave lunch early to make up time for a bunch of traffic in Myrtle Beach. So we made it back to our restart point, and hit the afternoon route wide open. The route was packed with lots of high speed turns, as well as a 22-mile run on a two-lane road, most of which was traveled at 40 miles per hour. Our dinner stop was simply incredible. Mount Pleasant, South Carolina rolled out the red carpet for us, and treated us to a wonderful dinner on board the U.S.S. Yorktown ship. We were also allowed to check out the ship, and check out some of the cool airplanes on the flight deck. As we exited the ship, a wall of storm clouds rolled in and dumped a bunch of rain at dusk. Tomorrow, we continue south on a long trek to Jacksonville, Florida. Stay tuned!

We're in St. Paul, Minnesota for the kickoff of the Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty. We've been super busy with getting all of our gear setup and ready for a nine day journey down the Mighty Mississippi! We're kicking off tomorrow from the Back to the '50s event at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, and we'll be motivating down the most beautiful backroads in America on our way to the final destination of Mobile, Alabama. We started the Great Race with a practice rally today (we call it the Hagerty Trophy Run) and then went to the kickoff reception later in the day. It was a blast and we're ready for a FULL day of action tomorrow, and the next nine days! Also, check out a few shots from the Back to the '50s Car Show here in St. Paul...we saw lots of Coker Tire products out there!

If you follow our blog, then you know that we're passionate about vintage automobiles. We're even more passionate about getting out and DRIVING these pieces of automotive history! Aside from casual driving to local car shows, what's the best way to get out and enjoy your old car??? Well, we might have a biased opinion, but the answer is the Great Race! [caption id="attachment_2366" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Check out the map for this year's Great Race!"][/caption]

Director of Great Race, Jeff Stumb, continues his trips and tells us a bit about the route for the 2012 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty. Mansfield and Findlay, Ohio Warren, Ohio, was such a pleasant surprise yesterday, and today would deliver another one in Mansfield. Some may remember, although it has been more than 10 years, that there is a carousel in downtown Mansfield, Ohio. The Great Race made a pit stop there some years ago and racers got a few minutes to take a ride. Well, for anyone who is interested, you too can ride the Mansfield carousel when we stop for lunch on the 2012 Great Race. The run into Mansfield on next years event will also be the start of the two-day Championship Run, and if ever there was a perfect state to have a Championship Run it is Ohio. For the first time on the trip it made me sad that I cannot compete because the route was so wonderful. [caption id="attachment_2194" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="The courthouse on Main Street

Director of Great Race, Jeff Stumb, continues his planning trip for the 2012 Great Race. Day 8--Franklin, Pa., and Warren, Ohio We left Buffalo early and got a great look at Lake Erie for the last time. Obviously, we cannot hug the shore of all of the Great Lakes all the way around, and at this point we will be traveling 50 miles or so away from Lake Erie all the way into Dearborn for the finish. Early on, like on the Trophy Run and the first couple of days of competition, we will be hugging the shoreline. In fact, several days we will be having lunch and dinner on the shoreline. And for the first time we are getting into some hills. This will probably be the flattest Great Race ever run since we will be spending so much time at sea level, but the morning into Franklin, Pa., will see a few rolling hills. Franklin is a scenic town that we have been to on a previous Great Race, but it has been a long time. The good folks there are planning a fantastic lunch and reception in the city park.

After acquiring the Great Race, we have been very busy, making sure we uphold the legacy and the tradition that Tom McRae established many years ago. Just after the 2011 Hemmings Motor News Great Race, Coker Tire is proud to announce a new Director of the Great Race, longtime rally enthusiast and all around car guy, Mr. Jeff Stumb. Jeff will also be heading up the Coker Tire Marketing Department, so we'll definitely keep him busy! He is away from the office right now, on a trip to the Great Lakes to meet with host cities, so sit back and enjoy some of his commentary as he rides up and down the road. As soon as the annual Coker Tire Challenge ended in Chattanooga Sept. 18, John Classen and I hit the road to visit city leaders, check out hotels and map out the route for the 2012 Great Race. As you may know by now, the Great Race will start in Traverse City, Michigan, on June 23, 2012, and circle the Great Lakes before returning to Michigan the following weekend. Plans have been underway for

We followed along with the gang today during the Hagerty Trophy run, which is basically a warm up rally to get the racers, check point crews (and photographers) prepared for the big event. It was a nice drive over to Jasper, then to Raccoon Mountain and back to the Coker Tire headquarters in Chattanooga. Check out some of the pictures...we're headed to the Kickoff Dinner in the Coker Tire Museum...see ya tomorrow!