rat rod

If 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.

The 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

The 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!

We'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.

We get around to a lot of car shows here in the Southeast, and just because we're not set up as a vendor doesn't mean we're not interested in the event. The Goodguys Nashville Nationals is a great example, as it's just a couple hours away from our office, and it offers up a couple thousand cars and trucks. The venue for the event is LP Field, which is right across the river from downtown Nashville, Tennessee. It's an excellent show, and we're always glad to sneak away from the office to check it out and snap a few pictures of cars with our tires and wheels! And though the weather may have hindered the overall turnout, the event was still huge and gave us a lot of cool stuff to look at. Oh, you like cool stuff, too? Well, you're in luck, as we've compiled a bunch of our favorite hot rods, muscle cars and classic trucks that feature our tires and wheels.

When you're building a hot rod, rat rod, slammed custom or jacked-up gasser, you'll likely have a vision for the car's stance long before you consider it complete. You might even have the stance planned out before you ever get started. The right suspension setup certainly plays a role in a car's stance, but allow us to be the first to say that tires and wheels rank highly in the stance department. The right tire and wheel combination can make an undesirable car look cool, and the wrong tire and wheel combination can make a cool car look awkward. In the end, it's up to the owner of the car to determine the overall look, but we're throwing TEN killer cars and trucks out there to provide some inspiration.

Groups of gear heads visit our place on a regular basis, and do so by the hundreds during our Chattanooga Cruise In events. But we also cater to smaller groups and car clubs for special tours of our facility. We love opening the doors to our place and showing off our collection of cool stuff. In this case, the Rat Rod Tour, a group of rodders assembled by the folks at Rat Rod Magazine, visited our place on their way to the Redneck Rumble in Lebanon, Tennessee. Part of the tour involved the Rat Hard Build-Off, which involves a $3,000 budget and 30 days to build it--otherwise, there are no rules. There is no doubt that this was the most diverse group of cars, trucks and motorcycles to visit Coker Tire in quite some time, so we shot a bunch of pictures and video to cover the visit. Check it out here and enjoy lots of photos of some of the wildest rat rods on the planet!

Wow, what a day! We started early and walked the fairgrounds for most of the day. This event is huge, and tried our best to cover all of it. From the indoor displays, and Builder's Showcase areas, to the regular car show area, to the Pro's Pick area...we saw it all today. Check out our favorite shots from today, and if you're planning to attend the show, please take a few minutes to stop by our booth!

Every year, when the Goodguys show invades Nashville, Tennessee, we can't resist the urge to sneak over to LP Field to check out all the action. We generally do not send our sales rig to the show, but we like to check out the event and see who is using our products! This year, we spotted lots of cool stuff, so we'd like to pass them along here...check it out!

The National Street Rod Association (NSRA) has been around since 1970 and it legitimized rod runs in the United States. Coker Tire is the "Official Tire of the NSRA" so we're proud to support its events, and encourage folks to attend the regional events, as well as the BIG ONE...the Street Rod Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky. Since our headquarters is in Chattanooga, Tennessee, our regional event is the Street Rod Nationals South, held at Chilhowee Park in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Here at Coker Tire, we have a lot of customers who opt for the complete tire and wheel package when it's time to put new shoes on their collector vehicle. It's a great value and it ensures the customer the trueness and perfect balance that we can achieve when combining a new tire with a new wheel. We also offer authentic accessories, such as hubcaps, trim rings and even lug nuts! That means you can complete the tire and wheel package, and give your collector vehicle the right look.

When we started the Chattanooga Cruise In a few years ago, we had no idea it would grow into one of the biggest Cruise In events in the Southeast. On Saturday, April 5th, 2014, we expected a great turnout, but when our blocked off streets were full by 11am (and the event didn't technically begin until noon), we knew this event would be huge. It was impossible to get an actual car count, but our estimations are 1,200. All of the surrounding streets and parking lots were packed with overflow hot rods, muscle cars and motorcycles. To say we are running out of room would be a major understatement...but that's a good problem to have!

Stance is an important part of building a custom car, whether it's a hot rod, a street machine or a Pro Street build. Some enthusiasts know exactly what they want, and come to us prepared with part numbers in hand. Others may just have a few key measurements and a certain style in mind--either way, we can help figure out the right tires and wheels for your build.

Oh, and you thought we forgot about the Suede Palace at the Grand National Roadster Show? We park our big trailer just outside the door at the Palace, so it's convenient for us to sneak in there and grab pictures from time to time. We got most of our pictures on Friday, because it's tough to get cool pictures of the cars when there is such a big crowd. The Suede Palace is THE place to see the coolest traditional hot rods, customs and gassers, so there is a lot of Coker tires and wheels in there!

Our tires roll under some of the coolest hot rods in the world, and one of them landed on the cover of Ol' Skool Rodz this month! We got our March 2014 issue earlier this week, and loved seeing our American Classic whitewall radial tires crusted up with salt from Bonneville. If you like hot rods, you need to check out Ol' Skool Rodz!

Once again, we blocked off all of the streets in Corkyville, and invited a bunch of our friends to join us for a great day of car guy fun. We had blue skies and LOTS of sun, so folks arrived early in the morning to claim their parking spot. We knew going into the day's event that our overall turnout may be smaller than the April event, due to the schedule conflict with Shades of the Past in Pigeon Forge. We did have a few less cars, but we still had approximately 600 vehicles on hand for the fall Chattanooga Cruise In!

Hot rods are cool because they're generally not cookie cutter builds that lack personality. Owners and builders can go as wild as they want, and part of getting the right look is the vehicle's stance. And a big part of the stance involves the tires and wheels. Sizing is key, so if you can dream it up, we can usually put together a tire and wheel package for your hot rod, custom or classic car. Read more to find out how we do it.

We were thrilled when we heard that the Hot Rod Power Tour would be coming back to Chattanooga, Tennessee in 2013. We geared up for a huge event, and that's exactly what it was...HUGE! Thousands of cars came out to Chattanooga State Community College for the official day's stop, while we prepared for an After Party Cruise In at our place! By 5pm, rush hour traffic was jam-packed with hot rods and everyone was headed to Coker!

Nashville is about two hours away from our office, so we snuck out to attend the Goodguys Nashville Nationals on May 17-19. We do not set up as a vendor at this event because of scheduling conflicts, but it's just too close for us to miss a chance of photographing some cool stuff for our advertisements and catalogs. So, we won't bore you with the details: LP Field, Nashville, TN, 2,000 cars and LOTS of Coker Tire products on the ground. Check it out!

We're constantly trying to improve our customers' experience with us, so it has been an ongoing process to develop our website into an-easy-to-use destination. We launched a brand new version of the Coker Tire homepage this morning, and we hope you enjoy it! It serves not only as a sales site, but we have made huge efforts to include educational bits and pieces throughout to help customers learn more about tires and wheels. When you get a few minutes, browse around the new homepage and get familiar with it.

We promoted the Chattanooga Cruise In to be the coolest Cruise In in the Southeast and by the looks of the turnout this past Saturday, we were right! It was HUGE! The crew had its hands full with trying to get everyone parked, and keep everyone entertained, but it was a great event for Chattanooga, and a great event for Coker Tire. We plan to host many more of these events right here at Coker Tire, including a big block party after the Power Tour stop in Chattanooga on Thursday, June 6th, as well as another one on Saturday, September 7th. The Chattanooga Cruise In brought out nearly 1,000 cars, trucks and motorcycles to Corkyville. It was hard to get an official count of spectators, but we estimate that more than 5,000 people were in attendance. It was incredibly packed all day, and we all had a great time. Take a look at some of our favorite pictures here, but visit our Facebook page and Instagram feed for many more shots! Also, keep an eye on the Chattanooga Cruise In website for updates regarding our future events!!!

Alright guys and gals, we're super excited about our event, the Chattanooga Cruise In, coming up this Saturday, April 6th from 2-8pm Eastern time. If you're anywhere near Chattanooga, you need to check it out! Several hundred cars will be on display on the streets surrounding the Coker Tire headquarters here in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee. We'll also have an open house for our facility, as well as an open house at Honest Charley Speed Shop and Honest Charley Garage. Please join us!

If you've been keeping track of our Cruise In events here at Coker Tire, then you'll quickly realize that we have officially given it a name: the Chattanooga Cruise In. This event has taken off with great success, and we plan to hold more of them in 2013. We will soon be creating a website specifically for the Cruise In, so that we can efficiently handle requests for clubs, parking, etc. All of that aside, we prepared for a big crowd this past Saturday, and boy did we ever get one! With 700 cars on hand and more than 2,000 spectators, we had our hands full all day!

Last year, we decided to hold a Cruise In event right here in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We held it in conjunction with the Coker Tire Challenge, which is our annual rally event. For a first-time effort, we did pretty good and had about 250 cars surrounding the Coker Tire complex that we affectionately call "Corkyville". Then we decided to have two Cruise In events per year, so we planned an event for April and 500 cars came out to join us! For the next Cruise In, we're hoping for even more, so come check it out on Saturday, September 29th, 2012! That's right, we're just a little over a month away, so go ahead and make plans to join us! We close off all of the streets surrounding Coker Tire and we also reserve many of the nearby parking lots, so we have plenty of room for this event to grow! In addition to hundreds of cars, trucks and motorcycles, we'll have live music by "The Other Guys"! There are restaurants positioned very close to our Cruise In area, but

[caption id="attachment_2826" align="alignright" width="640"] Check out these BFGoodrich Silvertown Radial whitewall tires and Thunderbird Wire Wheels on a classic T-Bird![/caption] If you're on the hunt for tires and wheels for your collector car, look no further. We have a wide range of products that fit hot rods, muscle cars, restored classics, antique motorcycles, vintage trucks, military vehicles and more! But, if you've bought a set of tires in the past, then you know that it can sometime be a hassle to have them mounted to your wheels. You take a chance on a flunky at the local tire shop scratching up the rim, or worse, so we've taken that out of the equation with our great tire and wheel combinations! If you buy your tires and wheels together,

If you know much about Coker Tire, then you know we are 100-percent in favor of driving your classic car or hot rod. Drive it hard and drive it often--it's the reason we spend so much time getting them running and driving properly, so you might as well take advantage of it! A guy by the name of John Gilbert is doing just that with a wickedly-chopped Model A coupe, and he decided to stop by Coker Tire along the way. [caption id="attachment_2784" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Looks comfy![/caption] John is a freelance photographer and writer and does a lot of work for Street Rodder magazine. He has been around hot rods, motorcycles and classic trucks for many

We've said it over and over again--the right tires and wheels can take a somewhat questionable car and turn it into a real attention getter! It's a simple fact of sizing, style and stance that makes a car look great, especially in the hot rodding world. We recently had a car come in the shop that didn't quite have the right look. With about 30 minutes of work, we helped transform it into a cool, old school hot rod! [caption id="attachment_2554" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="This Model A sedan looks awesome with its new Firestones!"][/caption]

Last summer we decided to hold a Cruise In event, in conjunction with the Coker Tire Challenge. It was a test to see if this sort of event could be manageable and fun on a small budget. It turned out to be a great event, so we planned for two in 2012, one of which occurred last Saturday, April 21st. It was an incredible turnout of nearly 500 car, with thousands of people roaming the streets of Corkyville!

Last weekend, we had a lot going on. Coker Tire was widely represented across the country, as we had a truck and trailer at the Bakersfield, California HCCA meet, as well as a big crew at the Portland, Oregon Swap Meet. Without a doubt, we supplied lots of tires for collector vehicles, but we also had some fun too! While our sales guys were hard at work, our staff photographer went up to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to the Spring Grand Rod Run. He came back with a bunch of cool pictures, so we just wanted to share them here. Check 'em out! [caption id="attachment_2450" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="This Model A is super cool! Love those Firestone cheater slicks on the back!"][/caption]

Last year, we had our first cruise in here at the Coker Tire and Honest Charley headquarters in Chattanooga, Tennessee! We had experienced a few tour-related cruise ins, such as the massive Hot Rod Power Tour cruise in, but our event last fall was the first standalone cruise in for us! We had great results, so for 2012, we're having TWO cruise in events--one in the spring and one in the fall! Go ahead and mark your calendars for April 21st and September 15th! [caption id="attachment_2371" align="alignright" width="500" caption="Join Us for the Spring Cruise In....April 21st!"][/caption]

If you follow our Facebook fan page, then you know we blasted the page with live photos from the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was a great event and we had a blast, as always, so it's time to wrap it up and get ready for the winter season. We met lots of great folks at SEMA, some new to the industry and some old timers like us. We debuted new booth artwork for our indoor booth and a brand new full wrap on our tractor trailer rig, which was positioned outside of the convention center. With new products on display, as well as the completed Marmon Wasp and Honest Charley rat rod truck, our booth(s) were a big hit. Check it out! [caption id="attachment_2277" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Our updated SEMA indoor booth with new counter artwork, and TV\'s!"]

A few weeks ago, we discussed the idea for a cruise in right here in Corkyville. Deciding on a date was a daunting task with so many events going on this time of year, but we knew it needed to be on Chestnut Street, and we knew an event of this nature would bring in a crowd no matter the date. So, our decision was to hold the Cruise In on the Saturday of the Coker Tire Challenge, which happened to be September 17th. We knew going in that this date would be somewhat of an issue, because it's the weekend of the Grand Run in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, but we had an awesome turnout, all things considered! [caption id="attachment_2076" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Cars and trucks lined up on Chestnut Street, 14th Street and any vacant parking lot they could find!"]

Well, it's that time of the year again. It's August, it's hot and it's time for the NSRA Street Rod Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky. We're on a cool little road trip this weekend, and decided to stop at the Nats for the day. As usual, the Kentucky Expo Center was packed with hot rods of all shapes and sizes, from low slung coupes to nose-high gassers. The day started with a six hour drive, and ended with about 3 more hours of driving....with lots of hot rods thrown in the midst. Tomorrow we're headed to the Funny Car Nationals at Marion County International Raceway in LaRue, Ohio...it should be a great time as over 30 funny cars do battle, along with a great deal of Nostalgia Pro Stock and Nostalgia Super Stock. We're always wanting to figure out new ways to cater to our nostalgia drag racing people, so this is a great way to do it. We'll post pictures from that event too, so stay tuned! For now, here are some of our favorite shots from Louisville. [caption id="attachment_1926" align="alignleft" width="493" caption="Our booth at the 2011 NSRA Street Rod Nationals Plus"][/caption]

Car guys are particularly good at finding a way to surround themselves around like-minded folks, and it's been that way for years. Car shows are a great way to do it, and we're lucky to be in a region where you could easily attend a car show every weekend if you don't mind traveling 100 miles or so. And while we attend many shows with our booth setup, we also visit several shows throughout the year in a more casual manner. This past weekend, we made the drive up to LP Field in Nashville, Tennessee for the 6th annual Goodguys Nashville Nationals. [caption id="attachment_1475" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Firestone whitewalls and custom wire wheels...what a beautiful combination, built by Jason Graham Hot Rods!"][/caption]

There's something to be said for a historic race track, be it a dirt track, a paved track or a drag strip. Knowing that gear heads just like you were racing on that very surface 50 years ago is an eye opening experience that will put a smile on any car guy's face. With this in mind, folks around the country are flocking to nostalgia drag racing events at historic tracks. One such event and track, is the Paradise Show-N-Go, held at Paradise Drag Strip in Calhoun, Georgia. [caption id="attachment_1395" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Paradise Drag Strip is known for its uphill burnout box and slightly unlevel starting line, which causes cars with manual transmissions to roll backward at the line. Even with this flaw, it was a state-of-the-art track during the \'60s."][/caption] The track opened in 1961, and it was home to lots of big-name match races and also a home track to many Super Stock racers in the mid-60s. Legends of drag racing, such as "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, Arnie "The Farmer" Beswick and "Dyno Don" Nicholson have raced at Paradise Drag Strip, drawing huge crowds to watch the exciting action. Back then, every driver had a nickname, and every car had a distinct personality, unlike today's professional ranks in NHRA, where each car in its class is identical, aside from a few sponsor decals.

This coming weekend is time for the annual Lonestar Round Up in Austin, Texas. It's a hotbed for traditional hot rods of all shapes and sizes, so folks from all over the place are making the trek to Texas for this awesome event. One such fellow goes by the name "Squindo" and has a thing for Kustom Art...that's Kustom with a K if you didn't notice. He's a master at pinstriping, hot rod art and wicked paintings, but he's a hot rodder at heart. He and his crew stopped by the office today and took

It's that time again! Every winter, the World of Wheels comes to Chattanooga, inside the Chattanooga Convention Center, which is right around the corner from our headquarters on Chestnut Street. It's an indoor car show that always draws a big crowd because of its attractions, and of course the great collection of cars being displayed! This year, our neighbors at Honest Charley Garage are showcasing a few buildups at the show, including the recently-finished 1952 MG TD owned by Wes Kliner.