tennessee
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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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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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June 09, 2017You know we love a good Barn Find, and they don't get much better than a 1954 Corvette Barn Find. This one is a real deal survivor, parked in 1964 and stored for more than 50 years. This jewel showed up at our doorstep earlier this week, and we just couldn't stop marveling at the completeness of the car. Sure, many parts of the car were in need of restoration, but then you'd mask the originality with shiny paint and chrome plated finishes. As it is now, this barn find is a piece of automotive history, and preservation versus restoration would be a delicate balance. With the incredible documentation that came with the car, the new owner plans on leaving it in "as found" condition, aside from getting it running, cleaned up and of course, putting some new tires on it! The new owner of this epic barn
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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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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, 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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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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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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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 20, 2015A few months ago, we were introduced to Matt Harris, a motorcycle builder from Alcoa, Tennessee. His shop, 40Cal Customs builds custom motorcycles, and often uses Coker Tire products when the rubber meets the road. Leading up to SEMA 2015, Matt clued us in on a cool project that he worked out with Red Kap. The Nashville, Tennessee-based clothing company makes products that are a popular choice for automotive work uniforms, and decided to ramp up its SEMA presence at this year's show. With this increased effort, Red Kap had an awesome booth in the North Hall, and included a live motorcycle build by Matt Harris. We followed along with the progress on this Harley Davidson Shovelhead, from a bare hardtail frame and forks on Monday to a complete, running motorcycle on Friday. We love the nostalgia drag racing look, with narrow tanks, a super cool tire and wheel combination. Keep reading to learn more about the tires wheels on the Red Kap Rocket, and see more photos of this epic SEMA build.
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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 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 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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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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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.
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May 20, 2015We 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.
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April 28, 2015We've worked pretty hard to encourage our customers to get out and drive their collector cars, and events like the Coker Tire Tour to the Mitty provide even more inspiration. There might be an ulterior motive hidden in there (to sell more tires, or in this case Sports Car Tires). The Mitty is a road race for vintage cars, and it's held at Road Atlanta, which is a couple hours away from our headquarters here in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This year, we partnered with Classic Motorsports Magazine to create a driving experience like no other--a trip through some of the most beautiful scenery and twisty back roads with a final destination of the Mitty. With more than 50 cars participating, it was a big hit, and we're hoping to do more of these driving events in the future.
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April 14, 2015When we started the Chattanooga Cruise In back in 2011, it was a great opportunity to open our doors and show local car folks the cool stuff in and around our facilities here in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It grew quickly, and now the Chattanooga Cruise In is the largest single-day cruise in event in the Southeast. We were absolutely blown away with the turnout at our most recent event, held on April 11th, from 10am to 4pm. Car count and spectator count estimations were tough to calculate because of the massive crowd, but our estimates are 2,000 cruise in cars, and approximately 15,000 spectators throughout the day. It was overwhelming for our staff, but at the end of the day, we knew it was another record-breaking day at our cruise in. Check out some of our favorite photos from the day, and be sure to check out our full gallery of photos on Facebook.
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March 12, 2015Emotions are at an all time high on the grounds of Coker Tire and Honest Charley on this cloudy day in March. We started the day by putting the final touches on a 1912 Thomas Flyer, and revealing it to the car's new owner. You see, this Thomas Flyer was our founder, Harold Coker's last project car, before he passed away suddenly in November of last year. It was a long way from being finished at the time of his passing, but Corky Coker encouraged the guys at Honest Charley to complete it in time for the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance coming up this weekend. The car was passed down to Corky's brother, David Coker, who saw the finished product for the first time this morning. Lill Coker was also on hand for the reveal, and it's safe to say there wasn't a dry eye in the house when the Coker's saw the tag that Howard Horn hand-lettered to finish off the build. Keep reading for a touching video of the reveal and a bunch of pictures of Harold's Last One.
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March 12, 2015If you've followed Coker Tire for very long, then you know we are HUGE advocates for getting out and putting plenty of miles on your collector vehicle. We're proud to announce a new excuse to get in and go for a drive--the Coker Tire Tour to the Classic Motorsports Mitty. If you've never heard of "the Mitty", it's a road racing event held at Road Atlanta and it's geared toward vintage cars. We're planning an awesome ride from our facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee to the awesome Braselton, Georgia-based race track. The trip will include twisty back roads, delicious food and a finish destination that will offer lots of fun. It all starts with a "Cars and Coffee" type event here at Coker on Friday, April 24th. Then, we travel to beautiful Mercier Orchards in Blue Ridge, Georgia, and finally navigate the back roads to Road Atlanta, where a BBQ dinner will be waiting for us at the Mitty. Your ticket includes
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March 11, 2015We're proud of our products, and we're proud to be the world's leading supplier of tires and wheels for collector vehicles. We stand behind our products with a warranty against manufacturer's defects, as well as an available 5-year protection plan, which is an outstanding value. This plan is available for both tires and wheels, and offers free replacement of tires or wheels that become damaged due to road hazards such as potholes, curbs and road debris. Extended Tire Protection is available on nearly all of our tires, for a small additional fee ($10 to $20 depending on the tire's retail pricing), while Extended Wheel Protection has a flat fee of $25 per wheel. We've made it easy to add Extended Tire Protection or Extended Wheel Protection to your online order, but you can always give us a call at 1-866-516-3215, and we'll gladly explain the programs in detail. Find out more about our extended protection programs by clicking here:
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March 03, 2015Among the incredible and explosive growth in technology and opportunity in Chattanooga, the Tennessee Small Business Development Center continues to nurture and stimulate new businesses and young entrepreneurs. Nowhere is their work on display more prominently than in the scenic city, as innovative and exciting new businesses appear on every corner, many of which have benefited from the efforts of TSBDC. The "Talk of the Town!" CEO Speaker Series was created by TSBDC to encourage young entrepreneurs and local business through the stories of successful entrepreneurs who started small and have grown their businesses into major corporations. In the fifth installment of their CEO speaker Series, Corky Coker talks about some of the events and challenges that came along while growing from a local tire store in the late 1950s, into an international icon in the automotive restoration industry today.
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January 25, 2015Every year, we make our way out to the Grand National Roadster Show, held at the Pomona Fairplex in sunny Southern California. It's the place where the America's Most Beautiful Roadster is crowned, and it's also an awesome place to see hot rods, customs, gassers, low riders and more. Although there are some exceptions, nearly everything on the grounds is sitting on tires and/or wheels from Coker Tire, so it's a great place for us to take a bunch of pictures and show off some of our product. Take a look at our 40 favorite photos from the 2015 Grand National Roadster Show and also, watch our Instagram feed and Facebook page for up-to-the-minute posts from the show!
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September 29, 2014We love events that involved DRIVING your collector vehicle, and that's why we support events such as the Somernites Power Cruise. It's an annual event that is the crown jewel of the monthly Somernites Cruise events that span from April to October. The Power Cruise is always the fourth Saturday of September, and it brings in hot rodders from all over the place! Our involvement in the Somernites Power Cruise includes being one of the starting points was Chattanooga, Tennessee, as well as a Friday night kickoff party and cruise in. For Friday night's event, we offered FREE food, compliments of Coker video guy Jason White, and then Saturday, we joined the fun and headed north on Highway 27 with a destination of downtown Somerset, Kentucky. Keep reading to check out our favorite photos from a fun day on the road!
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September 25, 2014Click here to check out videos from past Coker Tire Challenge Events and also subscribe to our YouTube Channel while you're at it!
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September 24, 2014Last year we met Scott Jones, the man behind Noise Cycles in Santa Ana, California. He uses our tires on most of his custom motorcycle builds, and he seeks inspiration for his own builds thorugh vintage racing bikes and old motorcycles in general. With that in mind, we told Scott that any time he had an excuse to be in Tennessee to stop by and see us. He did just that on his way back from the Brooklyn Invitational, a huge motorcycle show in New York. Noise built a special bike to debut at the Brooklyn show, and it was finished just in time to make the event. The bike has a no frills look, but closer inspection reveals TONS of hand made components, and one very interesting feature that involved a lot of thought and fabrication. Keep reading for more...
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September 22, 2014After three days of rallying through some of the Southeast's finest scenery, the 2014 Coker Tire Challenge ended Sunday afternoon. A short Sunday morning route offered beautiful sites and great weather, and of course, the anticipation of which team would be taking home the hardware! It was a close finish, but thanks to a great score and a 1916 age factor, Howard and Douglas Sharp from Fairport, New York, earned the best overall score. Closely behind was the team of Jody Knowles and Beth Gentry (last year's winners). Another notable award winner was Robert Dinges from Killen, Alabama--he received the Bill Coker Spirit of the Event award! We want to thank all of the staff, racers and support crews for supporting the Coker Tire Challenge--we also want to send a huge thanks to Hemmings Motor News and Hagerty for coming down to compete in the event! Check out our favorite photos from the finish line and awards ceremony, as well as the final results below!
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September 20, 2014Another long day of rallying has come to an end at the 2014 Coker Tire Challenge. Today, we left the Coker Tire facility, heading north on I-75, on our way to the actual starting point in Cleveland, Tennessee. From there, we rallied through the back roads until we made it to the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, home of the Scopes Trial in 1925. Then, we crossed a couple of mountains on our way to a lunch stop in Sparta, Tennessee and finally snaked our way back to Chattanooga through towns such as McMinnville and Dunlap. Overall it was a great day of rallying, and we're ready to give it one last go tomorrow morning. Stay tuned to see who wins it all tomorrow, but for now, enjoy some of our favorite shots from today's run through the hills of Tennessee.
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September 19, 2014The Coker Tire Challenge is laid back, compared to its big brother, the Great Race, but it still offers quite a challenge, even for skilled veterans of the rallying world. Today's route sent us to Huntsville, Alabama for a lunch stop, and then back to our starting point of Chattanooga, Tennessee. The route features lots of elevation changes, mountain roads, tricky turns and great scenery along the way. Unfortunately, Friday afternoon traffic gave us some issues getting back to Coker Tire for the evening's hosted dinner in the Coker Tire Museum. At this point, Howard and Douglas Sharp are in the lead, but there are still two more days of rallying to see how things shake out! Check out today's photo highlights and stay tuned for more as the Coker Tire Challenge continues!
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September 18, 2014Wow, time flies! It's time for the Coker Tire Challenge, and we're gearing up for a great weekend of rallying in the Southeast. The weather is looking fantastic, and the course is going to be full of scenic roads and challenging instructions. Thursday is always a laid back day for folks to hang out and get their cars inspected, but the action really gets started on Friday, and lasts through Sunday afternoon. Racers come in from all over the country (Vermont, Texas, New York, Delaware, Ohio and more!), so it's a great time for everyone to catch up. Here are a few shots to get you ready for a full coverage of back roads, scenic sites and classic cars that will be posted in the next few days!
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September 17, 2014Groups 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!
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September 15, 2014When we started the Chattanooga Cruise In, it was a simple get together of local car guys but it quickly blossomed into a well known event that brings folks from many states to the Scenic City of Chattanooga. We have put a lot of effort into the Chattanooga Cruise In to make it bigger and better, but we realize that the cool factor of this event isn't always related to what WE do. It's about you. It's about your car. It's about your friends. Word of mouth has caused this event to grow in popularity, and we're proud to say that the fall 2014 event was a great one.
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August 29, 2014A Cadillac, especially a beautiful black 1947 sedan, deserves a good set of whitewall tires. But not just any whitewall tires will fit the bill--this one is rolling on a set of our brand new American Classic bias look radials, sized at 8.20-15. These tires have the right look for a period correct restoration, hot rod or custom, as the narrow tread profile and piecrust shoulder offer the vintage appearance of a bias ply tire. Combine this with radial construction and you have the best of both worlds. These tires are available in nine sizes, in whitewall and blackwall configurations. Get yours now!
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August 25, 2014As part of a multi-day tour, the Carolina Jaguar Club paid us a visit, and toured our facility. Tour Guide, Steve Anderson gave them a wonderful tour, packed with tidbits about our buildings, our cars, and our company history. It was an enjoyable visit to Chattanooga for all of the Jaguar enthusiasts, and we saw quite a few of them eyeballing Corky's '68 XKE roadster in the museum. Many of the cars that visited us were modern Jaguars, but we were pleased to see a '60s XKE coupe, as well as a '56 XK 140 OTS (open two seat), along with the group. Both classic Jag's were beautifully restored, and we were especially partial to the XK 140, as it rolled on a set of our Michelin X 185R16 radials.
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August 08, 2014Can you believe it's time for the kids to go back to school? It's also time for the fall season, which means car shows, cruise ins and of course football. One of our favorite fall events is the Coker Tire Challenge, which is a vintage car rally, held on September 18-21. It's sort of a downsized, more relaxed version of the Great Race. It's based right here in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and travels through North Alabama, North Georgia and Southeastern Tennessee, returning back to home base in Chattanooga at the end of each day's route. If you're interested in participating in the 2014 Coker Tire Challenge, please contact Event Coordinator, Jennifer Andrews at 423-648-8528 or email her at jennifera@coker.com.
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August 01, 2014Since the NSRA Street Rod Nationals is so huge, we figured it would be best to split it up into a few recaps of our favorite cars and trucks on hand. "The Nats" has been held at the Kentucky Expo Center in Louisville for quite some time and it's an excellent venue for such a huge event. We walked the aisles of one portion of the car show today, and picked a few of our favorites to share with you guys. It's an awesome show, and you can look forward to more good stuff tomorrow. Be sure to watch our Instagram and Facebook feeds, as we'll be blasting photos on there as well.
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July 30, 2014The Ross Kiwi Tomas Memorial Kickstart Classic is a vintage motorcycle ride, organized by Buzz Kanter, the publisher of American Iron Magazine. He's an avid motorcyclist who has a thing for vintage American motorcycles, and he's a long time friend of Corky Coker and the entire Coker Tire crew. The Kickstart Classic started in Maggie Valley, North Carolina at the awesome Wheels Through Time Museum, and then visited Coker Tire for an overnight stop. Then, the crew left the next morning to eventually arrive at Cyclemos Motorcycle Museum in Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee. We're glad Buzz and the guys (including our buddy Bryan Fuller) stopped by our place and hung out for a while! Check out our pictures from the Coker Tire stop!
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July 09, 2014The Chevrolet Nomad Association holds a National Convention every year, and it moves around to a different city each year. We're so glad the organization chose Chattanooga, Tennessee as the home of the 2014 Nomad Convention, and we opened our doors and invited them to join us for an afternoon of fun. A wide open tour of our facility and a hot dog dinner (cooked by Coker Marketing dudes, Jason White and Aaron Wolfe) gave them plenty to talk about, and they absolutely packed Fort Street with Nomads. Every configuration, from bone stock to full custom lined the street, and we loved getting up close and personal with these classic Chevys.
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June 12, 2014When you're around old cars 24/7, you start to become immune to the cool factor that old cars provide. And while we appreciate each and every old car out there, sometimes we just glaze over because it's "just another day in the office". A couple weeks ago, we had a group of visitors that shook us out of our day-to-day routine and made us think about the major cool factor of our jobs. Twelve, count 'em, REAL Shelby Cobras came to the Coker Tire headquarters in Chattanooga, Tennessee to hang out for the evening. This is once in a lifetime stuff for a car nut, and we took lots of pictures to capture the evening.
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June 09, 2014Last year, the Hot Rod Power Tour came through Chattanooga, Tennessee and we played a huge part in orchestrating a killer stop, as well as an after party here at our headquarters downtown. For 2014, the Power Tour kicked off in Charlotte, North Carolina and traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee on Day 2. Since it was so close, we drove up to Chilhowee Park to check out the action. We LOVE the Power Tour because it promotes getting out and driving collector vehicles and you know what that means--wearing out tires!!! Thousands of hot rods, classic trucks and modern muscle cars filled the fairgrounds, and we spotted lots of Coker products. Check out a few of our favorites, including Rutledge Wood's very cool 1953 Plymouth station wagon, which rolls on BFGoodrich Silvertown 215/65R16 whitewalls and Smoothie wheels.
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June 04, 2014This year, Coker Tire sponsored the "Classic Car Night" event at the Chattanooga Lookouts. Our local baseball team has a beautiful facility near the Tennessee River right here in downtown Chattanooga, so it's a great setting for an evening game in the summer time. We pulled eight cars out of the Coker Tire Museum and put them on display for all the folks to see, and we also held our company picnic on the same night, so most of the Coker Tire staff was on hand for the event.
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May 22, 2014We made a quick stop at the F-100 Supernationals in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee this past weekend to check out the show and scope out all the Coker Tire products on the grounds. Our first impression is that this show is much larger than we anticipated, with rows of vintage Ford cars and trucks throughout the new LeConte Center parking lot, as well as inside the center. A beautiful setting, and hundreds of cool vehicles made for a great day at the show, and we also combed through the swap meet to make sure we didn't miss out on any deals for our F-100 shop truck. Check out the highlights and mark this one down for your calendar next year--it's a great event!
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May 21, 2014Every 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!
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May 15, 2014Our products see many applications, some of which were unintended by our product development team. One such case is our Firestone Deluxe Champion motorcycle tires, which are intended for 1930's and 1940's Harley Davidson and Indian motorcycles. The tread pattern, sidewall and sizing options also offer a unique look for custom bikes, so these restoration-style tires have seen a boom in popularity over the past few years. We've seen them used on many choppers, bobbers, brat bikes and cafe racers, and they offer just the right amount of racing style, even though the tires were never intended for racing. A perfect application for these Firestone tires is this 1973 Honda CB350F Cafe Racer, built by Speed Deluxe in Soddy Daisy, Tennessee. Keep reading to find out more about this nicely detailed bike.
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May 13, 2014The 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.
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May 12, 2014With car show and cruise in season in full swing, we're on the road every weekend to events across the country. We set up our tractor trailer rigs at many national events throughout the year, but sometimes we go to local events for the fun of it. Sliding behind the wheel of an old car and mingling with like-minded folks is always a relaxing way to spend a sunny Saturday, and we did just that a couple weeks ago at the Main Street Cruise In, just up the road, in Cleveland, Tennessee.
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April 18, 2014Here 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.
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April 10, 2014When 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!
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March 19, 2014When you think of Willys Jeep you usually think of an olive drab military vehicle. At least that's what we thought. When Corky found this worn down Jeep during the filming of Backroad Gold, we thought it would be cool to mix a bit of military influence into this civilian Jeep. How'd we do it? The tires, of course! A set of our brand new Firestone 6.00-16 NDT Military tires did the trick and gave this Jeep a cool look, to go along with the superb restoration by Honest Charley. This Jeep is a nice piece, and it could be yours...click here for more information!
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March 17, 2014
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.
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March 03, 2014In the 1950's, American auto manufacturers hit their stride with awe inspiring designs that put a stamp on what some would consider the greatest decade in automotive history. By 1955, all of the "big three" manufacturers (Ford Motor Company, General Motors and Chrysler) had redesigned the flagship models with cool, new styling that sent consumers sprinting to the dealerships across the country. For the Plymouth brand, the Belvedere was the top dog in the product line, and with miles of stainless steel trim, beautiful front and rear styling cues and a host of engine options, it's easy to see why it was so popular. We got our hands on one of these '50s classics during the filming of the Backroad Gold TV show, which airs weekly (Wednesdays at 9:30pm EST) on the Travel Channel.
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February 25, 2014We deal with a lot of classic cars, and we love to see them restored to stock condition. Ford Thunderbirds are highly regarded as a classic car, and it's not often you see one with the custom treatment. However, the 1958 through 1960 Thunderbirds (also known as Square Birds) don't get quite as much respect as the more popular 1955 through 1957 models. With this in mind, we love the '59 Thunderbird that Honest Charley built, as they took advantage of the unique body lines of the Square Bird and gave it a traditional "Watson style" look. Keep reading to see how they did it!
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February 17, 2014With the filming of "Backroad Gold", Travel Channel's hit new TV Show, just across the street at Honest Charley, we got an inside look at some of the cars being built for the show. One such car, featured in the second episode of season one is this 1940 Willys sedan that was brought back from Corky and Greg's adventure to California. The Willys came back to Tennessee and received a full rebuild with a heavy military influence. And though Willys didn't enter the military market until World War II, this sedan has a cool look and pays tribute to all of the men and women who have served in the United States military. Keep reading to find out more about this distinct Willys.
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February 17, 2014Our product offerings extend to a number of distinct makes and models, but we have a great deal of authentic products for 1963 to 1967 Corvettes. This year range is commonly referred to as the Midyear Corvette, or the C2, and it is regarded as the most popular generation of the popular Chevrolet sports car. Wheel options for Midyear Corvettes originally ranged from base model wheels that featured full hubcaps (1963-1966), Rallye wheels (1967), and a factory option for "Knock Off" wheels. The Knock Off wheels were not as common as the steel wheel and hubcap combination, so they are highly sought after in the restoration market.
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January 09, 2014If you've been following Corky Coker, then you know that he's been on TV multiple times. He's provided tours around the Coker facility, showed how our tires are made, and he's even dragged a few old jalopies out of the barn. The entire crew here in Chattanooga is very excited to announce that Corky's new TV show "Backroad Gold" will debut on the Travel Channel on Wednesday, February 5, 2014, airing at 9:30pm EST.
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December 18, 2013'Tis the season to be jolly, and sell more tires! We love this time of year. We finally have a little break from the hustle and bustle of car show season, so we can spend some time with family. As our work family continues to grow, it naturally makes our Christmas parties bigger and bigger! We had a great time at this year's Christmas party, and so did all of the kids, thanks to a visit from ol' Saint Nick himself, Santa Claus! In addition to the regular dinner, gifts for the kids and good all around fellowship, a flash mob broke out with a number of Coker employees (including the boss man) getting up on stage to sing a few Christmas songs.
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December 16, 2013We love hot rods with history, especially when they end up in the hands of a true hot rodder. We've seen our share of significant hot rods get the modern street rod treatment with independent suspension, modern engine and billet wheels...it's enough to make a man cry. Luckily, guys like Kevin Gill (local hot rodder from Ooltewah, TN) are interested in keeping history alive by preserving old hot rods. His newest acquisition is a 1929 Ford Model A roadster that has deep roots in the hot rod world, and even spent some time as a racecar in the '50s. The car had what many would consider the "wrong tires" on it, so he came to Coker Tire with intentions of giving his historic roadster a new attitude.
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November 20, 2013We have a great relationship with the folks from Bridgestone/Firestone. Many of our top products are licensed by Firestone, and built in the original molds, so we are constantly in contact with them on a business level. This week, we were able to invite them into our headquarters here in Chattanooga, Tennessee, while they were in town for a group meeting. We welcomed the Bridgestone/Firestone Communications team with a small reception in our museum, and gave them a ride to dinner in Corky's 1936 Yellowstone bus. It was a great time, and we're glad they took the time to visit our place!
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November 15, 2013We had a great group of visitors for our 2pm tour today. These men and women are from the Professional Car Society, a car club dedicated to "professional cars", aka hearses, ambulances and flower cars. They brought along a few of their cars, most of which were Cadillacs. We love it when car clubs and groups visit our place, here in Chattanooga, TN and the Professional Car Society certainly enjoyed their visit.
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November 15, 2013It's not often that we see a car, truck....or wagon....that truly stops us in our tracks. Between all of the car shows that we attend and the folks that stop by and visit our headquarters, we see some pretty wild stuff! Well, we looked out the window yesterday afternoon, and saw what can only be described as a full size Radio Flyer wagon sitting in our parking lot. This creation came from the mind of Ted Mangum, from Ellisville, Mississippi, and he does all sorts of events with it, from parades to car shows and everything in between. Some of our guys from the office went for a ride in the wagon, and the smiles on their faces said it all! Ted is in the area to visit Chattanooga area schools, for the Art 120 organization. We're glad Ted stopped by and gave us a ride!
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November 14, 2013
Classic car enthusiasts have always had to choose between bias ply and radial tires. The restoration guys prefer the authentic construction and appearance of bias ply tires, while many folks would rather sacrifice the vehicles authenticity to have the ride quality of a modern radial. Previously, we have offered both styles of tires (bias and radial) in whitewall form, but now we offer a tire that blends the best of both worlds. It's the new American Classic Bias Look Radial, and it's the first ever radial whitewall tire with an authentic bias ply look.
We developed a bias look tire a few years ago, and it's known as the Excelsior Stahl Sport Radial. These tires are geared toward pre-war classics and hot rods, so we wanted to fill the gap for all of our great customers who love cars from the late '40s, '50s and '60s. That's where the new American Classic bias look radial comes into play. We have nine great sizes to fit many applications, with authentic wide whitewalls that are built into the tire mold from day one. These aren't grind and glue, add on whitewalls--these are the real deal!We debuted the new American Classic radial at the 2013 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, and it was a big hit! The folks at SEMA thought so too, as it was awarded the Best New Product in the Tires and Related category! That is a huge honor, and we're excited to offer this tire to you! These tires have flown off the shelf and have been one our most popular products since they hit the market. We're sure you're wondering what sizes will be offered, so let's get to it:
6.50R13 to fit Chevy Corvair, Chevy II, Dodge Dart, Ford Falcon and many other compact cars from the early '60s!
7.50R14 for classic Chevy Impala, '57 Thunderbird and many more
8.00R14 for many classic makes and models, such as Chevy Impala, Ford Thunderbird, Plymouth, Rambler and more!
5.60R15 to fit classic Volkswagen Beetle, Porsche, MG and Alfa Romeo. This size also works well for the front of hot rods and street rods!
6.70R15 for classic '55-56 Thunderbird, Tri-five Chevy, early Corvette, etc.
7.10R15 for many Buick, Pontiac, Dodge and Studebaker applications
7.60R15 for Buick, Hudson, Mercury and Packard
8.00R15 for Cadillac, Buick, Packard and many other full size classic cars
8.20R15 for classic Cadillac, Lincoln, Buick, etc. This size also works well for the rear of hot rods and street rods!
See why we're so excited about the new American Classic bias profile radial? There are sizes to fit almost any classic car, hot rod or custom from the '40s, '50s and '60s! These tires are backed by our trusted Life of the Tread warranty and they are also eligible for our Extended Tire Protection program. They are DOT and ECE approved, and they are made right here in the USA!
Order your set today and get the authentic looks of a bias ply tire with the modern handling and ride quality of a radial. Coker Tire is your source for exciting new products in the collector vehicle industry, and this American Classic bias look radial is yet another quality product that will keep your classic rolling!
Classic car enthusiasts have always had to choose between bias ply and radial tires. The restoration guys prefer the authentic construction and appearance of bias ply tires, while many folks would rather sacrifice the vehicles authenticity to have the ride quality of a modern radial. Previously, we have offered both styles of tires (bias and radial) in whitewall form, but now we offer a tire that blends the best of both worlds. It's the new American Classic bias profile radial tire, and it's the first ever radial whitewall tire with an authentic bias ply look. -
November 08, 2013Our Executive Vice President, Mr. Wade Kawasaki wears a lot of hats. He plays a large role in our West Coast distribution, as well as a few of our sister companies, which are also operated on the West Coast. He's also a great ambassador for our company, thanks to his heavy involvement with SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association). He's been SEMA Person of the Year, and has a number of great accomplishments throughout his years in the automotive aftermarket industry. Tonight, he was included among other automotive icons, such as George Barris, Eric Grant and Joe Schubeck, by being inducted into the SEMA Hall of Fame. We're glad to have him on our team, and we congratulate him for his great achievement.
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November 08, 2013Well, today is the final day that our Media team will be on hand for the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. So, we hit it hard today, and grabbed some great coverage for your enjoyment. We also had our American Classic bias look radial tire press conference this morning, so we had plenty of folks in and out of the booth. Tomorrow is the final day of SEMA 2013, and we'll likely begin thinking about SEMA 2014 on Monday. It's a huge event with all sort of great qualities, and we're glad to have been able to cover it with awesome pictures and videos.
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October 17, 2013When you purchase a set of tires from Coker Tire, we do our very best to make sure you're pleased with the shopping experience. Our tires are guaranteed to be free from defects in workmanship and materials for the life of the tread. We call it the Life of the Tread warranty, and it applies to most of our tires, providing a prorated warranty for defective tires. You can take the warranty one step further by opting for our Extended Tire Protection plan, which offers free tire replacement on all tires that are damaged from a cut, snag, bruise, impact, puncture or cosmetic flaw, such as whitewall damage. Some exclusions apply, but look for the "Road Hazard" or "ETP" option during checkout. Make the smart choice and go the extra mile with Coker Tire's warranty program!
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October 16, 2013As if the 1911 Marmon Wasp (winner of the inaugural Indianapolis 500) doesn't have a rich enough pedigree to be considered a rockstar, this sealed the deal! Our Marmon Wasp replica, built by Honest Charley Garage, was actually featured in a rock concert in Scottsdale, Arizona this week. The concert was held in conjunction with a Bridgestone/Firestone Dealer Meeting. Coker Tire was represented at the meeting, due to our involvement with Firestone tires for the vintage market, and we put our Marmon Wasp replica on display in the concert hall, where Foreigner rocked the house! How cool is that???
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October 02, 2013As if we didn't have enough going on in the month of September, we finished out the month with a very cool event, known as the Somernites Power Cruise. The regular Somernites Cruise is a monthly event (4th Saturday of the month) that draws in more than a thousand cars and trucks into downtown Somerset, Kentucky for a day of car guy fun. The "Power Cruise" is held in September, and we participated as one of the starting points for the Cruise.
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September 21, 2013Well, it looks like all that bragging about yesterday's weather bit us, as we fought rain showers almost all day on today's route. We headed north, through towns such as Charleston, Athens and Englewood, before descending on the REAL backroads of Eastern TN, where the pouring rain certainly made it tough for the racers to stay focused. Our lunch destination was Cleveland, Tennessee, as a large AACA car show was being held at Westwood Baptist Church. Unfortunately, the rain was severe enough to have drastically thinned the crowd, so we didn't get to stick around for very long. After that, the rain finally started to ease up, and we rallied our way back to Chattanooga through all sorts of backroads in areas such as Georgetown and Harrison. Finally, our day ended with a Parc Ferme here at Coker Tire, and now we're ready to change into some dry shoes and give our cameras a break. Check out our favorite photos from today's wet and wild action!
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September 20, 2013Ahh, this is our favorite time of year. Crisp, cool mornings, sunny afternoons and breezy nights. We're getting a little taste of fall around here, and it's great for our Coker Tire Challenge participants. We left this morning, and the folks in open-air cars were in long sleeves. Today's route sent us West, toward Nashville, and we went through a bunch of small towns, such as Jasper and Tracy City on our way to Tullahoma for our lunch stop. The twisty roads, countless hay fields and barns made for great scenery, as the field of cars and trucks made sure to hit all of their marks and stay on time. Finally, we came back to Chattanooga for an awesome dinner right here at the Coker Tire Museum. Check out our favorite pictures from today, and wish us luck for tomorrow!
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September 11, 2013We gave you the lowdown on the 68th Revival Glidden Tour in our previous post and let you know that part of the festivities involved a great visit to Harold Coker's barn here in Chattanooga, Tennessee. For those that don't know, Harold Coker is the founder of Coker Tire and he's the father of Corky Coker. He's been a car guy all of his life, and he's still fooling with cars on a daily basis. His car collection is very cool, and it's all packed in a barn just like you see all over the Southern portion of the United States. Check it out!
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September 11, 2013The Glidden Tour is an event that relives the early years of the automobile, when American Automobile Association (AAA) decided to hold a touring event in the 1900's to prove the reliability of the automobile, which was in its infancy. The original Glidden Tours were held from 1903 to 1911 and they were named after Charles Glidden. Then, in 1946, the Glidden Tour was revived by the Veteran Motor Car Club of America (VMCCA) and continues to this day, visiting a different city each year. For 2013, we were lucky enough to have the 68th Revival Glidden Tour visit Chattanooga, Tennessee to see what the Scenic City has to offer!
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September 11, 2013Once 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!
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September 10, 2013Our Vice President of Exports, Mr. Jim Hildebrand has been quite busy lately, with many guests from overseas. Earlier this week, Jim met with Geoff Dixon of BG Marketing LTD. Geoff visited the Coker Tire international headquarters in Chattanooga, Tennessee this week, as he is the sales arm for Heritage Tyres LTD, our vintage tyre distributor for all of New Zealand. Heritage Tyres LTD carries our complete product line of tires and wheels, and we hope Geoff had a great trip back to the other side of the planet!
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September 10, 2013Tsugimasa Fujiwara and Daichi Jozuka of Garage Vintage in Osaka, Japan visited Coker Tires international head quarters right here in Chattanooga, Tennesse last week. Their company, Garage Vintage, specializes in the restoration and sales of vintage air-cooled Volkswagens and supports their market by carrying a complete line of original equipment and replacement tires from Coker Tire. We're proud to have them as a distributor and glad they made the trip over here to visit with our VP of Exports, Jim Hildebrand and International Sales Representative, Adrian Bernal!
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September 05, 2013The Street Rodder Road Tour is an annual get together of street rods that head across country from state to state, visiting cool shops, car shows and all sorts of fun places along the way. Today, the crew stopped here in Chattanooga, Tennessee on their way up to Pigeon Forge for the Shades of the Past. About 50 cars were in the group, including the 2013 Street Rodder Road Tour car, a 1951 Ford Custom, built at Honest Charley Garage!
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August 27, 2013In the drag racing world, "Big Daddy" is a household name. His real name is Don Garlits and he is a drag racing legend. He's been around the sport for many, many years, and he's strapped into some of the fastest dragsters in the world. He is an innovator, a true racer and a downright nice guy, and we were lucky enough for him to stop by and hang out for a while today.
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August 16, 2013Well, they're not exactly on speaking terms with ole Ralph, but maybe the controversial "Unsafe at Any Speed" writer inadvertently made these cars even more popular in the long run? The cult-like following of Corvair owners across the United States are as dedicated to their favorite cars (and vans) as any group out there. One such club, filled the Coker Tire Company parking lot today as the Choo Choo Corvair Club toured the Chattanooga, Tennessee headquarters.
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July 17, 2013Here at Coker Tire, we sort of glaze over when we think of the cars here at the headquarters and the Coker Tire Museum. We see these cars every day, and sometimes forget just how cool they are. It's important to occasionally take a step back and reevaluate the cars in Corky's collection and let you guys know what makes them so cool. Today's subject is the "Shafer 8" an Indy racecar replica that has become one of Corky's favorite cars of all time.
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June 28, 2013The 2013 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty started in St. Paul, Minnesota, and we've dealt with heat, rain, washed-out road and many more obstacles. Today's biggest obstacle was a grueling route, and upper 90's temperatures. After about 325 miles of rallying, we made our stops in Monticello, Arkansas and Vicksburg, Mississippi and a few fuel and rest room stops in between. It was an awesome day, despite the heat, and we even saw a very cool (accidental) farm sprinkler, which sprayed water into the one of the roads on our route! Today was a challenge for the rally participants, as well as the staff, but we came away with some great pictures, so check 'em out!
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June 27, 2013We're back in Tennessee! Germantown to be exact! We started today's route in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and made an incredible lunch stop in Paragould, Arkansas and then to a Great Race favorite town of Germantown, Tennessee. The Great Race has stopped in Germantown on a couple of different occasions, and it has always been a must-see stop. This year was no different! Today's route was super tricky with lots of hard turns and speed changes, so it gave us plenty of opportunities to grab cool pictures and videos. Here are a few of our favorites!
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June 07, 2013We 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!
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June 05, 2013Today, we are running wide open to prepare for the Chattanooga stop of the 2013 Hot Rod Power Tour, which blasts through the Scenic City tomorrow, June 6th. This afternoon, a couple guys pull up in a slick little '31 Ford Model A coupe and these guys completely skipped today's Birmingham stop to get some new tires and wheels. Harry Kavelaars came all the way down from Orangeville, Ontario, Canada for the Power Tour, so we welcomed him with a hardy, "Come on in and stay a while" and commenced to swapping his tires and wheels while he waited.
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June 01, 2013When you think of muscle cars, you might think of the optioned-up models, such as SS, GT, R/T, etc. as the top of the heap. And while those models represent the era very well, you could have very easily been outrun by a vehicle like the '65 Chevelle 300 Deluxe pictured here. While many of the 300 Deluxe cars were built with inline six-cylinder engines, or low horsepower 283ci V8's, a select few were built with the very potent L79 code 327ci small block. This is one of the few...
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May 31, 2013Nashville 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!
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May 24, 2013We often have groups come through to tour the Coker Tire facility here in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the wonderful spring weather we're having is condusive to some open air cruising, including a great bunch of motorcyclists who stopped by Friday afternoon for a tour. The riders were a part of the Chad "Chubbs" Lambert Memorial Weekend. They planned ahead with us to reserve enough space and time for a big tour, so we walked them around the facility to show them what the company is all about! The Chad Lambert Memorial Weekend is a great event in remembrance of a great guy, so we're glad they stopped by our place!
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May 08, 2013In case you didn't already know, the crew at Coker Tire Company deals with more than "just tires". We have wheels, hot rod parts, and much more to keep up with, and that includes a bicycle company called Coker Cycle Company. The cycle company is known for its 36-inch tires and wheels, so these specialty bicycles and unicycles have a larger than life personality. Coker Cycles is proud to announce the new and improved edition of our popular Wheelman bicycle, a modern rendition of the famous Penny Farthing-style "high wheel" bicycle.
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April 23, 2013Members from Hot Rod Magazine, Chattanooga Visitor Bureau, Family Events and Coker Tire Company were on hand in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee today to announce Chattanooga as a stop on the upcoming 2013 Hot Rod Power Tour. The massive car tour visited Chattanooga in 2010 bringing thousands of cars, people and revenue to the city. The 2010 visit made a good enough impression to get the encore opportunity in 2013. The event projects over 3,000 participants rolling onto the campus of Chattanooga State throughout the day, with the event hours scheduled from 12:00pm to 7:00pm. The Chattanooga festivities won't stop at 7:00pm, as there's an after-party planned at the headquarters of Coker Tire Company in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee
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February 20, 2013Hey, that's not a bad thing, right? We've been working hard this year, and barely took the time to realize this is Coker Tire Company's 55th anniversary! The company has come a long way from its early beginnings as a BFGoodrich tire dealership, as we are now the world's leading supplier of tires and wheels for collector vehicles!
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December 21, 2012Some people might call it an addiction, but I love finding old neon signs! If you've ever visited our place here in Chattanooga, Tennessee (by the way, we have free tours Monday through Friday at 10am and 2pm) you've probably seen a few of my signs. I've bought some from the 'Pickers, and I've bought a bunch of other ones, too! In our museum, we have a nice collection of signs, but I wanted a big one, so I picked this one up! This week, my boys installed it on one of our semi-permenant trailers at the loading dock. Check it out...it's huge!
