Check the Corky Coker Official Blog regularly for updates!

The 2009 CHVA National Tour: The Appalachian Culture Tour TN, GA & NC rolled into Chattanooga and made a stop at Coker Tire’s headquarters. The group of 60 visitors spent some time in the restoration shop, museum and enjoyed some bench racing at Honest Charley Speed Shop as well. There are no better people than car people, and the CHVA group was no exception. Thanks to John Jolly and the CHVA group for making our place a stop on the tour!

Since the beginning in 1967, The Contemporary Historical Vehicle Association (CHVA) has encouraged a Family Involvement atmosphere. We love to ride, tour, and sometimes show our automobiles we love so much. Like Auburn, Buick, Cadillac, Duesenberg, Edsel, Ford, Graham, Hudson, Isetta, Jaguar, Kaiser, Lincoln, Mercedes, Nash, Oldsmobile, Packard, Rolls Royce, Studebaker, Tucker and etc. - all commercial, military, motorcycles and anything built for highway use from 1928 thru 1978. Our CHVA Club founders felt the need for one organization to represent all marques from those years in that they should have Historical Recognition.
CHVA is truly a national and an international club. Almost every state is represented along with Canada, Japan, Sweden, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and more. The national club publishes an award winning magazine with free ads up to 25 words, sanctions shows and a tour each year. CHVAID offers help for members in distress traveling anywhere in the US and Canada. Regional clubs have monthly tours, outings, and have fostered lifelong friendships between families who might have never met had it not been for CHVA.

Honest Mike called me the other day to come down to the Honest Charley Speed Shop because a good friend to Mike and I had come by to see us and that he had “something” that he wanted to give us.    Mark Burdette is a top notch customer, friend, hot-rod ally and all round good guy!    He is pretty doggone good on all things flathead motor too!    Mark had a few spare parts laying around his garage so he determined that he would rather give them to Honest Charley than try to sell them off individually by himself or worse leave to his family to sell at auction when the Good Lord calls.  (am praying that ain’t no time soon brother Mark!)  I was absolutely blown away by Honest Mark Burdette’s generosity and kindness in thinking about Mike and I and our business.   He kept going on about how important it was that Honest do well and how important the role Honest Charley Speed Shop has for horsepower in general.

Well, all I wanna say is here are some pics of the “something” that Honest Mark Burdette brought us and I wanna thank him publicly for his generosity, kindness and most of all friendship to Mike and me.  Mark, you are absolutely the best!    BTW….if you wanna see something about horsepower… check out Mark and Frieda Burdette’s website! http://www.horsenaroundfarm.com/aboutus.htm

From the road,

Corky Coker

The man that is credited with being the innovator of modern day drag tires passed away on June 3, 2009 at the age of 94. Please see the article below regarding the SEMA Hall of Famer, and the legacy that lives on with the M&H brand that he created. Humble and hard working, Marvin was always quick to give credit to the racers that helped him test and develop tires through the years.

Godspeed Marvin

See Marvin’s SEMA Hall of Fame Profile

A recent study, funded by Meguiars, sought a genetic link to a specific gene common to all Car Crazy enthusiasts. The results were revealed during the Meguiars Award event at the Kodak Theater.

Most of our partners attend events around their respective country, but
some really go about it very hard and very seriously!   Antique Tyre
Supplies, are our distributors in Australia and are really, really
serious about marketing collector tires and wheels.   As you can see
from the new addition to their fleet, they will clearly be seen at any
collector car event down under in Australia. Check em out at
http://www.antiquetyres.com.au

Congrats to the McKinnon family and Antique Tyre Supplies on their brand
new truck!

Corky

Jerry mops dry the Road Tour 1952 Chevy

The Coker Tire Tour - From the Mountains to the Ocean

Starting at Coker Tire and Honest Charley’s Speed Shop in Chattanooga, Tennessee and ending at Cruisin’ Ocean City in Ocean City, Maryland, the Coker Tire Tour is eight days jam packed with car shows, shop tours, museum visits and even a fundraiser for a great charity.

The Tour started Saturday May 9th with a car show and silent auction to benefiting Patti and Kyle Petty’s Victory Junction Gang Camp for Kids. Last year we were able to raise enough money to send a child to camp for a week and this year we are hoping to send two children. Featured in the silent auction will be a Classic Automobilia 75th Anniversary Hot Rod Pedal Car with special graphics by none other than Chip Foose. Anyone who wants to help with this worthwhile cause can call the Road Tour hotline at 1-800-664-1362 to make a bid or a donation.

Sunday morning is a cruise through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park as we head to our Sunday evening destination of Knoxville, Tennessee. On Monday morning we visit our good friends at Lokar for a look at their facility. Then it is on to Bobby Alloway’s Hot Rods with a personal tour of one of the most famous shops in our hobby. Monday evening Brent Vandervort at Fatman Fabrications welcomes us in Charlotte. Brent is always a great host and is making arrangements to get us in to see an incredible private collection of muscle cars in the Charlotte area. Since we will be staying in Concord near Lowes Motor Speedway, we will certainly be taking a tour of one of the NASCAR race team shops on Tuesday morning.

Tuesday afternoon we have received special permission to pay a visit to the Victory Junction Gang Camp where we will see the facilities and present the money that was raised in the auction. From Randleman it is a short drive to Greensboro, North Carolina where we will receive a special welcome from Jim Barber at Classic Automotive Restoration Services’ extensive facility. Wednesday we are up and rolling again as we make our way to Virginia Beach. Along the way we will stop at Cecil Proffit’s Antique Garage and Car Museum for lunch and then on to Jessie’s Rod Shop for a barbeque hosted by Tidewater Street Rod Association.

Thursday starts with breakfast at the Lynnhaven Pier sponsored by Route 60 Garage. The City of Virginia Beach really rolls out the red carpet Wednesday afternoon. On tap will be a special visit to see the elite jet fighters at the Naval Air Station Oceana, a meet and greet at Rudee Inlet and then we will be guests of honor at the kick-off of the huge Beach Music Weekend Thursday evening. Friday we will be up and rolling to arrive before noon at Cruisin’ Ocean City for the huge weekend event in Ocean City, Maryland.

It is going to be a full week of Road Tour fun on the Coker Tire Tour. Check out our website at www.streetrodderweb.com or call the Road Tour Hotline at 1-800-664-1362 for all the latest news about the eight Road Tours we have planned for the summer.

Years ago some of us who sold parts and services for collector vehicles simply referred to what we did as a hobby business. Now it is clearly an industry employing thousands of people and securing and supporting the lifestyles of many families.

A number of years ago, a few of us (hobby business leaders) banded together to form an association of collector car related businesses (even competitors) to work on anti-hobby legislation and licensing issues. The idea was to protect our businesses and the hobby those business served. This new group we called ARMO was started (Automotive Restoration Market Organization) and we added other businessesin the new “industry”. We hooked up with SEMA which is the large automotive aftermarket association representing over 6000 member businesses and got involved and got the muscle of SEMA involved in our issues. Since those early days, a number of us have served terms on the SEMA Board of Directors and in leadership of SEMA. I was actually Chairman of the Board of SEMA from 03 to 05. We had OEM’s shutting down businesses over legitimate intellectual property issues and governments giving tax credits and outright passing laws to crush and scrap older cars. Because we came together and worked hard we made a positive impact on these issues back in the day.
Scrappage, issues about registering our Hot Rods and emission issues are always active and have never been completely solved or handled but as a part of SEMA, we had the power of numbers. While I was a SEMA Board member, we started the SEMA action network (SAN) which is a large group (millions strong) of individuals willing to contact legislators, beaurecrats and governors about issues we would notify them about which could adversely affect our industry. The SAN has been successful on most State and Federal levels. Hundreds of thousands of phone calls, emails and letters have been sent to our “leaders” expressing dismay, disapproval and disgust with these anti collector car bills and rulings. We have not only been “naysayers” because we have sponsored state and federal bills proactively helping our industry on things such as titling and scrappage.

Fast forward to the election of 2008 when the Obominals came to power in DC. Detroit is in a mess and when asking for a financial bailout from our government, the Detroit Three suggested a type of tax credit or refund from our government coffers to get rid of older cars so hopefully we Americans would buy more new cars! They also say these old cars are polluters and gas hogs. President Obama also endorses, supports and is pushing such a program. I guess he doesn’t care about putting down one industry to help another or how large our industry and voter base has grown to be. President Barrack Hussein Obama continues so push his “anti collector car” agenda his own way and hopefully partially and artificially propping up the Detroit Three (…or at least two!) and by paying our tax dollars to get rid of older cars.

We need to pay attention NOW MORE THAN EVER, and not hesitate to say NO to the Obominals or anyone who supports scrapping old cars! The SEMA action Network is a great avenue to stay connected on these looming issues. SEMA has a great staff of folks in Washington and Diamond Bar, California working on these things every waking moment.

Get informed!
Get involved!
Get busy!

NOW MORE THAN EVER!

From the road,

Corky

Corky Coker welcomes a very special guest to Coker Tire Company.

Chuck Eaton of Clovis, California came in to our fresno store last month to have a set of tires mounted on his Desoto.   Both Mr. Eaton and I enjoyed the experience!   And I thought I had some facial hair!    Thanks for the pic, the business and your friendship Chuck!

Corky Coker with Chuck Eaton

You can’t really legislate “personal responsibility”!

Recently the CARB (California Air Resources Board) legislated the program that some California automotive repairers will soon be required to check the air pressure of every vehicle they service.  This requirement will apply to smog check stations, engine repair businesses, and oil service change providers but not some others like collision repair shops, glass shops or car washes.     Here is a link to an article on the Motorage website about this new legislation

The first problem I had with this article is that the program starts by completely making it fact that Al Gore is right, Global Warming is true and we humans are responsible because of our OLD cars, our factories, our cow’s flatulents, and especially our underinflated tires.    I personally enjoy driving my 32 Ford highboy to the cruise in Saturday night or rallying with my wife or son from Coast to Coast in my 37 Shafer 8 Indy car and want to do these things in the same clear blue sky I grew up seeing and enjoying.  I think everyone should want clean air.    I want a clean earth and atmosphere for my grandchildren.    I think we should all be good stewards of our land, sky and ocean.    I remember being scolded by my mother for tossing a Mr. Fifteen hamburger wrapper out the window in 1961 and being taught how terrible it was that I littered and that I should take personal responsibility for my actions and do my part.   I guess that is my whole problem with this CARB legislating that small business guys have to do something that car owners should take personal responsibility about in the first place.    Now don’t misunderstand me, I really do agree with the idea that correct air pressure in tires not only helps the vehicle to get better fuel economy but the vehicle drives and rides better and safer but the tires last longer too!    We have always been advocates of proper air pressure.    I just don’t think it should be the role of government to make some businessman do it for us and fine him if he doesn’t do it!

That’s what I think about that!