From Reuters Website

(Corky Coker is the owner of Chattanooga, Tennessee-based Coker Tire, which supplies specialty tires and parts for antique and classic cars. He’s past chairman of the Specialty Equipment Market Association. His company is developing an all-electric hot rod based on an iconic 1932 Ford model. He spoke with Reuters correspondent Kevin Krolicki.)

DETROIT (Reuters.com) – Coker Tire owner Corky Coker spoke with Reuters about the future of the auto industry in the United States. Here are excerpts of that conversation.

On what U.S. automakers can learn from hot-rod culture:

We are the largest supplier of collector tires in the world. I very much live and breathe the automotive after-market, which is a $41 billion industry. It is the epitome of what consumers want for their automobile. Auto design changes have been sparked by after-market companies, because these guys who have this passion for cars are closest to their consumers. Our industry brought many things such as running boards and sunroofs into the mainstream for the auto manufacturers. In the past few years, we’ve seen a lot of momentum and energy created by Toyota’s Scion brand. They are really on the leading edge of personalization of vehicles. If the Big Three will start doing things right and developing good products, they will start getting the market share and profits back. You’ve got to be on the leading edge in quality. If they do those things, our domestic industry will make those turnarounds.

On what it means as U.S. auto manufacturing shifts South:

Being from the South I have a lot of friends from the North. I like to joke that you Yankees up there think you won that terrible skirmish 100 years ago, but the South has had a 200-year plan to infiltrate your industry and bring it South. You tell me who’s winning. There is an energy down here and people feel good about their future. We’re re-developing and re-designing our downtowns. Young people are graduating from college and staying here. They’re not moving off. They’re trying to develop new businesses and stay in the area. People want to do business where there are success stories and where there’s energy. If I can say anything about Volkswagen’s decision to build this decision in Chattanooga, Tennessee, it’s that we have that purpose and energy. Chattanooga was once a manufacturer of a production vehicle. Between 1910 and 1912, a gentleman named Henry Nyberg manufactured cars in Anderson, Indiana and Chattanooga, Tennessee. So this story is really about creating the opportunity for automobile manufacturing to come back to Chattanooga.

On the need for fuel-efficiency:

If you look at Ford and GM, I think they’re getting it now. With oil above $100 per barrel, it’s important that we have personalization but that we’re also smart about fuel economy. We’re in the process of building a very high tech roadster that’s all electric. We won’t call it a hot rod. We’ll call it a green rod. It will be a 1932 Ford Highboy and it will be very quick zero to 60 miles per hour. It will be a clean and cool hot-rod. Maybe we’ll figure out a CD sound system that makes it sound like a Ford flathead V8 engine.

Car shows are always a great way to meet new friends, see old ones, sell your product and rub elbows with customers. When I was kid, I remember my Dad constantly traveling to shows to meet the prospective customers, see their company’s and factories. When I say travel, I don’t just mean a couple hours across the state to set up a booth, I mean, he was a “Get-R-Dun” kind of traveler. He would go all over the globe to meet with people from Australia, Germany, England and Brazil and many more. I didn’t quite understand why he wasn’t home all the time when I was growing up, but now since I have been in the business here at Coker Tire for 2 years now, I get to see first hand what those important travels accomplish.

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The 2008 Street Rodder Road Tour Kicked off from Coker Tire Headquarters in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Our renovations were almost complete and the tour cars along with with over a hundred other cars were on display. The tour stops include Barillaro Speed Emporium in Knoxville, TN, Car Museum and Detroit Speed-Mooresville, NC, The Victory Junction Gang Camp-Randleman, NC, Harley Davidson Assembly Plant-York, PA, Posies-Hummelstown, PA, Party at Southern Tier Harley- Binghamton, NY and The Syracuse Nationals-Syracuse, NY. Casey Coker talks about the tour, stops and the kickoff show at the Coker Tire Headquarters.

See Pics from the Kickoff Show at Coker Tire Headquarters in our Gallery

Casey Coker and Tony Thacker chat about the recent Hot Rod Reunion tour, the late Wally Parks and Tony’s visit to Coker Tire headquarters.

Tony Thacker is the Executive Director of the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum. Before joining the Museum, Thacker was the marketing vice president for So-Cal Speed Shop. He also worked for seven years at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) and was the first editor of Performance Aftermarket magazine, now called SEMA News. He has written more than a dozen books on hot rods.

At the opening of our exhibit at the NHRA Museum it all came together. Casey and Aaron did a great job building the exhibits for Coker Tire’s 50th and Honest Charley’s 60th Anniversaries. Everyone was really enjoying the opening of the displays. It was really something special to see all these pieces of our history on display. It was also my pleasure to spend some time with one of the car hobby’s most influential people, ever. And I mean EVER! The legendary George Barris was with us, as his famous 1949 Mercury Custom is proudly included in our exhibit. Barris’ custom Mercury is widely regarded as the most famous custom Mercury of all time, and by some as the father-car of all customs! George and I had a chance to do this little video blog during all the festivities. I hope you enjoy it.