Cruising the Strip at the Shades of the Past Hot Rod Roundup

The 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 meet, the vendor area and the awesome show field, we went back to cruise the strip, and enjoyed seeing hundreds of hot rods cruising around under the street lights. Take a look at some of our favorite Coker-equipped vehicles from the Shades of the Past, and it'll encourage you to plan your trip to a Pigeon Forge Rod Run today! [caption id="attachment_8779" align="alignleft" width="780"] We're loving the tall and skinny Excelsior Stahl Sport Radials on this Ford Model 40 three-window coupe. Very cool combo![/caption] [caption id="attachment_8781" align="alignleft" width="780"] We're starting to see the Firestone Wide Oval Radial make its way onto the show field! This incredible Plymouth Road Runner made its way into the winner's circle on Saturday, and it's rolling on a set of our FR70-14 redlines and Mopar Road Wheels. [/caption] [caption id="attachment_8784" align="alignleft" width="780"] This low-slung touring hot rod has the ultimate wow factor with a big W-motor jumping out at you and a set of Firestone whitewalls and Hot Rod Steel wheels on each corner.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8783" align="alignleft" width="780"] Another winner's circle photo comes in the form of this 1969 Camaro Z/28, rolling on a set of our Firestone E70-15 Sport Car 200 tires. [/caption] [caption id="attachment_8780" align="alignleft" width="780"] This 1956 Ford sums up the 1950's in one photo. Vibrant colors, lots of polished stainless steel trim, wide whitewalls and chrome wire wheels. [/caption] [caption id="attachment_8782" align="alignleft" width="780"] On the other side of the 1950's spectrum is this sinister black Corvette, sporting a set of our American Classic bias look radial whitewall tires. [/caption] [caption id="attachment_8786" align="alignleft" width="780"] Goolsby Customs built this elegant and cool roadster pickup, and perfectly executed the "cycle fender" look in combination with a set of our Firestone whitewall bias ply tires. [/caption] [caption id="attachment_8788" align="alignleft" width="780"] Several cars out of the Johnson's Hot Rod Shop stable came to play at the Shades of the Past. Alan Johnson is a regular Coker Tire customer, as evidenced by his latest builds. [/caption]