Vintage Racecar Feature -- The Shafer 8

Here 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. Corky has owned the '37 Shafer 8 for many years, and he's probably spent more time behind the wheel of this one than any other car in his collection. He has driven it cross country at least 10 times, several times on the Great Race and other times on events such as the Posies Driven Dirty Tour. Corky has also been known to give rides around Corkyville in this car, testing the limits of traction on this Chattanooga asphalt. The car is a recreation of a Phil Shafer Indy car, built in the 1930's. It features a Rigling and Hennings Indy car chassis, which is low slung, and consists of leaf spring suspension and solid axles front and rear. The Shafer 8 rolls on a set of Houk wire wheels, and Firestone Indy racing tires. It has had many sets of tires in its day, but the Firestone Indy's are by far the most period correct for the car. And Corky LOVES the way they handle! For power, the Shafer 8 uses a Buick Straight 8-cylinder engine, which has been punched out to 344ci and treated to all sorts of custom work, in order to squeeze more than 200 horsepower out of it. A custom grind camshaft and open exhaust create quite the note, while four Stromberg 97 carburetors provide fuel for the fire. A GM three-speed manual transmission rides behind the Straight 8. This car has an awesome power-to-weight ratio, and Corky loves to open the throttle every chance he gets. [products]