car show
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May 16, 2018The Southeast Moparty Picnic is an event that raises money for the Greater Chattanooga Colon Cancer Foundation. It's a massive gathering of all things Mopar, and it includes an indoor car show display, a cruise in, swap meet, and vendors. The event continues to grow each year, and expanded to a two-day event this year with a full night of racing action at Brainerd Motorsports Park. The field of cars is diverse, ranging from '50s classics to modern Challengers, Vipers and more. Of course, we loved seeing the iconic muscle cars, including Chargers, 'Cudas, Road Runners and more. There were tons of Coker-equipped Mopars in the crowd, so take a look at our favorites and mark your calendar for next year. The event is always held on the Friday and Saturday of Mother's Day weekend.
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May 16, 2018We recently had the opportunity to make the short drive to Chilhowee Park in Knoxville, Tennessee for the NSRA Street Rod Nationals South. The venue is perfect for a rod run, and we always enjoy the variety of cars. This year, we spotted some fresh builds and LOTS of classic trucks mixed in with the traditional street rods. The weather hindered the turnout, but it was a great weekend of street rods, customs, muscle cars and more. Of course, we saw a bunch of cars and trucks rolling on Coker Tire products, so we snapped pictures as we made our way around the show. Check out our favorite Coker-equipped vehicles from the show. [caption id="attachment_9101" align="alignleft" width="780"] It's hard to beat a mid '60s Corvette convertible. This one is rolling on a set of our
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October 23, 2017The 3rd annual Chattanooga Cruise In Toy Drive is coming up on Saturday, November 18th from 8am until Noon. We've once again partnered with Toys for Tots Chattanooga chapter to gather toys and monetary donations for needy kids in our area. This is a charity event, and we anticipate more than 200 hundred cars, trucks and motorcycles in attendance--we hope that you'll be one of them! There is no entry fee, but we do ask that everyone bring a new, unwrapped toy to donate to the cause, or drop a few bucks in the donation box. The fine folks at Custom Werks Graphics have donated our event shirts, so every dime we make from the special $10 event T-shirts goes directly to Toys for Tots. Please spread the word, and come out to 1317 Chestnut Street in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee to join us for a special day of giving, and one final chance to drive your hot rod, classic truck or muscle car before winter time.
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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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October 24, 2016We visit more than 50 car and motorcycle events a year, so we see lots of cool stuff all over the country. Some events, like the AACA Hershey Fall Meet are huge, and require multiple trucks and trailers full of tires. Others events, such as the Euro Auto Festival, held annually in Greenville, South Carolina, are smaller and a little more intimate. We don't attend these shows with intentions of selling thousands of tires--it's more about brand awareness and marketing. This type of event is fun and productive, as it allows us to answer questions and get feedback from customers and potential customers. For 2016, the Euro Auto Festival certainly lived up to the hype as the East Coast's premier European auto show. Check out a few of our highlights and remember that our product offering spans a wide range, including vintage sports car tires, like the ones that roll beneath some of the world's finest sports cars.
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May 13, 2016You won't find a more dedicated group of car guys (and gals) than the Mopar crowd. A good friend, Ken Meredith is one of those guys, and his whole family is fired up about Mopars. That's what led them to create the Southeast Moparty Picnic, an event for Mopar nuts, by Mopar nuts. Unfortunately, the Meredith family suffered two huge losses in the months leading up to the event--first was Rick Meredith in January, and then Kenneth (Ken's father) in April. Despite the tough times, the rest of the Meredith clan and a bunch of friends pulled together to make the event happen. The result? A HUGE gathering of Mopars, from early '60s classics to modern muscle cars and everything in between. We saw Hemi after Hemi, and a whole lineup of drag cars that would make any Mopar guy drool. Local collector, Kayo Erwin brought out a few of his outstanding vintage drag cars, while other Mopar guys put their prized possessions on display as well. We spotted a bunch of rare muscle cars, and even had the chance
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November 11, 2015The SEMA Show is something that millions car enthusiasts want to attend, but since it is not open to the public. This trade only event gets a lot of attention from the media, allowing enthusiasts to get a taste of what the event is about, but the SEMA organization put together a mixed bag of aweseomeness when they created SEMA Ignited--a public event tacked onto the end of the SEMA Show. Last year was the inaugural SEMA Ignited event, and while it was a success, this year's new location and format was WAY better and offered some exciting attractions.
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October 09, 2015We love it when a big company like Hagerty comes up with a cool idea that utilizes its employees in a way that gets them away from their desk for a few days. The Hagerty Swap to Street Chasllenge is a group of Hagerty employees that have been tasked with restoring a '46 Ford truck in 100 hours, while on display at the AACA Hershey fall meet in Pennsylvania. This event is the ultimate swap meet, and the idea is for the Hagerty crew to source all of the necessary parts from the swap meet. Some parts will be used, while others will come from some of the new parts vendors....such as Coker Tire, of course! We provided a set of Coker Classic 600R16 radial whitewall tires and Hot Rod Steel wheels for the Ford pickup. The goal is to restore the truck and drive it back to the Hagerty headquarters in Traverse City, Michigan after the show is over. The cool part about the whole deal is that it's being filmed, and a LIVE FEED is available to see the progress. You can click here for the live feed, and click here to get more information on the build. [products]
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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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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 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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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 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 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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January 31, 2014We soaked up all of the So-cal goodness we could in the week we spent out there. Our main objectives were to attend the MPMC conference and to meet and greet at our Grand Opening party for the new West Coast facility. However, a bonus for this trip included the Grand National Roadster Show. We set up as a vendor at the show, and it's one of our favorite events of the year, so we made our way around the event to photograph all the cool stuff. Here's what we found!
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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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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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April 01, 2013Alright guys and gals, we're super excited about our event, the Chattanooga Cruise In, coming up this Saturday, April 6th from 2-8pm Eastern time. If you're anywhere near Chattanooga, you need to check it out! Several hundred cars will be on display on the streets surrounding the Coker Tire headquarters here in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee. We'll also have an open house for our facility, as well as an open house at Honest Charley Speed Shop and Honest Charley Garage. Please join us!
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October 08, 2012The passing of a year of the calendar for kids seems to have very important points during the year like the end of school, Christmas, and birthdays. My calendar year seems to have important dates that focus around car events. As a died-in-the-wool car guy, I know it is Fall for sure when the AACA National Fall Meet, better simply known as Hershey rolls around. If you have never been to Hershey, Pennsylvania for this huge collector car extravaganza, you MUST put this event on your list.
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October 02, 2012If you've been keeping track of our Cruise In events here at Coker Tire, then you'll quickly realize that we have officially given it a name: the Chattanooga Cruise In. This event has taken off with great success, and we plan to hold more of them in 2013. We will soon be creating a website specifically for the Cruise In, so that we can efficiently handle requests for clubs, parking, etc. All of that aside, we prepared for a big crowd this past Saturday, and boy did we ever get one! With 700 cars on hand and more than 2,000 spectators, we had our hands full all day!
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September 24, 2012After having our Friday night kickoff party and cookout, we prepared ourselves for a hot rod convoy to Somerset, Kentucky. We had a dozen cars from around the area leave with us from Coker Tire, including a few Coker Tire employees. Leaving from Chattanooga at 8am, fellow enthusiasts joined the line as we motored up Highway 27 toward Kentucky. We'd continue to pick up cars as we made our way to Somerset, with the final count nearing 50 by the time we reached our destination. Upon arrival we were blown away with the size and organization of the Somernites Power Cruise event!
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September 24, 2012A few months ago, we were given the opportunity to sponsor the Somernites Cruise In, which is one of the largest Cruise In events in the country. It's held in Somerset, Kentucky, which is just a few hours north of our headquarters in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Somernites has an event called the Power Cruise, which consists of big groups of cars traveling from a particular starting point and ended up in Somerset. The Somernites event already has starting points in Nashville, Bowling Green, Cincinnati and more. Somernites board member, Keith Floyd came to us with the idea to add a new Power Cruise starting point in Chattanooga and we didn't hesitate to agree to it. Part of the fun would be a Friday night kickoff party at our place, where we could welcome our guests, and show them a good time!
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August 23, 2012Last year, we decided to hold a Cruise In event right here in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We held it in conjunction with the Coker Tire Challenge, which is our annual rally event. For a first-time effort, we did pretty good and had about 250 cars surrounding the Coker Tire complex that we affectionately call "Corkyville". Then we decided to have two Cruise In events per year, so we planned an event for April and 500 cars came out to join us! For the next Cruise In, we're hoping for even more, so come check it out on Saturday, September 29th, 2012! That's right, we're just a little over a month away, so go ahead and make plans to join us! We close off all of the streets surrounding Coker Tire and we also reserve many of the nearby parking lots, so we have plenty of room for this event to grow! In addition to hundreds of cars, trucks and motorcycles, we'll have live music by "The Other Guys"! There are restaurants positioned very close to our Cruise In area, but
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April 20, 2012Last weekend, we had a lot going on. Coker Tire was widely represented across the country, as we had a truck and trailer at the Bakersfield, California HCCA meet, as well as a big crew at the Portland, Oregon Swap Meet. Without a doubt, we supplied lots of tires for collector vehicles, but we also had some fun too! While our sales guys were hard at work, our staff photographer went up to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to the Spring Grand Rod Run. He came back with a bunch of cool pictures, so we just wanted to share them here. Check 'em out! [caption id="attachment_2450" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="This Model A is super cool! Love those Firestone cheater slicks on the back!"][/caption]
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December 21, 2011With 2012 right around the corner, we're preparing for a full year of fun events, traveling place to place in one of our tractor trailers. One in particular, which we refer to as the "High Tech Truck" just got a major facelift, with a brand new wrap that covers nearly every square inch of the trailer. It has a cool design with all sorts of photos on it....AND, one side is different than the other! We'll be heading to lots of events this year, so after you check out the pictures of our new trailer wrap, see our event schedule and find out where we're headed! By the way, if you want to save money on shipping, you can take advantage of FREE delivery to shows. That means you can walk into the show empty handed and walk out with a brand new set of tires and wheels that are mounted, balanced and ready to bolt on to your collector vehicle.
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August 24, 2011Maybe you have heard me say that I have the absolute best job in the world. Not only do I get to be around car guys (who just happen to be the best people in the world) every day, but I get to "play in my work and work in my play". I am a consummate car guy, gear head, barn finder etc....you get the picture. I also get to go to really cool events all over the world. Every year mid August, the collector car world converges on the Monterey Peninsula for the Pebble Beach Concours de Elegance held at the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course near 17 mile drive in Monterey. It is really, really cool to see all the phenomenal cars from all over the world. If you want to see cars that are clearly "over restored"....this is the crme de la crme place to go. The whole week is a day by day overload of auctions, car shows, receptions, and elbow rubbins... [caption id="attachment_1942" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Alan Taylor, Barry Meguiar, and myself chatting on set at Pebble Beach."][/caption]
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May 23, 2011Car guys are particularly good at finding a way to surround themselves around like-minded folks, and it's been that way for years. Car shows are a great way to do it, and we're lucky to be in a region where you could easily attend a car show every weekend if you don't mind traveling 100 miles or so. And while we attend many shows with our booth setup, we also visit several shows throughout the year in a more casual manner. This past weekend, we made the drive up to LP Field in Nashville, Tennessee for the 6th annual Goodguys Nashville Nationals. [caption id="attachment_1475" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Firestone whitewalls and custom wire wheels...what a beautiful combination, built by Jason Graham Hot Rods!"][/caption]
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May 11, 2011It's official--we're in full on show season, so we have trucks and trailers, and people running the roads constantly. We have booths set up at nearly 50 events this year, so our guys are super busy with setting up for shows and making sure we have enough product to keep you guys happy! What you may not know is that while our trucks and trailers go to big events, we also hit up a few other shows just for the fun of it. For instance, we dropped in on the NSRA Street Rod Nationals South this past weekend, which is held just up the road in Knoxville, Tennessee. It was a one-day trip, but we saw plenty of Coker Tire supporters in a wide variety of vehicles, from chopped and channeled Model A's rolling on Firestone whitewalls to flawlessly restored Camaros shod with redline tires. We snapped a few pictures along the way, so take a look. We might've grabbed a shot of your car! [caption id="attachment_1337" align="alignleft" width="475" caption="BFG Silvertown Whitewall Radials tucked WAY under the fenders of this Chevy pickup!"][/caption]
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January 07, 2011It's that time again! Every winter, the World of Wheels comes to Chattanooga, inside the Chattanooga Convention Center, which is right around the corner from our headquarters on Chestnut Street. It's an indoor car show that always draws a big crowd because of its attractions, and of course the great collection of cars being displayed! This year, our neighbors at Honest Charley Garage are showcasing a few buildups at the show, including the recently-finished 1952 MG TD owned by Wes Kliner.