chevy
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March 31, 2023
The Corvette Expo has been around since the 1970's and it has gone through a lot of phases through its successful lifetime. This event has always been held in East Tennessee, although it has changed venues several times. It has found a home at the LeConte Center in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, a beautiful facility that offers plenty of room for this awesome event. There are hundreds of Corvettes on hand, ranging from the earliest C1's to the most recent C8 generation. We love the variety when walking through the show, because you can see NCRS judging on high end Corvette restorations, as well as modified cars and drivers. Take a look at some of our favorites, and make plans to join the fun next spring for the Corvette Expo. Check out www.corvetteexpo.com for more information!
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December 24, 2016The words "Lowrider" and "subdued" rarely go together in the same sentence. Normally, this type of build is over the top with wild custom paint schemes and show car qualities (ex. chrome brake rotors) that truly hinder the functionality of the car. However, the 1965 Chevy Impala that we're featuring here is a functional and very tasteful Lowrider that was on display in The Enthusiast Network's booth at the 2016 SEMA Show. The Enthusiast Network owns Lowrider magazine, as well as titles, such as Hot Rod, Car Craft, Street Rodder and more. The company knows cars, and the guys at Lowrider are experts when it comes to the culture and the right appearance that goes along with the Lowrider scene. You won't see any wild stripes and paint on this one--just a super slick candy apple red finish, that was painted many years ago with old school lacquer materials. And though it has custom details throughout, you'll see that the Blueprint Engines small block is ready to rock, and the beautiful leather
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November 03, 2016Tri-Five Chevys are super hot right now, and we were so excited to see the Tri-Five Nationals pop up a couple years ago in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Our buddy, Chris Sondles from Woody's Hot Rodz is responsible for organizing the Tri-Five Nationals, and he has a great crew to help him knock it out of the park every year. One of the biggest attractions for the Tri-Five Nationals (aside from the 2,000-plus Tri-Fives) is the Give-Away car. Last year, it was a very cool '55 Chevy, which we featured here on the Coker Tire blog. Then, for 2016, it was a high tech '56 Chevy. For 2017, we're proud to announce that Woody's Hot Rodz built an incredible 1957 Chevy gasser. This thing is nuts! The car is built using a brand new steel body from Woody's and a new gasser chassis from No Limit. It has a legit fiberglass front end from
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November 02, 2016The SEMA Show is the largest automotive spectacle in the world, and we're so happy to be a part of SEMA 2016. It's the 50th anniversary of the show, and it's also the 50th anniversary of the Firestone Wide Oval tire. We celebrated the awesome anniversary by introducing our brand new Firestone Wide Oval Radial tire. The day kicked off at the New Products Breakfast, where we placed 2nd in the New Products Display in the Tires and Related Category. We were up against the big dogs, and our new Firestone Wide Oval radial stood tall in a room full of winners. Shortly after the New Products Breakfast, we had a Press Conference regarding the new tire, showcasing it front and center in our indoor booth. Muscle car expert, Steve Magnante hosted the event, while our President, Wade Kawasaki and CEO, Corky Coker spoke about the new tire and how it is a game changer for the muscle car market. We also installed a
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January 22, 2016We're not sure about you, but we often day dream about what tire and wheel combinations would look cool on our cars. Having an extra set of tires and wheels on hand isn't always practical, but it sure makes for an easy attitude adjustment for your hot rod or muscle car. We proved it with the "Malibeater", a 1967 Chevelle Malibu project car, which has been featured in various tech articles in Muscle Car Review magazine. Arvid Svensen brought the car down to Tennessee for the tire and wheel swap, and photographed the combinations for an article in the magazine. All three combinations offer cool looks for the car, but there was a pretty clear winner in terms of style and performance after we had driven the car with all three configurations. Just to add another cool element to this tire and wheel swap, we decided that our least favorite combination would be subject to a tire-smoking burnout. [products]
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November 22, 2015There are certain cars and builders that create a lot of buzz before, during and after the SEMA Show. Boosted Bela is one of those cars, thanks to the tireless efforts of Andy Williamson, who was heading up the PR for the project. Progress photos, teasers, and lots of hype resulted in a SEMA reveal that blew everyone away. By now, you're reading this and thinking that the ratty looking '56 Chevy in the pictures can't possibly be the car we're referencing, but you'd be wrong. Boosted Bela is a slammed '56 Chevy that is rough on the outside, but super detailed everywhere else. The build was exclusively covered by Chevrolet Performance on The BLOCK, and it absolutely exploded on social media in the days and weeks leading up to the SEMA Show. Once it was on display in the Mobil 1 booth, the car was plastered all over Instagram and Facebook, gaining as much notoriety as cars with $50,000 paint jobs. In fact, Motor Trend Magazine named Boosted Bela one of the Top 15 cars at the SEMA Show. The truth of the matter is that Boosted Bela is just plain cool. It sits right, it has a killer supercharged LS-based engine and of course, it's rolling on a set of wide whitewalls and steelies from Coker Tire. Continue reading to find out more about Boosted Bela and enjoy the photos and video!
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August 17, 2015Last year, we heard about the Tri-Five Nationals, and instantly wanted to be a part of the inaugural event. It helps matters that it is organized and promoted by our buddy Chris Sondles from Woody's Hot Rodz, which is a shop that specializes in Tri-Five Chevy builds and sells many of our products. As the plans for the event developed, Coker Tire stepped up as one of the leading sponsors, and presented the "Celebration of 60 Years of the 1955 Chevy", a special section with original 1955 Chevrolets of many models and configurations. As we rolled into historic Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky, it didn't take long to see that the Tri-Five Nationals was destined to be HUGE. And that's exactly what it was--the official car count was 1,858 registered entrants, all ranging from 1955 to 1957 Chevys, including a few pickup trucks and Corvettes from the famous Tri-Five years. Tens of thousands of spectators took part in the event, which had drag racing, autocross racing, a massive show-n-shine area, a swap meet and a packed vendor area.
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April 15, 2015
They always say that 'close' only counts in horsehoes and hand grenades, but when you're talking about spending millions in new car development and tooling up for production, close really doesn't count. Some of these great concept cars influenced the industry for years after their appearance. These cars never happened, or at least they never made it into full-scale production. When you look closer at them and consider what was going on around them at the time, you start to understand more about why they didn't make it and more interestingly, you start to see the butterfly effects of what might have happened if they did make it. Concept cars are the life blood of the industry, exercising trends, styles, engineering and even names, running from sketches all the way through to public displays. In the good ol' days, a well received car, might just hop into the fast track to production. These days the stakes are higher than ever. So too are the considerations, with safety and global applications muddying up the process. Sure, every now and then a car sneaks through, but these days the process is far more complicated and maybe in a backhanded way, less creative and exciting. Why would we suggest that today's wild 3D models of hopeful designs might be boring? Take a look at these beauties and think about all of the things that would have been changed forever had they been produced. Concept cars were never as influential as they were in the 1950s and 1960s. Enjoy Ten Cars that never happened, but totally should have.
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August 25, 2014You know it's a special day in the office when the front parking lot is filled with Chevy Corvairs! These little cars offered a lot of "firsts" for American auto manufacturing, with production starting in 1960, and lasting through 1969. Corvairs feature an aluminum, air cooled engine, which is placed in the rear of the vehicle, and it features a lightweight unibody chassis, which helped provide great fuel economy and performance. These cars are certainly not your average classic car, so having more than 20 of them stuffed into our parking lot was beyond cool! We had convertibles, coupes, station wagons, and even had a couple of Corviar trucks on hand for a tour. There was even a Corvair with a small block Chevy crammed in the back seat! The group is part of the Choo Choo Corvairs, a local club that holds an annual show at the Chattanooga Choo Choo. We're glad they decided to stop by and tour our facility...and we hope they saw that we carry a wide variety of tire to fit their distinct classics!
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July 09, 2014The Chevrolet Nomad Association holds a National Convention every year, and it moves around to a different city each year. We're so glad the organization chose Chattanooga, Tennessee as the home of the 2014 Nomad Convention, and we opened our doors and invited them to join us for an afternoon of fun. A wide open tour of our facility and a hot dog dinner (cooked by Coker Marketing dudes, Jason White and Aaron Wolfe) gave them plenty to talk about, and they absolutely packed Fort Street with Nomads. Every configuration, from bone stock to full custom lined the street, and we loved getting up close and personal with these classic Chevys.
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April 18, 2014Here at Coker Tire, we have a lot of customers who opt for the complete tire and wheel package when it's time to put new shoes on their collector vehicle. It's a great value and it ensures the customer the trueness and perfect balance that we can achieve when combining a new tire with a new wheel. We also offer authentic accessories, such as hubcaps, trim rings and even lug nuts! That means you can complete the tire and wheel package, and give your collector vehicle the right look.
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March 10, 2014Throughout the process of filming the The car started out a little on the rough side, but with some replacement sheet metal, and a bunch of other replacement trim parts and interior components from Year One, the car is now a nicely finished Tri-Five with a cool custom look. To get the right stance, the Honest Charley boys installed two-inch drop spindles up front and three-inch lowering blocks out back. They also moved the leaf springs inward to create more real estate for tires and wheels. With this in mind, they installed a set of 17x8-inch Rocket Booster wheels out back, wrapped in 255/45ZR17 BFGoodrich g-Force
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November 14, 2013
Classic car enthusiasts have always had to choose between bias ply and radial tires. The restoration guys prefer the authentic construction and appearance of bias ply tires, while many folks would rather sacrifice the vehicles authenticity to have the ride quality of a modern radial. Previously, we have offered both styles of tires (bias and radial) in whitewall form, but now we offer a tire that blends the best of both worlds. It's the new American Classic Bias Look Radial, and it's the first ever radial whitewall tire with an authentic bias ply look.
We developed a bias look tire a few years ago, and it's known as the Excelsior Stahl Sport Radial. These tires are geared toward pre-war classics and hot rods, so we wanted to fill the gap for all of our great customers who love cars from the late '40s, '50s and '60s. That's where the new American Classic bias look radial comes into play. We have nine great sizes to fit many applications, with authentic wide whitewalls that are built into the tire mold from day one. These aren't grind and glue, add on whitewalls--these are the real deal!We debuted the new American Classic radial at the 2013 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, and it was a big hit! The folks at SEMA thought so too, as it was awarded the Best New Product in the Tires and Related category! That is a huge honor, and we're excited to offer this tire to you! These tires have flown off the shelf and have been one our most popular products since they hit the market. We're sure you're wondering what sizes will be offered, so let's get to it:
6.50R13 to fit Chevy Corvair, Chevy II, Dodge Dart, Ford Falcon and many other compact cars from the early '60s!
7.50R14 for classic Chevy Impala, '57 Thunderbird and many more
8.00R14 for many classic makes and models, such as Chevy Impala, Ford Thunderbird, Plymouth, Rambler and more!
5.60R15 to fit classic Volkswagen Beetle, Porsche, MG and Alfa Romeo. This size also works well for the front of hot rods and street rods!
6.70R15 for classic '55-56 Thunderbird, Tri-five Chevy, early Corvette, etc.
7.10R15 for many Buick, Pontiac, Dodge and Studebaker applications
7.60R15 for Buick, Hudson, Mercury and Packard
8.00R15 for Cadillac, Buick, Packard and many other full size classic cars
8.20R15 for classic Cadillac, Lincoln, Buick, etc. This size also works well for the rear of hot rods and street rods!
See why we're so excited about the new American Classic bias profile radial? There are sizes to fit almost any classic car, hot rod or custom from the '40s, '50s and '60s! These tires are backed by our trusted Life of the Tread warranty and they are also eligible for our Extended Tire Protection program. They are DOT and ECE approved, and they are made right here in the USA!
Order your set today and get the authentic looks of a bias ply tire with the modern handling and ride quality of a radial. Coker Tire is your source for exciting new products in the collector vehicle industry, and this American Classic bias look radial is yet another quality product that will keep your classic rolling!
Classic car enthusiasts have always had to choose between bias ply and radial tires. The restoration guys prefer the authentic construction and appearance of bias ply tires, while many folks would rather sacrifice the vehicles authenticity to have the ride quality of a modern radial. Previously, we have offered both styles of tires (bias and radial) in whitewall form, but now we offer a tire that blends the best of both worlds. It's the new American Classic bias profile radial tire, and it's the first ever radial whitewall tire with an authentic bias ply look. -
September 11, 2013The Glidden Tour is an event that relives the early years of the automobile, when American Automobile Association (AAA) decided to hold a touring event in the 1900's to prove the reliability of the automobile, which was in its infancy. The original Glidden Tours were held from 1903 to 1911 and they were named after Charles Glidden. Then, in 1946, the Glidden Tour was revived by the Veteran Motor Car Club of America (VMCCA) and continues to this day, visiting a different city each year. For 2013, we were lucky enough to have the 68th Revival Glidden Tour visit Chattanooga, Tennessee to see what the Scenic City has to offer!
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June 01, 2013When you think of muscle cars, you might think of the optioned-up models, such as SS, GT, R/T, etc. as the top of the heap. And while those models represent the era very well, you could have very easily been outrun by a vehicle like the '65 Chevelle 300 Deluxe pictured here. While many of the 300 Deluxe cars were built with inline six-cylinder engines, or low horsepower 283ci V8's, a select few were built with the very potent L79 code 327ci small block. This is one of the few...
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September 27, 2012You've probably noticed that we've had a bunch of groups visit Coker Tire in the past few months. Today, we had the Eliminators Car Club, all the way from Bucyrus, Ohio! They came in a diverse group of cars, ranging from a '67 Mustang to some more obscure cars, like a '60 Pontiac and a '57 Ford wagon, converted into a sedan delivery. There was even a '64 Ford ex-drag racer, which had all of the documentation, old pictures and event decals to prove it! Other cars included a cool '57 Chevy 150 and a Ford panel truck, rolling on Coker Classic wide whitewalls.
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September 13, 2012It's that time of year again! Every September we host an event right here in Chattanooga, called the Coker Tire Challenge. It's a time, speed, endurance rally just like the Great Race, but on a smaller scale. It's a more local event, and it's a lot of fun! There are three days of rallying, and we saw a bunch of folks roll in today for registration and technical inspection. It was great to catch up with old friends! We also had Rally School and a short reception afterward to welcome the racers to our place! Check out a few pictures of today's highlights, and look forward to more updates tomorrow! Also, check out the Coker Tire Facebook page for ongoing updates!
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April 23, 2012Last summer we decided to hold a Cruise In event, in conjunction with the Coker Tire Challenge. It was a test to see if this sort of event could be manageable and fun on a small budget. It turned out to be a great event, so we planned for two in 2012, one of which occurred last Saturday, April 21st. It was an incredible turnout of nearly 500 car, with thousands of people roaming the streets of Corkyville!
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March 30, 2012"Corvette guys" have a reputation for being overly picky about their cars, but when it comes to the high class restorations these cars undergo, we don't blame them for babying the cars. We love to see a great restoration with all the right bits and pieces to make it truly authentic, but we also like to see real survivor--a car that has never been restored, but still has all the right stuff. Last week, we encountered a 1959 Corvette survivor here at the shop, and couldn't help but give it a thorough inspection. The car is currently owned by Scott Hamrick of Jefferson, Georgia, who recently purchased it from the
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September 15, 2011It's that time of year! We're in the final stages of preparation for the Coker Tire Challenge, so it's a fairly busy environment here in Corkyville. The guys over at Honest Charley Garage applied decals and helped David McAllister with technical inspection, while our Coker crew handled all of the registration stuff. We're ready to kick this thing off tomorrow morning at 8:00am and we'll be having dinner at the farm when our day of rallying is over. Let's roll! [caption id="attachment_1999" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Lined up for technical inspection and decal application."][/caption]
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August 06, 2011Well, it's that time of the year again. It's August, it's hot and it's time for the NSRA Street Rod Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky. We're on a cool little road trip this weekend, and decided to stop at the Nats for the day. As usual, the Kentucky Expo Center was packed with hot rods of all shapes and sizes, from low slung coupes to nose-high gassers. The day started with a six hour drive, and ended with about 3 more hours of driving....with lots of hot rods thrown in the midst. Tomorrow we're headed to the Funny Car Nationals at Marion County International Raceway in LaRue, Ohio...it should be a great time as over 30 funny cars do battle, along with a great deal of Nostalgia Pro Stock and Nostalgia Super Stock. We're always wanting to figure out new ways to cater to our nostalgia drag racing people, so this is a great way to do it. We'll post pictures from that event too, so stay tuned! For now, here are some of our favorite shots from Louisville. [caption id="attachment_1926" align="alignleft" width="493" caption="Our booth at the 2011 NSRA Street Rod Nationals Plus"][/caption]
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July 15, 2011Talk about a great bunch of guys and gals! These folks are on a bit of a road trip and decided to drop by our place for a tour. Raime Brown did her thing, and made sure everyone had a good time and learned a little bit along the tour. We cleared the parking lot and packed the cars in there to grab a quick shot of them in front of the building...turned out pretty cool! Big thanks to the Southern Kentucky Street Rodders for visiting Chattanooga, Tennessee and for coming by our facility. Here are some of our pictures from the visit!
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June 12, 2011We're sitting in our hotel in Asheville, North Carolina, checking out all of our photos and videos from Day One at the 2011 Hemmings Great Race. Our route took us from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Maggie Valley, North Carolina, which means we spent a great deal of time in the mountains. It was an awesome ride with lots of opportunities for cool pictures, so take a look at our favorites and check out www.greatrace.com for even more photos, along with scores and breaking news. It's time to get ready for today's route, so we're making this one short and sweet, but we want to thank all of the Great Race staff and volunteers for an amazing job on day one. Also a huge thanks goes out to the city of Athens, Tennessee, which hosted the lunch stop, and all the fine folks at the Wheels Through Time Museum in Maggie Valley. [caption id="attachment_1598" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Let\'s get this thing started! Chestnut Street in Chattanooga was packed with cars and on lookers before the start of the race!"][/caption]
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June 08, 2011Just like anything else, pronunciations are different around here. Some people say Chevrolet, some people say Chevy, but around here, it's pronounced "Chev-uh-lay". On that note we had four awesome "Chevuhlay's" in the parking lot today at lunch time...they were on their way back from the Hot Rod Power Tour so they made a quick stop here at Coker Tire to take a look around. It was pretty good timing on their part because we're getting set up for the Great Race, so there are a few old cars already rumbling about in Corkyville.
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May 31, 2011That's right, we're proud to announce the availability of the new BFGoodrich Radial T/A Spec 245/55R18 Redline from Coker Tire! These tires were originally designed for use on the special edition Hurst Camaro, which is an awesome car built from a collaboration of the biggest names in the automotive aftermarket. Hurst, Detroit Speed and Engineering and BFGoodrich teamed up to build this car, and equipped it with a set of custom redline tires. The tires were such a hit with the public that BFGoodrich made a few extras, and they are now available right here at Coker. [caption id="attachment_1536" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="BFGoodrich Radial T/A Spec 245/55R18 Redline"][/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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March 28, 2011This coming weekend is time for the annual Lonestar Round Up in Austin, Texas. It's a hotbed for traditional hot rods of all shapes and sizes, so folks from all over the place are making the trek to Texas for this awesome event. One such fellow goes by the name "Squindo" and has a thing for Kustom Art...that's Kustom with a K if you didn't notice. He's a master at pinstriping, hot rod art and wicked paintings, but he's a hot rodder at heart. He and his crew stopped by the office