Once again, we blocked off all of the streets in Corkyville, and invited a bunch of our friends to join us for a great day of car guy fun. We had blue skies and LOTS of sun, so folks arrived early in the morning to claim their parking spot. We knew going into the day's event that our overall turnout may be smaller than the April event, due to the schedule conflict with Shades of the Past in Pigeon Forge. We did have a few less cars, but we still had approximately 600 vehicles on hand for the fall Chattanooga Cruise In!
[caption id="attachment_3876" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Known simply as "the Quail"[/caption]
After two days strolling through the dream-scape that is Monterey weekend. Corky Coker and Wade Kawasaki know two things already, wear good shoes and stay prepared to be amazed. This is the world renowned week of priceless classic vehicles, historic races and stacks of top-shelf car auctions that culminates with the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
Well, they're not exactly on speaking terms with ole Ralph, but maybe the controversial "Unsafe at Any Speed" writer inadvertently made these cars even more popular in the long run? The cult-like following of Corvair owners across the United States are as dedicated to their favorite cars (and vans) as any group out there. One such club, filled the Coker Tire Company parking lot today as the Choo Choo Corvair Club toured the Chattanooga, Tennessee headquarters.
Members from Hot Rod Magazine, Chattanooga Visitor Bureau, Family Events and Coker Tire Company were on hand in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee today to announce Chattanooga as a stop on the upcoming 2013 Hot Rod Power Tour. The massive car tour visited Chattanooga in 2010 bringing thousands of cars, people and revenue to the city. The 2010 visit made a good enough impression to get the encore opportunity in 2013. The event projects over 3,000 participants rolling onto the campus of Chattanooga State throughout the day, with the event hours scheduled from 12:00pm to 7:00pm. The Chattanooga festivities won't stop at 7:00pm, as there's an after-party planned at the headquarters of Coker Tire Company in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee
Among our fondest memories and during the most impressionable time of any gearhead's life are the teen years when cars were the coolest and the mysteries of hot rodding were just beginning to reveal themselves. Many of us had a shop class in school and piddled the hours away imagining how fast that Camaro would be if we could just afford a new set of aluminum heads all while learning to change the spark plugs in the assistant principle's Camry.
In 2010, a few fanatical antique motorcyclists made news riding their old bikes across the country in the Motorcycle Cannonball. We were lucky to have them stop overnight in Chattanooga after leaving Maggie Valley on their epic journey. Maybe they were lucky to stop here too, since as soon as the hospitality dinner was complete, one hundred classic iron horses rolled into our restoration shop for service at the SAME TIME. It really was a sight to behold.
Tuesday evening in Kanata, Ontario marked the finish of Stage Four of the 2012 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty. What a reception we received from the hometown of our own Brian Goudge aka Motormouth in Kanata/Ottowa, Ontario!When our PA system malfunctioned and could not play the Canadian National anthem, "Oh Canada" I asked if there was anyone who could lead us in singing it. Our new best friend "Page" jumped right up and led the crowd with a beautiful rendition of the Canadian favorite. Thank you again Page! There were several thousand passionate old car fans and several hundred cruise in cars on display. Kanata did it up right too with a wonderful roasted chicken meal for all the Great Racers.
The Great Race Stage 2 evening stop in Sudbury, Ontario started with a rain so hard I thought the big ole raindrops would knock me out as I thundered up to the venue at the A & W in my Shafer 8. Despite the short rain, we had a wonderful crowd to welcome the Great Racers. Motormouth is already losing his voice some because of demands of introducing our wonderful sponsors and participants to the crowds. My Grandpa-in-Law Vernon Cunningham and his son, (my Son-in-Law) Greg Cunningham apparently had the best raw score but were (old car'd...the older the car the better the discount off ur score) putting them In 2nd place for the Stage 2 of the 2012 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty!