We love hot rods with history, especially when they end up in the hands of a true hot rodder. We've seen our share of significant hot rods get the modern street rod treatment with independent suspension, modern engine and billet wheels...it's enough to make a man cry. Luckily, guys like Kevin Gill (local hot rodder from Ooltewah, TN) are interested in keeping history alive by preserving old hot rods. His newest acquisition is a 1929 Ford Model A roadster that has deep roots in the hot rod world, and even spent some time as a racecar in the '50s. The car had what many would consider the "wrong tires" on it, so he came to Coker Tire with intentions of giving his historic roadster a new attitude.
Yesterday, we posted a video of Jim Hildebrand and Ben McKinnon (from Anitque Tyre Supplies in Melbourne, Australia) chatting about cars, tires and other stuff, but we just wanted to post a couple of cool pictures of Ben hanging out with Corky in his 1913 National Racing Type roadster. They happen to be parked in front of "world famous" Honest Charley Speed Shop. Check it out!
Around here, there's no better way to celebrate the Indianapolis 500 than to show off some of our tires, built specifically for vintage Indy cars. In fact, we're up here in Indy right now, showing off our Marmon Wasp replica, along with our Firestone Indy tire selection, which are all built from either original Firestone molds or new molds built from the original drawings. We'll post up some pictures from the event later, but for now, check out a finished photo of the Marmon Wasp, and our line of Firestone Indy tires in the spirit of the 100th anniversary of the Indy 500!
[caption id="attachment_1522" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Group shot of the Honest Charley Garage crew with the finished Marmon Wasp!"][/caption]
Hey, remember when we said we had a short deadline on the Marmon Wasp rebuild? Well, it just got shortened up! Everybody at Honest Charley Garage is thrashing on this thing to get it done in time, and it's time for the final touches to make it as authentic as possible. The body is on, and the guys are hammering out the belly pan as this is being typed. The seat arrived today, so the "interior" (if you want to call it that) is complete.
[caption id="attachment_1491" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Engine is pretty much done--paint didn\'t last too long on that exhaust!"][/caption]
As you probably know by now, the Marmon Wasp replica built by Honest Charley Garage has actually been semi-complete for a year or so. However, it's never seen an ounce of paint, so it's time to get with the program and blast some yellow on this beast! Richard aka the "Car Carpenter" did an awesome job on the metal work, getting it ready for Zane to prep the panels and lay down some paint.
[caption id="attachment_1381" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Zane lays down the base color, which has been professionally matched to the original Marmon Wasp."][/caption]
If you guys follow along with our blog, or Coker Tire in general, then you know we built a replica of the Marmon Wasp, the winning car from the inaugural Indy 500, which took place in 1911. That's 100 years ago, if you hadn't already done the math. So, with this year marking the 100th anniversary of the Indy 500 it's the perfect time to unveil the Marmon Wasp in finished form.
[caption id="attachment_1347" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="The old engine--A Ford inline six-cylinder....not exactly period correct!"][/caption]