The First Annual Chattanooga Cruise In Toy Drive!

If you've been following the Chattanooga Cruise In over the past few years, then you know that it has grown tremendously. For 2015, we only planned to have one Chattanooga Cruise In (our Spring event), due to scheduling conflicts during the fall months. However, thanks to the overwhelming response from our loyal followers, and a little bit of motivation from the man with a mustache, we created the Chattanooga Cruise In Toy Drive. We chose a Saturday morning that worked for our schedule and didn't collide with the local car show schedule, and we made it happen. We joined forces with the Chattanooga area Toys for Tots Foundation, and made this event all about helping local kids have a better Christmas. Several hundred people came out to donate toys and money, and we ended up with nearly 400 cars on display, on the streets surrounding Coker Tire and Honest Charley. Everyone had a great time, and our final tally was two full truck loads of toys, and nearly $3,000 in cash for the Toys for Tots! [products] What a lot of folks don't consider is that we (car people) are very fortunate. We sometimes take it for granted. These old cars are precious to us, but there are a lot of people in this country who are struggling to make ends meet. That's why we wanted to take these prized possessions and put them all together to help raise money and gather toys for the needy. We had special event T-shirts printed up by our friends at Custom Werks Graphics, and all proceeds of the shirts went directly to Toys for Tots. We sold out of T-shirts, and handed the Marines nearly $1,600 in cash, solely from shirt sales. We also want to thank Stateline Wagens, a local Volkswagen club for donating a VW Bus load of toys that they bought using money from a previous fundraiser. The first annual Chattanooga Cruise In Toy Drive was a huge success, thanks to many local car and motorcycle enthusiasts. [caption id="attachment_6985" align="alignleft" width="780"] Wally Smith built this '50s style custom and used all the flakes he could find for the paint job. This sparkling Chevy rolls on Coker Classic whitewall radials. [/caption] [caption id="attachment_6984" align="alignleft" width="780"] Charles Berry and family are seen here in a '84 Buick Grand National. This turbo Buick is a real survivor![/caption] [caption id="attachment_6990" align="alignleft" width="780"] We spotted this Chevy pickup in our shop the day before the Chattanooga Cruise In Toy Drive. The owner was swapping from blackwalls to wide whitewall radials--we love it![/caption] [caption id="attachment_6993" align="alignleft" width="780"] Gerry Burger is a regular at our Chattanooga Cruise In events, and he stopped by in his super clean '57 Ford wagon. [/caption] [caption id="attachment_6991" align="alignleft" width="780"] Here's something you don't see every day...or ever! Steve Moses came down from Athens, Tennessee in this beautiful 1932 Ford B-400 street rod. [/caption] [caption id="attachment_6997" align="alignleft" width="780"] There were a lot of great Fords at the Chattanooga Cruise In Toy Drive. Chad Tompkins came up from Alabama in this Model A sedan, which has the perfect stance and just the right amount of patina. Chad puts lots of miles on those Firestones.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_6987" align="alignleft" width="780"] We had a lot of great Volkswagens on hand, including this slammed VW Double Cab pickup. [/caption] [caption id="attachment_6992" align="alignleft" width="780"] We just love the looks of this Model A roadster. Simple, clean and functional. We also like that it has a Flathead V8 and a set of Firestone whitewall tires![/caption] [caption id="attachment_6983" align="alignleft" width="780"] Corky Coker addressing the crowd and acknowledging the folks from Stateline Wagens, a local Volkswagen club that donated $500 worth of toys![/caption] [caption id="attachment_6994" align="alignleft" width="780"] It takes a lot of guts to cut up a Corvette, but this Corvette's owner, Dan Moon doesn't seem to mind. He came up from Alabama to enjoy the Chattanooga Cruise In Toy Drive, in his true survivor gasser from the '60s. You can't see it, but you can almost smell the racing fuel in this picture. [/caption] [caption id="attachment_6995" align="alignleft" width="780"] A huge thanks to the Marines who joined us and collected toys and money from the participants. They went home with two truck loads of toys and nearly $3,000 in cash donations![/caption] [caption id="attachment_6988" align="alignleft" width="780"] Another rare Ford is this '37 Ford Club Coupe. What a great combination of colors for a traditional hot rod look. [/caption] [caption id="attachment_6982" align="alignleft" width="780"] It was a little chilly, but this C10 pickup warmed up the crowd with flame throwers. This thing put out some real heat![/caption] [caption id="attachment_6989" align="alignleft" width="780"] The engine build team from Sequoyah High School came down and put on a show for the crowd. They built a small block Chevy in 20 minutes![/caption] [caption id="attachment_6998" align="alignleft" width="780"] We caught a shot of this bare metal Model A as it rolled out of the Chattanooga Cruise In Toy Drive. See ya next year![/caption]