Our founder, Harold Coker, turned 80 years old on Christmas Eve.   Don’t hardly sound fair to have one’s birthday the very day before Christmas!    I can imagine when he was a kid, he probably got all of his birthday presents wrapped in Christmas paper.   Dad tells the story that when he was first married that he and Mom were so poor that he got a very much needed pair of dress shoes one at a time!   You guessed it!   One for his birthday, and one for Christmas!       Well, this year we had a big surprise party for Dad and a bunch of family and friends came.   I think that Mom fooled him, but heck…when I get to be 80 I will probably be able to hide my own Easter eggs!   My sister put together a memory book so everyone could write something in it.   I wrote this poem about my Dad, Harold Coker turning Eighty:

Eighty

He just turned eighty so i hear
and here’s a little rhyme
about our Dad, who’s probably sad
he’s running out of time.

But who’s to say we know our day
cause no one knows the clock
the good Lord keeps, before our sleep
and on Heaven’s door we’ll knock.

No use to fret or even cry
its all part of the plan
we live, we love, and even die
but hopefully grow our clan.

First of three from Mom and Pop
came Harold with his brothers
the tallest sure, more hair than Pop
but smart just like the others.

He met his girl in Athens town
a daughter of Doc Thomas
They courted, spooned and surely swooned
before their marriage promise.

He joined the Guard, and began to work
for Pinky List each day
to learn the biz of selling tires
so he could make his way.

Along came one to him and Lill
a son in fifty four
but they weren’t through
another two for them to so adore.

The next came soon to him and her
in fifty six I think
It was a girl, her name was Chris
but not enough he’d wink.

Another son was born to them
September fifty nine
And then enough he said to Lill
They’re family was devine.

He started his own in fifty eight
not kids but company
next door to Pink but soon he
moved it South in Tennessee.

He moved his Lill and kids to boot
to Chattanooga town
and thrive he did a sellin tires
to everyone around.

He bought a farm for kids and cars
and thought he had arrived.
His kids grew up and then moved out
Good Lord he had survived.

He got involved to rock the vote
because he had been moved
to be involved in politics
His town must be improved.

Was Eighty Eight he ran for House
against the witch he lost
but nevermind his head was high
no matter how high the cost.

Soon kids had kids for cousins camp
to the farm they all would come
to play and play with Gram all day
until they all were numb.

Well time has passed, the kids are gray
were all are now old and farty
We love you much and thank you too
cause its sure been quite a party

Corky

This year we celebrated the first anniversary of our 50th Coker Tire Christmas party (that’s 51 for the math challenged!).   Now I can’t say that I’ve been at every single one of those parties, heck, I’m only errr uh….29….ok… 31!  Actually I was away at college some too so I did miss a couple.    Back about many, many years ago my parents, Harold & Lill Coker, would have the employee’s and their families over to our house for a Christmas dinner.  My mom would read the children the story of Jesus’ birth explaining the true meaning of Christmas.

We would all have good ole home-made food that my Momma cooked.  Granted, back then when my Dad started with just him and a helper and maybe another guy or two it might have been a total of 12 people including children, but I remember it as great fun with all of us gathered in our farm house to celebrate Christmas together. Since those early company Christmas parties in the living room days, our numbers have certainly grown larger, and the most important part is there were more kids!  Our Christmas party got bigger so we moved it into the barn at Coker Farm which would have tires, horses, cows and of course at one time or another it also had tires in it of course!  This was our third Christmas in our headquarters complex Car Museum and we all feel just as blessed as ever, especially me.

Check out the picture of all the kids with jolly old St Nick! (Here’s also a link to all the other pictures)  I think ole Santa even had a great time with all of our kids!    We might not now always have story time read by my mom, but there is always a prayer before we have our Christmas dinner thanking the Lord for all of our blessings, especially sending His Son which I know to be the real reason for the season!

We thought we were going to have a big dilemma this year!   You see since Santa ALWAYS shows up for our Christmas party, we knew we had a problem because the roll up garage door had been temporarily replaced with a double walk in door which was fabricated by the Honest Charley Garage guys so we can put it in and remove it.   This limited the width of the Santa delivery vehicle to the width of two regular 36 inch doors.   Santa figured it out though and arrived in full form riding in one of my collector bikes in the sidecar!    The motorcycle and sidecar fit through the double doors perfectly and Santa even squeezed into the sidecar easily.   He told me that if he could squeeze down all those skinny chimney’s all those Yankees have up North, he could fit in that sidecar!

I know I am posting this after Christmas, so sorry for being late with it.   Just know that we celebrate it right.  It’s about giving…not receiving, and the kids, and eatin big, and don’t forget the real reason for the season!

HAROLD AND LILL COKER HELP CELEBRATE THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY FOR THE CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO

On December 1st, the Chattanooga Choo Choo celebrated its 100th anniversary, and a sizable crowd of people joined in on the festivities. Two of the folks within the crowd were Harold and Lill Coker, all dressed up in vintage attire. Everyone gathered to hear the various speakers, which included gubernatorial candidate Zach Wamp. Other notables on hand for the ceremony were Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield and Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey, so it was a full house of well-known Chattanoogans.

Each person that entered the Choo Choo celebration passed by a 1903 Columbus electric car, owned by Harold Coker. The car is a very rare machine, but electric cars were fairly common in the early 1900’s. Up until 1912, gasoline-powered cars did not feature an electric starter, and it kept most women out of the driver’s seat, as these cars proved to be very difficult to crank. The electric cars were known as ladies’ cars because most men bought these for their wives, so the women could get around town without a great deal of effort.

The Columbus is an 84-volt car and it’s completely silent as it goes down the road, according to Harold. He purchased the Columbus from Wayne McKinley, a retired Chevrolet dealer from O’Fallon, Illinois. The car was restored quite a few years ago but overall, it’s holding up pretty well for its age. Harold parked the Columbus at the front door of the Choo Choo, as this would have been a common sight when the station opened its doors on December 1st, 1909.

The Choo Choo was first called Terminal Station, and Donn Barber, a graduate of Paris’ Beaux Art Institute, designed it. And if you can believe this, Terminal Station cost $1.5 million dollars to construct at a time when the average U.S. worker brought home less than $500 a year! So, to say this structure was a grand addition to downtown Chattanooga is a huge understatement. After its completion, Terminal Station was a vital factor in the city’s development, as it was common to see fifty or more passenger trains arrive and depart every day. However, the ‘40s and ‘50s weren’t kind to the Station as automobile and airplane travel took over. In the early ‘60s only a few trains passed through each day and by August 11, 1970, Terminal Station was vacated and boarded up.

Fortunately, a group of local investors purchased Terminal Station 1972, saving it from demolition. One year later, the station was reopened as the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hilton and Entertainment Complex, and featured authentic sleeper cars, which had been converted into guest rooms. Today, the Choo Choo is a member of the Historic Hotels of America and it will continue to be a landmark in Chattanooga for centuries to come. Harold and Lill Coker had a great time in their era-correct attire, and helped celebrate the anniversary of the Chattanooga Choo Choo in fine fashion.

We’ve been keeping our lips sealed about a cool new tire for a long time now, but it’s finally OK to spill the beans. At this year’s SEMA show, we debuted the new Excelsior Stahl Sport Radial, which is a radial tire with the looks of a bias ply. These new offerings will be a blessing to hot rodders (and some of our rally buddies) wanting the classic appearance of bias ply tires combined with the performance of a modern day radial. This means driving your collector car will be even more fun!

With over 20 sizes to fit 16- to 21-inch wheel diameters, you’ll be seeing these tires everywhere. They actually look just like our Excelsior Comp V tires, aside from the sidewall markings, so you might have to squint to spot them. You’ll be able to feel a huge difference when you slide behind the wheel though.

The new tire was well-accepted by the crowd at SEMA, and we ended up getting a 2nd Runner-Up in the Best New Street-Rod/Custom-Car Product division, which is always filled with lots of cool stuff. Even though winning is always a good thing, there’s no shame in a third place finish, especially considering the competition at the SEMA show.

We liked the new Excelsiors so much; we put a set of Stahl Sport prototypes on the Double Exposure roadster. These tires will be ready to order very soon, so hopefully we’ll see a bunch of cars sporting new Excelsiors at various events throughout 2010. Speaking of 2010, we want to wish you a happy New Year, and thank you for making 2009 a great one.

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If your stocking can hold 8 spark plugs and an oil filter, we’ve got the same Santa coming. In world full of worry, take the time to enjoy your friends and family this holiday season and sincerely from all of us here at Coker Tire Company, have a Merry Christmas!

The precious present.     Wow, it is Christmas time and here in a few more days most of us will be getting together with our loved ones to eat our fill, and give presents to each other.   I hope you remember why we give presents to each other.   Not just because we love or appreciate the receiver of the gift but we give because of the Three Magi (or Three Kings) who came looking for the Christ child whose amazing star they followed directing them to find Him, the King, born of a Virgin, Son of God.  They brought important gifts of the day, presents for a King.

There are other very precious presents we should all think about all of the time but especially this time of year.    What I mean is…. what is happening right now (in the precious present), how we treat our friends, our relationship with our families, our co-workers, and relationship with our God in Heaven.   You see the present is very precious.   Because we do not know the time we have on this earth.   We think we do, but we don’t.    We think we have time to straighten up, or say I love you to our friends or family.   You never know when it is your time.    Just last Thursday morning, one of our own young ladies here at Coker was found by her husband on the floor of her kitchen passed out because of a blood clot which had moved, shutting off the oxygen supply to her brain.    She was rushed to the hospital where she was on life support for a time.    She went to be with the Lord over the weekend.   Her name is Jessica White and she was just over 30 years young, she had a lovely smile and always had kind words for customers, fellow workers and friends.   She talked a little funny sometimes because she was from Weescaahhhnsin “don’tcha know” and she was very much loved here.

You never know.   Take care of the present.    The precious present.    Say Hi to Jesus for me Jessica!

Corky Coker and Santa

Santa showed up on a motorcycle and the party was on as Volkswagen’s Chattanooga employees celebrated their first Christmas in the scenic city. We were honored to have them use our museum for the occasion.