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.

Everyday is a good one in the south, but Monday was another special occasion on Chestnut Street. Dan Haugh discovered that special car(1915 Locomobile) owned by his wife’s grandfather had landed here at Coker Tire Company. He found the car’s pictures on our website and started the dialog with Jessica White about setting up a little reunion. The reunion turned into surprising his wife, as the car was the one they rode away in on their wedding day years ago. (more…)

We were happy to see Carson Newman College luminaries Dr. Randall O’Brien and wife Kay, Trustee Max Bahner and faculty Tim Norton wander into our shop on Monday. We enjoyed visiting with them while they toured our facilities here in Chattanooga, Tennessee. With two Cokers among Carson Newman alumni (Casey 2004 degrees in Interior Design and Retail, Cameron 2007 degree in Computer Information Systems) we figured lunch was on them! (more…)

Bill Smith,former executive director of the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA)(17 years), and 2005 Car Hobby’s Person of the Year

Apparel associated with automobiles and motor sports have a knack for being pretty flashy to say the least. This little number from the 2009 SEMA Show is no exception, but take a look at the main image on the front! The ‘32 Deuce “Double Exposure” feature both Honest Charley Speed Shop and Coker Tire Company made the feature slot on this limited edition shirt for the show. How cool is that!???!

Special order? Not really, but the whitewalls that Matt and Carolyn Agosta (Steele Rubber Company) picked up were for a special enough car. Pretty special pickup too, as Matt and Carolyn enjoyed a personal tour from me while we visited. Carolyn’s father, Lynn Steele’s 1931 Cadillac has a special place in their family’s history and recent restoration called for nothing less than a new set of Coker Tires. Matt and Carolyn’s company builds weather stripping and and all sorts of rubber parts for vintage and modern automobiles. So it goes without saying that we had plenty in common to talk about while we waited on their flashy new white walls. Matt and Carolyn are great friends, and it was great to have them come to town!

Seems each day starts off with a song.  The appropriate tune leavin’ Winslow is clearly the Eagles hit about standin’ somewhere…

I broke Posie Protocol and hooked us up with an additional non-Posie planned stop at my buddy Rodney Rucker’s garage before we headed out of town.  Rodney is one of the craziest car guys I know.   He loves Movie cars, in fact he owns the original Great Leslie which was the big white touring car Tony Curtis drove in the 1963 movie The Great Race. Remember every time Tony Curtis smiled big his front tooth would sparkle?  Rodney also has the evil Professor Fate’s (from same movie) black scissor car complete with heat cone and retractable cannon in front.  He has some of the most outrageous big vehicles using WW2 tank motors, and supercharged crazy stuff you have ever seen. One year Rodney drove one of his super dooper super charged Peterbilts on the Great Race.  I think he told me that from coast to coast he spent something like $9600 bucks on fuel and that when it was only $1.50 a gallon!  And all you folks thought I was crazy! (more…)