When Corky Coker was fresh from college, his father Harold was a busy man. A growing automotive service business required his time and energy. A little help, particularly from a young, energetic son was most welcome.
More than 30 years ago, Harold handed Corky the responsibility for five percent of the gross sales of Coker Tire Company. That five percent consisted entirely of orders for antique and classic car tires. Today, Coker is the premiere dealer of antique tires worldwide. That five percent of sales has grown to 99 percent. Coker Tire Company employs 57 people, distributes over 800 sizes and types of tires in over 34 countries, and exhibits at 70 events around the world annually. Warehouse and administrative facilities are located in Chattanooga, Hershey, Pennsylvania, and Fresno, California. The company’s annual catalog is printed in a run topping 750,000.
From humble beginnings in East Tennessee, Coker Tire has developed into a classic itself -- a real, family owned success story. “My grandfather, Pop Coker, was interested in antique cars, Model A’s and Model T’s, and got my father and my uncles interested in them,” related Corky, the company’s 53-year-old president. “When my father graduated from college, he started working for BF Goodrich and also had a tire business in Athens, Tennessee. The company was founded in 1958, and Pop Coker sold his house and lent my father the money to start it. Pop lived to the age of 97 and passed away three years ago.”
Harold Coker worked to build his business, retreading tires, selling tires, and occasionally finding an old set just the right size for a friend’s pride and joy. In 1961, the family relocated to Chattanooga, and the first local automotive service and tire store was opened in Brainerd.
“Because he was a tire dealer and a car collector, folks would automatically come to my father with the problem of getting tires for their collector cars,” said Corky. “So, he developed a niche. This goes all the way back to the beginning of the company, and we have pictures of him standing with tires I sell now when they were new. He had a Model A and was a member of the antique car club in Athens. He restored a 1913 Model T Roadster, and my mom did the upholstery in that car. Folks would come to him for tires, and he would search around to tire dealers and find old stock and make them available to his friends and for his own purposes.”
During the 1960s, Harold made contact through the U.S. embassy with tire manufacturers in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he had seen some old tire molds. He also contacted manufacturers in the United States and Brazil, seeking old stocks of tires and their precious molds. That small niche began to grow, and as the demand for tires grew, the number of contacts and the investment of time and capital required grew as well.
“He said, ‘Here Corky, take this part of the business and make it grow,” laughed the oldest of the three Coker children, whose brother David owns and operates Newstalgia Wheel in Chattanooga, while sister Christie is curriculum director at Christ Presbyterian Academy in Franklin, Tennessee.
“I was a young man with new energy, got fired up, and said, ‘Here we go!’” he continued. “I needed a lot of my father’s tutelage. We negotiated a worldwide exclusive with BF Goodrich, found the tire molds, put them into production, and paid BF Goodrich a license fee for the use of their name on the antique tires. We started off with just a couple of sizes, and I started to attend shows. At first, I would take the orders, pull the tires from stock, type the labels, put the labels on the tires, ship them out, open the mail, and design our ads for publications.”
Over the years, the Coker Tire Company has set the gold standard in its business, not only producing tires from existing molds, but also customizing them in the most challenging situations. The customer base has steadily grown, and Coker regularly provides product to its own competitors. The company’s following, says Corky, is a mile wide and an inch deep. Coker picks up the segment of the market which other companies slough off as being too small. While another producer may deal in production runs of 20,000 and make 5,000 tires a day, Coker may work with a production run of only 500.
“We own the molds and contract the production to a number of factories, the majority of which are in the United States,” Coker explained. “We have one in Indiana, one in Pennsylvania, one in Ohio, and one in Unicoi, Tennessee. There are also factories in Vietnam, Mexico City, two in India, and one in Taiwan. About 20 percent of the production is outside the U.S. Those factories make the tires per our specs and engineering drawings. We build the molds or find the original molds, send them to the factories, and they produce for us exclusively. All the product is shipped to Tennessee, and we supply warehouse and distribution from here.
“We have close to 30 customer service representatives taking 80 to 150 telephone calls a day. It is pretty high tech. They don’t do any paper. We have training daily and weekly for our customer service folks. They take orders, and we ship out by FedEx. We load a FedEx trailer at noon and one at 5 p.m., going to individuals all over the world. We ship 800 to 1,600 tires a day, and we also sell original style wheels. We can put the tires on the wheels, mount and balance them, ship them to the owner, and all they have to do is jack the car up and put them on.”
Collector car enthusiasts traveling through Chattanooga may actually have tires installed while they wait. “If they are traveling from Ohio to Florida and stop in here, we mount and balance the tires while we show them around. They will have a good experience. The rarest tire is one that someone who is restoring an antique car or motorcycle wants. He may have gotten together with his collector buddies and said, “Hey, Coker would you develop this size for us?’ We like those, and we do those. There really is no size that we can’t do.”
Those who need modern tires can also buy from Coker. He sends them to the company’s service center on Brainerd Road.
Coker Tire has been a Michelin dealer for nearly 40 years, also offering the BF Goodrich line, a well recognized brand which is owned by Michelin. In the company’s vintage division, other brands offered include U.S. Royal, American Classic, Excelsior, Pro-Trac, Firestone, and the company’s own Coker Classic. When a customer calls, delivering the product sometimes becomes a quest.
The walls of Corky’s office are lined with photos of the famous, including political figures whom he has come to know through his work with the Republican Party. Numerous magazine covers featuring Coker Tire are also framed, and several prestigious awards, such as the Collector Car Hobby’s Person of the Year for 2004 are displayed. Just outside the door, however, is a trophy of a different kind. It is a tire with a wide whitewall -- and it involved a challenge which most people would have politely passed up.
When the telephone rang one day last year, the caller was already well known in collector circles. He made the news this year by purchasing a Shelby Mustang, the most expensive car sold at the Barrett-Jackson auction in 2007.. The pricetag was $5 million. In 2006, the same collector had paid $4.2 million for a General Motors Future Liner bus produced about 1950, and one of only five known to exist. In itself, the request was simple. Could Coker design a tire which was true to the original look?
“He wanted me to develop this tire exactly like it was originally on this bus, so it would be absolutely perfect with the five and a half inch whitewall,” said Corky. “Then, he asked me to do another set for another group that was restoring a second bus. There are 10 of these tires on each bus.”
More than 15 years ago, Corky attended an event and saw an antique firetruck with an elliptical button tread, which he recognized as an original BF Goodrich Silvertown design. He also noticed Spanish script on the tire and realized it had come from a company that had sold tires to his father. He sent a Telex to the South American manufacturer inquiring about the mold. The response was disappointing. The mold no longer existed, and the tire was not in production. When Corky asked if it would be possible to come and look around for himself, the reply was the Spanish equivalent of “Knock yourself out!”
Corky flew to Uruguay and made a deal with the factory owner that if, indeed, he did find the mold the owner would sell it to him. Rooting through an old warehouse, the mold was located. It was shipped back to the U.S., where Coker Tire changed the engraving back to the original BF Goodrich Silvertown appearance. Now, every antique firetruck in the world, which was made by the American LaFrance Company, sports the original tire with the original script.
One of Corky’s close friends owns an auction company and restoration shop in Ontario, California. About 18 months ago, he called Coker to inform him that he was restoring the next Best In Show at the Pebble Beach, California, Cours d’Elegance.
“This is the creme de la creme of car shows,” Corky remarked. “The car that wins Best In Show at Pebble Beach is probably the best restored classic car in America for the year. Only two of the cars are known to exist, and the tire was not available. I figured a way to build a mold, made two sets of tires for this car, and delivered them in about eight months’ time. He did win Best In Show. The real kicker was that my friend had bet a large sum of money with the car owner that he could restore it in time for the show, which was a grand feat in itself, outfit it with brand new tires which had not been available, and that it would win Best In Show. He won the bet. I got the business, and you can go on the Pebble Beach website and see the Daimler 66, which won. The tires are massive and made right here in Chattanooga.”
In recent years, Corky has committed Coker Tire to the future of Chattanooga’s Southside. His company occupies the old Crane Building, circa 1910, which was originally home to the Cahill Iron Works at 1317 Chestnut Street. Renovations of the Crane Building and a couple of adjoining structures are in progress, and eventually tours will be conducted through a working facility which has the feel of a museum complete with a visible production line to show how tires are made. Across the street are a machine shop and storage building, and just a block away is the old Powerhouse Building, circa 1890, beautifully restored and leased as office space.
Under Corky’s supervision, several other Southside buildings have been restored. He also purchased the former Turnbull Cone property and the old Container Corporation property about three miles away. The Container Corporation building is serving as a 150,000-square foot warehouse and distribution center. Vintage tires are stacked wall to wall and ceiling tall.
Next door to Coker Tire is the home of a Chattanooga icon, the Honest Charley Speed Shop, which was established here in 1948. Corky and partner “Honest” Mike Goodman revived the brand several years ago. Along with hot rod parts, Honest Charley is also selling a proprietary motorcycle powered by a flathead Ford V-8 engine. Honest Charley employs 15 people.
Considering the success of Coker Tire, the question about the future comes up regularly. Corky says there is always another project out there. He recently returned from a three-day visit to Germany with a notebook full of 67 new ideas and possibilities. Still, the Cokers are privileged to “play in our work and work in our play.” Antique cars and motorcycles are the family hobby. Corky’s collection of 50 vintage motorcycles and numerous automobiles, includes a 1909 Lozier, 1914 Mitchell, 1916 National, 1910 Excelsior, and a 1955 Chevy. He is currently restoring a 1910 Nyberg race car, a model which was originally built in Chattanooga.
“One thing I can tell you is that my father and brother and I have had imagination,” he noted. “We did imagine neat stuff for this business, but honestly none of us envisioned that it would be as wildly successful as it is and garner worldwide acclaim. I have had the opportunity to be on TV often and interact with a number of celebrities because they are car collectors. I have a number of friends who are celebrities, but that doesn’t change who we are or the importance of doing the right thing, whether it is for John Doe or Jay Leno.”
A feeling of family pervades Coker Tire Company, and the president knows the name of every employee, from the customer service representative to the man on the forklift. A family photo also hangs on his office wall. Pop Coker is in the center. Parents Harold and Lillian, married 54 years, enjoying life and continuing to be involved in projects, are there. Corky and Theresa, his wife of 30 years who has spent much of her career as a registered nurse at Memorial Hospital, are there. Also present are David and his wife, Kathy. Of course, there are also the children. Corky’s daughter, Casey, has graduated from Carson Newman College and is active in the company, while son, Cameron, will graduate from Carson Newman this year.
“Quite frankly,” Corky reflected, “it was my grandfather who gave the start to my father. Then, my father spent years and years with the retail shop and doing a lot of the heavy duty work. My brother was involved in vintage parts for a few years and helped with our entrance into the wheel business. He has now realized his dream of owning his own business here in Chattanooga, selling high performance tires and aluminum wheels specifically for hot rods. My daughter is here now, and the generational change is fun. I can just see Pop Coker walking through here and being as proud as punch.”
Through all the day-to-day bustle of running a highly successful company, Corky Coker continues to tell people that his family and his business are “very blessed.” The prevailing sentiment is that Coker Tire Company provides the best product available in the world, delivered by the best people. Judging from the response, such an assessment is accurate.