Coker Tire
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Coker Tire Company is a
Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...
-based company that manufactures and sells vintage-style
Michelin Michelin ( , ), in full ("General Company of the Michelin Enterprises P.L.S."), is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes '' région'' of France. It is the second largest t ...
, Firestone, BF Goodrich and
Uniroyal Uniroyal, formerly known as the United States Rubber Company, is an American manufacturer of tires and other synthetic rubber-related products, as well as variety of items for military use, such as ammunition, explosives, chemical weapons and op ...
bias-ply A tire (North American English) or tyre (Commonwealth English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineeri ...
and radial whitewall tires for collector
automobiles A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...
.


History

The company was originally a tire and service center founded in 1958 by Harold Coker. He would later give his son Corky Coker the opportunity to manage the antique division, which was a small percentage of the company's earnings. Corky devoted 40 years to growing the antique division of the business, eventually making it the company's primary focus. Corky retired in 2014, and he appointed Wade Kawasaki as President to oversee the operations of six companies and numerous brands under the Coker Group. In November 2018, Corky sold Coker Tire and its parent company, Coker Group, to Irving Place Capital. Though Coker's products retain the appearance of the old tires by using the original, refurbished molds, or new molds built from original drawings, the tires are made with modern materials. Coker Tire was given manufacturing rights by the original tire brands, and also has acquired many different tire molds of the original obsolete tires they manufacture. Coker Tire also offers wheels for collector vehicles.


Tires

Coker Tire sells its own brand of bias ply and
radial Radial is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Mathematics and Direction * Vector (geometric), a line * Radius, adjective form of * Radial distance (geometry), a directional coordinate in a polar coordinate system * Radial set * A ...
tires, called the Coker Classic, but it also offers a number of popular brands, such as B.F.Goodrich, Firestone, U.S. Royal, Michelin, Vredestein, Excelsior and American Classic in both bias ply and radial construction. Coker Tire is the leading source for Firestone Deluxe Champion tires, as well as B.F.Goodrich Silvertown tires. Many of the tires are exact OEM replacement tires for a wide range of vintage makes and models. Coker also sells modern radial tires, manufactured with whitewalls, redlines and other sidewall treatments, built for many applications. By using refurbished original molds, the tires are authentic to the originals, while the modern manufacturing procedures and materials offer safe and reliable driving characteristics. Coker Tire's President, Corky Coker, has searched the world for discontinued molds that can be rebuilt and used for modern tire manufacturing. On any of Coker's tires with custom sidewall such as a whitewall or a redline, the particular sidewall treatment is actually a part of the manufacturing process, instead of manufacturing a tire, then applying the sidewall treatment after the fact. In 1994, Coker Tire released a radial tire with a wide whitewall, which was a first of its kind. Coker now sells many brands that offer whitewall radial tires, and distributes a modern radial tire that has the narrow tread profile and distinct shoulders of a vintage bias ply tire. These tires are very popular with enthusiasts who want the vintage look, with the increased driving comfort of a radial tire. Coker Tire also has a Performance Division, which sells mostly drag racing tires. Coker sells Phoenix Race Tires, M&H Racemaster, Pro-Trac, and select Firestone vintage tires through its performance division. Coker has also developed a line of Firestone Indy tires, built for a variety of vintage Indy cars. Coker Tire formerly sold what they described as the largest bicycle tire in the world, at 36 inches in diameter. Other unique offerings are its tires for Vintage Trucks and Military Vehicles, as well as its Vintage Motorcycle tires.


Wheels

Coker Tire sells wheels and wheel accessories for a wide range of applications. Most of its offerings are steel wheels, designed to replace worn out OEM wheels, on makes such as Chevrolet, Ford, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Mercury, Chrysler, Buick, Volkswagen and many others. Coker also offers OEM wire wheels for Buick, Cadillac, Chrysler, Packard, Ford Model A and Ford Thunderbird but also offers custom wire wheels for hot rods. Coker sells custom wheels for hot rods and other modified collector vehicles. Coker is also a distributor for Rocket Racing Wheels and Dayton Wire Wheels. Hubcaps, trim rings valve stems and other tire and wheel accessories are offered by Coker. Coker proudly advertises that it will provide free mounting and balancing if customers buy tires and wheels together.


Memorabilia

With official licensing for Michelin vintage products, as well as Firestone vintage products, Coker Tire sells automotive memorabilia, in addition to its tires, wheels and accessories. Metal signs, neon clocks, and poly-resin figurines are available items. Coker also sells die cast vehicles, and other collectible merchandise.


Bicycles and unicycles

Coker markets the following bicycles: * "Wheelman", a
penny-farthing The penny-farthing, also known as a high wheel, high wheeler or ordinary, is an early type of bicycle. It was popular in the 1870s and 1880s, with its large front wheel providing high speeds, owing to it travelling a large distance for every ro ...
, with a wheel in front and a wheel behind; *
cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...
-style
bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...
with 36 inch wheels called the "Monster Cruiser"; * two touring-style
unicycle A unicycle is a vehicle that touches the ground with only one wheel. The most common variation has a frame with a saddle, and has a pedal-driven direct-drive. A two speed hub is commercially available for faster unicycling. Unicycling is prac ...
s called "The Big One" and the "V2", each with a 36-inch tire and wheel combination.


References


External links


Official Website

Coker Cycles
{{American bicycle manufacturers Tire manufacturers of the United States Cycle manufacturers of the United States Cycle parts manufacturers Companies based in Chattanooga, Tennessee