Coker Tire
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| Private | |
| Industry | tire whitewall tire |
| Founded | Tennessee (January 30, 1958 |
| Headquarters | Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States |
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Key people
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Corky Coker, CEO and owner |
| Products | Vintage tires and unicycles |
| Revenue | unknown |
| unknown | |
| unknown | |
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Number of employees
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unknown |
| Website | www.cokertire.com |
Coker Tire Company is a Chattanooga, Tennessee-based company that manufactures and sells vintage-style Michelin, Firestone, BF Goodrich and Uniroyal bias-ply and radial whitewall tires for collector automobiles. Applications include: restored classic vehicles, Brass Era vehicles, Hot Rods, Muscle Cars, Modern Muscle Cars, Vintage Trucks, Military Vehicles, Vintage Motorcycles, European Sports Cars, Micro Cars, Scooters, Vintage Airplanes, among many others. 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. In addition to tires, Coker Tire also offers wheels for collector vehicles. Many Brass Era style wheels are manufactured by Coker Tire in its in-house machine shop, while muscle car and hot rod wheels are manufactured by Specialty Wheel in Portland, Oregon. Coker Tire's line of authentic wire wheels are manufactured by Roadster Wire Wheel. Tire and wheel accessories are also available from Coker Tire, making it possible to buy a complete tire, wheel and accessory package from one source. The company also has a distribution facility in Fresno, California and over 30 distributors worldwide.
Tires
Coker Tire sells its own brand of bias ply and radial 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, Hoosier Pro Street Radials, 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 also sells what they describe 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. [1]
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. An in house machine shop is responsible for custom wheel manufacturing for Brass Era style vehicles, which use clincher mounting system and other antiquated forms of tire mounting. 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 "Wheelman", a penny-farthing, with a 36-inch (910 mm) wheel in front and a 12-inch (300 mm) wheel behind;[2] a cruiser-style bicycle with 36 inch wheels called the "Monster Cruiser";[3] and two touring-style unicycles called "The Big One" and the "V2", each with a 36-inch tire and wheel combination.[4][5]
References
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