Car Guy Magazine Car Guy Magazine Issue 215 | Page 16

“The Great Race and Coker Tire Challenge are both fun ways
for collectors to drive and showcase their prized vehicles in an exciting and family friendly manner,” Coker says.
Coker Tire is regularly involved in creating one-off tires for authentic restorations of extremely rare vehicles. This service is offered
to collectors and organizations who need authentic tires that match
hard-to-find vintage automobiles. Recently, Coker reproduced oneof-a-kind all-white tires for a 1919 Pierce-Arrow Model that was
originally custom made for silent movie star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. The 2007 Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance awarded the
Pierce-Arrow by awarding the pristine restoration with first place in
the class B (Vintage 1916-1924) category.
“Thanks to our sparkling white tires, the ’Fatty‘Arbuckle PierceArrow could be seen for miles at Pebble Beach,” Coker says.
Because of its expertise in the vintage tire industry, Coker Tire
has made appearances in various television programs and films. The
company’s products were featured in Tim Allen’s fictional garage on
Home Improvement, as well as in several major motion pictures,
including Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Driving Miss Daisy, Ghostbusters, The Green Mile and many others. Coker Tire personnel
also helped design some of the period tire shop storefronts seen in
both Roger Rabbit as well as the film Miller’s Crossing.
In 2003, Coker Tire was approached by Law & Order: Criminal Intent to assist with the authentication of a plot. In the episode,
the show’s detectives used the classic vehicle tread marks on a garage
floor to determine what type of cars had been purchased.
“NBC sought us out for our classic tire expertise,” says Coker.
“We provided them with a selection of classic tires with a variety of
unique tread designs, some photos of tires tracks and a supply of our
tire catalogs to validate the show’s premise.”
Coker also re-kindled the Honest Charley Speed Shop with
business partner “Honest” Mike Goodman. Honest Charley, originally founded in 1948, is widely known to be the world’s first mail
order speed shop.
Many see Coker as a true savior to the collector car market; if
not for his passion for preservation and restoration, so many collector cars would go without proper and authentic tires. His diligent,
determined passion helps keep the hobby rolling.

14 CarGuyMagazine.com