- Funding for this program was provided by Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory & Florist dedicated to helping you celebrate your life or the life of a loved one for over 85 years.

Chattanooga Funeral Home believes that each funeral should be as unique and memorable as the life being honored.

- This program is also made possible by support from viewers like you.

Thank you.

- On this episode of The A List, I visit the incredible Coker Museum and find out how this car aficionado developed his lifelong passion.

- So I got involved in cars.

My dad and I restored a 1932 Ford pickup truck which was my first car.

My dad had two brothers that were also into collecting cars.

I was around my grandfather, Pop Coker, who it was said of Pop that he could make a model A run better by leaning up against it.

(Alison laughs) So I was destined to be in this hobby, in this industry.

- Join me as I talk with Chattanooga's own Corky Coker.

Coming up next on The A List.

(upbeat music) In 1958, Harold Coker opened Coker Tire company and began offering tires and auto service to motorists right here in Chattanooga.

Coker Tire became an institution in the automotive industry.

And in 1974, Harold's son Corky took the helm and grew the company's antique tire division to unimaginable heights.

Corky sold Coker tire in 2018 but his love of vintage cars remains.

Now he's sharing that passion with the world through The Coker Museum.

Which houses his personal collection of over 100 vintage cars, motorcycles, and even airplanes.

I had a chance to visit Corky at the museum and learn all about the road to creating this destination for car lovers across the globe.

Well, Corky Coker, welcome to The A List.

- Well thank you for having me on the show and welcome to The Coker Museum, Alison.

- I mean, I wouldn't wanna be any place else.

I think I could really just sort of live here.

It is so dynamic and so exciting.

This place, we were already saying, probably the best backdrop we've ever had for the show.

- Well thank you.

We appreciate it very much.

- Well I'm excited to get to know you and of course I had to start by just saying Corky Coker because you have the most fun name ever and I wanna start with your name.

- Sure.

- How did you get the name Corky?

I imagine that's not your birth name.

- No, it's not my birth name.

My dad said, "Honey, you can name him anything you want to."

And she chose the name Joseph, after the coat of many colors in the bible.

She's a very spiritual woman, still is, still alive today.

But he said, "you can name him that, but I'm gonna call him Corky."

And it's after the Sunday morning comic strip, Gasoline Alley.

The junk guy, riding around with the cart and the mule was named Corky and so I was destined to be in the car business and have all this scrap iron.

- It was your birthright.

- It was my birthright.

- Just like Joseph had his.

- Yes ma'am.

Absolutely true.

- So let's talk about your childhood.

You grew up in Athens, what was that like?

- Yeah, we moved here in 1961.

I was born in '54, moved here in '61.

Went to second grade here at Sunnyside school, and then went to Woodmore Elementary and then Dalewood and then Brainerd high school.

But Athens was an amazing town.

I was some of the best friends with some of the Mayfields from Mayfield's milk.

I remember my grandfather who was my mother's father, was a dentist there in Athens, Tennessee.

He was one of the first babies born in outer ward Tennessee, cause that was a railroad town and they just built up towns next to the railroad.

So got a lot of history there and a lot of family in Athens, but we're Chattanooga people.

- Did you always know that you were gonna go into this business?

Were cars a fascination for you from the get go?

- Yeah.

Cars were a fascination for me, but I grew up on a farm out in Tyner and just knew that I was gonna be a country boy veterinarian.

I had cattle, I had pigs and goats and all kinds of stuff and determined that I wanted to be a veterinarian but I learned that I didn't have the grades that I needed to be one of the chosen.

Because at the time, UT did not have a veterinary school.

I went to...

I think there was like seven in the state of Tennessee that were chosen to go to Auburn.

And I think it was easier to get into med school than it was in the veterinary school.

But you know, I never would've made the top 50 much less the top seven.

So I got involved in cars.

My dad and I restored a 1932 Ford pickup truck, which was my first car.

My dad had two brothers that were also into collecting cars.

I was around my grandfather, Pop Coker, who it was said of Pop that he could make a model A run better by leaning up against it.

(Alison laughs) So I was destined to be in this hobby, in this industry.

- You were very close to Pop Coker?

- I was.

- Yeah.

- I was very close to him.

- Tell me about that relationship.

- My grandfather, Hardy Pop Coker, was youngest of 13 brothers and sisters, born in Brasstown Bald, North Carolina.

And only went through the third grade.

He was needed back on the farm to raise tobacco and he grew up learning how to use his imagination.

That's one thing, we all need to have kids to go to higher education.

But I believe that shop class is soul craft, you know?

Learning to use the imagination, I learned that from my grandfather.

He taught me how to hold a hammer solid.

He told me how to plough behind a mule.

And I learned a lot of really important things about life, like when you look through the ears of a mule when you're ploughing, you'll plough straight.

If you keep your eyes on the end of the furrow, you'll plough straight.

And that I told a bunch of McCallie boys that I teach how to be a man.

I tell them that story about, if you keep your eyes on the goal, you'll always plough straight.

- So what was the turning point from the aspirations of being a veterinarian to getting in your dad's tire business?

- Well, I went to Middle Tennessee State University and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga but I did not graduate.

My dad said, "okay boy, you have played enough.

You know all about babes and banjos and beer, but so you're gonna come home and work at the shop."

- You got your BA, just in the wrong B, right?

- Yeah.

- But I learned how to play the five string Banjo really well.

I'm telling you, Alison.

Anyway, I came home and my dad said, "I want you to take this fledgling part of our business."

And at that time we had three retail stores, we fixed flats and sold modern tires for 1962 Thunderbirds or whatever that were modern at the time.

And I took this fledgling part of our business, the vintage tire section of our business and made it grow.

And it went.

(Alison laughs) It grew to be internationally famous.

- [Alison] At the time, finding tires for antique cars was a challenge.

So Corky began manufacturing them in nearly every size to meet demand.

Under his leadership, Coker Tire company became the largest producer of vintage tires in the world.

Helping to shape the car collecting hobby as we know it.

- What did your dad think of that at the time?

I know he sort of, did he give you this job as a way to straighten you out?

Or did he really anticipate that you were gonna turn it into something he couldn't even imagine?

- You know my dad was very honest about his aspirations for me.

He wanted me to straighten up and fly right.

And he said, I needed to take my mom's course and humble 101, so that I could understand what my place was and what my goals in life should be.

And I didn't learn very well from my parents, I have to admit that because I always wanted to seek my own way.

And one of the things that my father did for me, he said, you need to do this and you need to do that.

He gave me big goals and I surpassed them by far.

He would say, bragging to other people, not so much to me, but he would brag to other people that he has taken that business much further than he ever dreamed and much further than he could have.

- There had to be a tipping point for you.

Where it wasn't just about selling tires, but it was about preserving history.

- Oh yeah.

- Do you remember when, you know, you sort of turned this business acumen and these dreams into a passion?

- Well, one thing I think most people that are watching your show... And congratulations on your show by the way, it's amazing.

The car people all have passion and they're all interested in history.

You know, the inventors of the first automobiles, Henry Fords, the Daimlers and those guys, they saw a need and they had an imagination and they put their thoughts and their dreams into reality.

And believe it or not, they created the industrial revolution for the world .

At the turn of the 19th century, at late 1800s, early 1900s, Henry Ford with mass production.

He was a country boy.

He just said, you know, I think I need to do this.

And then he had ideas and built a car for the masses for $300.

Whereas, a car like this Pierce-Arrow costs $7,000 in 1911, that's just amazing.

- So when did you start collecting?

Because clearly this vintage business, right?

Like there was a need.

There were all these cars that didn't have the right tires or no longer tires sold.

- Sure.

- But then that had to emerge.

I mean, we're looking around this unbelievable space which I can't wait to walk around with you.

- Sure.

- But you know, when did that turn into, okay, I think I'm gonna start collecting these cars that I'm also servicing?

- Well, I really don't understand your question.

I thought everybody collected cars.

- Right.

We all have garages like this.

- Yeah.

Everybody should.

Well, I'm not selling tires anymore.

Anyway, I think my first car was a 32 Ford pickup truck.

And that was just fun.

I guess probably when I found my first barn find.

That's a car that had been stored up in a barn maybe for dozens of years and it still had dust on it.

I drained the gas tank and put a new battery in it.

Checked the oil and it cranked right up.

And then when I drive it downtown people just give me a thumbs up and say, "wow, that is so cool."

- Well, I'm glad you brought up the barn.

Is it barnstorming?

Is that what you call it?

- Well I used to call it barnstorming when we'd just go out on our own and just look around.

I've got a 1976 International Scout, that I found on Sand Mountain just barnstorming, just driving down the road.

(Corky makes screeching sound) Saw this.

Knocked on the door, Yeah, we'd sell it.

It was rough but we restored it and I gave it to my son, Cameron.

And it's still in here in the museum and it'll go to his son, Thomas Elliot.

But those barn finds are just amazing.

I just found one just this last week.

I found a 1969 Jaguar E-Type Roadster, in a barn, in a garage, up above the makes and disc line.

Drove up there and got it.

And it's still got dirt on it.

That is just exciting.

People come through the museum they go, where did you find that?

It's just fun.

- [Alison] Corky, certainly makes these surprising discoveries sound fun.

And even though we couldn't get out on the open road, I still had an opportunity to discover my first barn find.

- Come here and let me show you this barn find.

- Oh my gosh!

What is she again?

- This is a 1969 Jaguar E-Type.

And it was in this building for years and you can even see their raccoon tracks.

- Wow.

- Where the raccoon laid on the top and then came down.

And for right now, I don't wanna clean it.

I'm going to restore it so it runs and then I'll display it.

- Wow.

- Because the car people just love that it's a real barn find.

- [Alison] Finding hidden gems like this one, clearly fuels Corky's passion.

So much so that he took his knowledge and expertise on the road with his own reality TV show, Backroad Gold.

Well, the only reason I know barnstorming is because I have caught a few episodes of Backroad Gold.

- Oh yeah.

- And I know that, you know, I don't happen to be the only one with a television show, that you've had a television show.

Which is actually, I think was the most fun.

- Yeah.

- To watch you have these episodes and experiences with your own kids and your son-in-law.

- Right.

- And to find these treasures that you turned, or trash that you turned into treasure.

- That's right.

- How did that show come up?

- So this was 2014 I think that the show- - 2013, 14.

- Yeah.

How did this happen?

- Several of my friends, including Mike Wolfe that is American Pickers, they've come up with the idea of a show on their own and then campaigned it out there to all the networks.

I knew this producer that did the show Overhaulin' with my friend Chip Foose, and he said, "we need to do a show, call it barn finds."

And somebody had owned that name so we named it Backroad Gold.

And the Travel channel picked it up within 48 hours.

- Wow.

- And it had great Nielsen's but the problem with television sometimes is they decide where they're going and what they want to do with their whole network before the show even is completely done.

And they decided before we even came out with the first show that they didn't want to be in automotive for a Travel channel.

Now, I could have cooked hot dogs on the intake or something as I went along and been like- - You did a food show.

- The new Andrew Zimmern or something.

Anyway, we did that and had great Nielsen's.

So the fun part was just sharing our passion and the passion of restoring cars, which we still do here at Honest Charley, we restore cars here and the back roads of America.

(upbeat music) - [Alison] That passion for restoring cars is evident with one look around The Coker Museum.

The space houses a remarkable collection that Corky has built over the years and each car has a story.

Luckily, I got a tour from the expert himself.

- So Mercer Raceabouts are probably the creme de la creme for a collector of brass era cars.

That means like the headlamps and the radiators are made of brass.

That is an era pre-1915.

This has a T-head motor, which is about about 500 cubic inches, which is a pretty heavy duty motor for a little lightweight car.

They didn't have a battery or a generator or anything.

Ran on a magneto, you hand crank it.

But this car for 1911 will do a hundred miles an hour.

- What?

- Absolutely.

- Without losing the wheels?

- Without losing the wheels.

Well, these we made, so of course we won't lose those.

I'll tell you another interesting fact, notice that this car has a right hand drive?

- Yes.

- The car that you drove here in is a left hand drive.

Pre-1914, all American made cars were right hand drive.

Now, you might think, oh no!

You might think that that was because of England.

Right hand drive versus left and all that sort of stuff- - I think I know why.

- Why is that?

- I didn't research this, but this is my guess.

- Yes.

- Because they needed a mechanic with them to be able to be their eyes since there was no rear view mirror.

- That is a really good answer, but it's not correct.

- Okay.

What is the right answer?

- So, they were on the right hand drive because of wagons and getting up on a wagon, the teamster would always sit on the right side of a wagon or a stage coach.

And then they determined that it's better with the automobile traffic, that the drivers would see eye to eye.

So then, you know, we were all driving on the right hand side of the road in 1911, so they moved the steering wheel over to the other side to make it... And the British, they left their cars on the right hand side.

Drove on the left hand side of the road.

So they also see each other.

- That's fascinating.

Well, the only reason I mention the mechanic is I know The Wasp was over here.

- Yeah.

Let's check it out.

- And what I gather, what I've read is that when Ray Harroun drove this in the Indy 500, the first one- - Right.

- Apparently, he was the only one without a mechanic.

- That's correct.

A riding mechanician.

- A riding mechanician.

Okay.

- Yes.

That's right.

- So what did that do?

How was that game changing for the automotive industry?

- Well, most people at the turn of the century in 1910-11, most guys were not 200 pounds, they were 150 pounds and Ray Harroun was a short guy.

And in fact he saved 150 pounds weight, which made him faster and more efficient.

So he had burned up less fuel.

He also, it is told of Ray Harroun, he went to the Firestone guys who had a tent there and had all their tires there on all of their cars and said, "what speed should I go if I was gonna win and I could have a less number of flats?"

Because at the turn of the century, they had flats, you know, in the first Indy 500, most cars had about 10 or 11.

Well, Ray Harroun had changed tires once and had like one flat.

- Wow.

- But he heard from the Firestone guys to do 74 and a half miles an hour.

Well, this Lozier next door to it, 1911 Lozier, it averaged about 85, driven by a guy named Ralph Mulford, but he had a plethora of flat tires.

So Ray Harroun, it was kind of the old tortoise and the hare win.

Ray won the first Indy 500 in 1911 averaging 74 and a half miles an hour.

- So, slow and steady really does win the race?

- As long as you keep your eye on the end of the furrow.

- Though he may no longer be selling tires, Corky has ensured that the Coker family legacy will carry on.

The Coker Museum continues to engage visitors from across the globe, inspiring the kind of passion that Corky feels about restoring old cars, which is still very much a part of his day-to-day.

Right next door to the museum is Honest Charley's Speed Shop.

Another Chattanooga institution that has been revitalized under Corky's leadership.

Let's talk about how Honest Charley started.

Let's talk about Charley Card.

- Yeah.

Charley Card, was an amazing guy.

You know, it's said of Charley Card that when he got out of World War II and came home, he had a little restaurant here on Chestnut street.

And the restaurant at that time, he had a number of Greek friends, the Goulises and a lot of those folks here locally, and they said, "Hey, you either need to be at the cash register or in the kitchen."

And he had just started his little meat and three downtown on Chestnut street.

And it was like, you know, one meat and three every day.

And he was in the kitchen, he decided to be in the kitchen.

So he put a cigar box upfront on the counter.

And said, "I'm honest, are you?

Charley Card, $1.25."

So you made your own change at his place.

- Wow.

- So he got involved in speed equipment.

He was involved in racing and went to Ormond Beach and he built his business to be the first mail order speed shop in the world.

From right here in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

And he and the family went through the catalog business.

They developed up big warehouse distributors all over the nation and the business started changing.

And in the nineties, it changed drastically.

And so they closed it down and I, you know, negotiated with the family a little bit and we picked it and resurrected it for hot rod speed parts at the time.

And it's just a great name and needed to live on and they appreciated that.

And you know, we're building and restoring old cars now.

We're not so much selling parts anymore.

There's Summit and Jegs and all the big boys that do that, but we have fun selling parts.

- So I wanna know about the next generation and how involved they are in the business or were involved in the business- - Yep.

- Before you sold.

- Yep.

So my son and daughter were both involved in Coker Tire company but they got married and did other things.

My son, Cameron, who also graduated from McCallie, went into photography and he has his own little photography studio and he did a lot of weddings and that sort of thing.

He came here to work with Honest Charley after we sold and what a joy that was to have my son here and to encourage him to take it and go.

And you know, I was supposedly... People asked me, are you retiring now that you sold?

Well, no, I'm not retiring.

I'm reassigned and I'm unemployable.

(Alison laughs) But my son was tragically killed in a car wreck in March- - I'm so sorry.

- Of 2021.

And so his wife, Hillary, is now involved in the business.

And my daughter, she's got a young baby also.

Hillary has a 13 month old son and my daughter, Casey, has.... Violet is 12 months now.

She's a year old.

So when she gets a little bit older, then we'll have both Casey and Hillary here and make it go, make it go.

God has a plan and I know that I just wanna be in his plan.

- So if you had to predict the road ahead of you, what's the goal for the next phase, for the next reassignment?

- So, you know, according to Audie Blaylock's song, it says, you don't know what's in front of you, cause the road, it always winds.

And you know, the song was written to be about finding barn finds, you know, but that's also about love and that's also about, you know, doing what you're called to do.

I wanna make a difference in lives.

- Well, I think one of the lines of the theme song to Backroad Gold, says something to the effect of, you keep looking because you never know what you're gonna find.

- That's right.

- Well, and I'm glad we kept looking because we found you today and you are a treasure.

Thank you so much for being on the show.

- Thank you, Alison.

- Get access to even more of the shows you love.

With WTCI passport, an exclusive benefit for members of WTCI PBS.

Watch your favorite shows and passport on the PBS video app.

Download it today.

- Funding for this program was provided by Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory & Florist dedicated to helping you celebrate life or the life of a loved one for over 85 years.

Chattanooga Funeral Home believes that each funeral should be as unique and memorable as the life being honored.

- This program is also made possible by support from viewers like you.

Thank you.