Wheels / Tires: Coker Tire Sold

[DEEPNHOCK]

https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/breakingnews/story/2018/nov/15/coker-family-sells-tire-business/483105/

(snippet copy - See link for entire article)

Sixty years after Harold Coker started his tire business in Athens, Tennessee, the Coker family has sold the tire and antique wheel production business to the company's management team, backed by the private equity firm of Irving Place Capital.

Coker Group CEO Wade Kawasaki announced today that he is leading a management buyout of Coker Tire, Wheel Vintiques, Universal Vintage Tire, Phoenix Race Tires, Specialty Wheel and Roadster Wire Wheel brands.

[52-fan]

I hope it is run by a real "car" person. The current CEO looks good, but too many of these buy outs are by people who are only in it to milk the company after the original owner is gone. If the focus becomes pleasing investors, the company will decline.

[willys54]

Hate to see what happens to their already over inflated prices once they establish a monopoly by buying out the competition.

[Chris Pile]

I hope it is run by a real "car" person.

Wade Kawasaki is a real car guy, check the new HOT ROD magazine for an interview.

[Ross]

I would be happy if they just made tires that were consistently round.

[TWChamp]

Hate to see what happens to their already over inflated prices once they establish a monopoly by buying out the competition.

That was my first thought also.

[Jerry Forrester]

That was my first thought also.

And would last more than 10,000 miles.

[Frank DuVal]

.

And would last more than 10,000 miles.

so, they copied the original construction exactly, I see.

Until the early 70s, it was hard to get a tire to last over 10 k miles in normal city driving. Hard for people to understand just how far tire technology has come in 50 years. Back then recaps were king of cheap transportation. Now no one carries recaps for passenger cars. No demand for them.

[jclary]

.

so, they copied the original construction exactly, I see.

Until the early 70s, it was hard to get a tire to last over 10 k miles in normal city driving. Hard for people to understand just how far tire technology has come in 50 years. Back then recaps were king of cheap transportation. Now no one carries recaps for passenger cars. No demand for them.

Good points, Frank. My second car was a spaceship looking 1960 Pontiac. That was back in 1964 the year after I graduated from high school and before I enlisted in the Air Force. Back then, I made a whopping $2.10 an hour from my factory job. By payday, my rent, car payment, gas and living expenses...I could hardly afford the air in my tires and buying new ones was unthinkable.

So...recaps it was. I bought a set of recaps for that big road hog from my local service station. The big selling point was that they were supposed to be highest quality "Aircraft Rubber!" GOOD GRIEF!!! after only a few weeks they were worn terribly. The guys at the service station claimed it was because I drove the car too hard. (Probably some truth to that) But I told them it was probably because of the Aircraft Quality Rubber...it only lasts because on airplanes it has no contact with the road!

Those were the days of a 19-year-old with an unfinished childhood

When I was a kid, I recall adults bragging about getting 8 or 9 thousand miles on a set of tires, or ten thousand miles on a tune-up, and 15 to 17 mpg with their cars. I never paid much attention to such things until the money had to come from my wallet. Then it got serious.

[6hk71400]

A set if Firestone 500's for my 1955 Speedster in 1968 mounted balanced and installed for $100.00. What I paid for the wife's Van I could have bought 6 sets but no use going back. Just don't have many work around's for safety and maintenance.

Bob Miles
Pacific Southwest Zone Coordinator

[Gunslinger]

Good points, Frank. My second car was a spaceship looking 1960 Pontiac. That was back in 1964 the year after I graduated from high school and before I enlisted in the Air Force. Back then, I made a whopping $2.10 an hour from my factory job. By payday, my rent, car payment, gas and living expenses...I could hardly afford the air in my tires and buying new ones was unthinkable.

So...recaps it was. I bought a set of recaps for that big road hog from my local service station. The big selling point was that they were supposed to be highest quality "Aircraft Rubber!" GOOD GRIEF!!! after only a few weeks they were worn terribly. The guys at the service station claimed it was because I drove the car too hard. (Probably some truth to that) But I told them it was probably because of the Aircraft Quality Rubber...it only lasts because on airplanes it has no contact with the road!

Those were the days of a 19-year-old with an unfinished childhood

When I was a kid, I recall adults bragging about getting 8 or 9 thousand miles on a set of tires, or ten thousand miles on a tune-up, and 15 to 17 mpg with their cars. I never paid much attention to such things until the money had to come from my wallet. Then it got serious.

Back in the '60s my dad was having a lot of heavy landscaping done that required earth movers. The guy in charge of the job said they purchased used airliner tires for the equipment due to being inexpensive. He said that tires on airliners at the time were good for maybe only two dozen take-off/landing cycles before being replaced. There was always a good supply of used tires like that on the market cheap and they worked fine for their purposes.

While recapping is still being done you really don't see it on passenger cars much...the liability involved probably is to blame...while a recap could be done to industry standards you have no idea of how good the original tire casing is

[52-fan]

The trucking company I worked for used a lot of recaps, but usually only on the trailers and never on the steer tires.

[kurtruk]

Now back to Coker...
Yes, the company must please the investors--that's the point of a profit driven company.
Now, will they look at some of the slow moving items (low demand, odd sizes) that Corky has provided the old car hobby, and say, "can't make any money keeping those in production--drop 'em." That's what worries me.

[studeguy54]

I met the man, Wade Kawasaki, quite unexpectedly a few months ago, with Lanny McNabb in Chattanooga, TN a few months ago, and he is quite a personable gentleman. Help them STAY in the business of making those hard-to-find sizes of tires, by buying them from the people who make them....profit IS what keeps America in business!