COKER CORNER RECAP FROM KISSIMMEE What a way to kick off 2022. We rolled into Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida, with big expectations, and all of them were exceeded. The crowd was great, and the collection of cars was over-the-top. With more than 3,500 cars rolling through the auction, it was a record-breaking event, and we had some great one-on-one time with many of our customers over the course of the 11-day auction. The collector car market seems stronger than ever, and we picked up on quite a few trends as we checked out the vehicles each day. Founded in 1958, Coker Tire Company is the world’s largest manufacturer of tires and wheels for collector vehicles. With authentic brands such as Firestone, BF Goodrich, Michelin and more, the Chattanooga, Tennessee-based company supplies a 100-year range of tire fitments for classic cars, muscle cars, Hot Rods, classic trucks and more. Coker Tire also offers a wide variety of American-made steel wheels and high-quality accessories for numerous applications. Find out more about the extensive product line at CokerTire.com. Now that the dust has settled, Mecum Auctions announced that this event shattered all-time sales records, bringing in $217 million. There were dozens of heavy-hitting cars in the lineup, many of which rolled on Coker Tire products. We’ve preached for years about the importance of authentic tires, and in the case of Mecum Kissimmee 2022, there were hundreds of excellent examples rolling across the block. Bias-ply tires were quite common, and that’s usually a good signal to the buyer that the rest of the car is up-to-par. If it’s rolling around on generic radials from the local department store, there may be other questionable details about it as well. It’s amazing how much you can tell about a car’s authenticity with a quick look at the rolling stock, so let’s get into some of our favorite Coker-equipped vehicles from the auction. CORVETTES APLENTY There were hundreds of Corvettes up for grabs at Mecum Kissimmee, and we’ll touch on a few of the notable ones. Near the top of our list is the 1966 Corvette Pilot Line L88, a factory-built road race car with a very early development 427 CI/430 HP big-block. Bidding stopped at $1.1 million, and it’s hard to put a firm value on such a rare and significant car. We loved the fact that it rolls vintage-style Firestone tires, specifically our Firestone Indy 920-15s. We spent a great deal of time and money developing those tires for mid-1960s Indy cars, but they’re also a nice fit for vintage road race cars of this era. Other high-dollar Corvettes included a foursome of 1963 Corvette Z06 split window coupes. Three of the four were street-prepared versions with the other being the “Gulf One” race car. The three street cars included an extremely rare right-hand- drive Australian export in Daytona Blue, a 39,000-mile survivor in Riverside Red and an exquisitely restored Sebring Silver example. All three of them rolled on authentic bias-ply tires. Additional Coker-equipped Corvettes included four first-generation cars with factory race components. HOMOLOGATION SPECIAL This one was a bit tough to spot, because it looked like a run-of-the-mill, base-model Mercury. But the fact of the matter is the 1957 Mercury Monterey M-335 is an incredibly rare car, built to meet NASCAR’s homologation requirements. It featured a 368 CI Lincoln Y-Block engine with 335 HP. For those of you keeping score, that’s about 50 HP more than the most powerful Chevrolet produced in 1957 and 40 HP behind the mighty 392 CI Chrysler Hemi. This particular car featured a very thorough restoration, with all original components. Of course, it was rolling on a set of our authentic bias-ply tires—this time a set of our BF Goodrich Silvertown 800-14 blackwalls mounted to the original steel wheels. It went for $77,000 after its reserve was lifted. 126 // MECUM.COM
