Joseph “Corky” Coker, self-proclaimed “car guy” and perhaps Chattanooga’s leading ambassador to the collector-car community, is the grand marshal of the 2021 Chattanooga Motorcar Festival.
The three-day festival here, Oct. 15-17, will feature a Concours d’Elegance, a 600-vehicle Mecum Auction, a Ferrari show and a series of wheel-to-wheel auto races in downtown Chattanooga.
The festival is expected to attract up to 40,000 auto enthusiasts. Coker, who operates the The Coker Museum and Honest Charley Speed Shop in Chattanooga, was a previous owner of Coker Tire, the largest supplier of collector-vehicle tires and wheels in the world. (The company, started by Corky’s late father Harold Coker, was sold in 2018.)
The Coker Museum on Chestnut Street houses some of his 180 vintage cars and motorcycles. Coker has also been chairman of the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), the world’s biggest auto aftermarket entity with 700 member companies.
Here, in his own words, Coker gives a more detailed look at the upcoming festival.