Harold Coker said he nearly stepped over the line years ago in pursuing his antique car collection.
"I began to spend money on cars," the retired businessman and former Hamilton County commissioner said of the incident early in his marriage in the mid-1950s, "and it almost caused me a divorce. We were eating a lot of beans. I had to slow it down."
Gradually, but with the eye of a gemologist, Mr. Coker purchased nearly a car a year for the next 50 years and now has a barn full of glittering antique automobiles.
About half of them, he said, have been honored with first prizes in Antique Automobile Club of America competitions. Several are the last few of their kind.
"After a while," said Mr. Coker, "they get to be part of the family."
Steve Moskowitz, executive director of the Antique Automobile Club of America, said the East Brainerd resident is "a true hobbyist" and "one of the original modern-day pioneers of the hobby."
"He is a kingpin, someone we look up to," he said.
Now 80, and admitting "age take its toll," he still spends part of every day he can restoring one or the other of his vehicles. Although he farms out some of the work and has a man help him once a week, he maintains "I still do quite a bit."
"I'm good at removing and replacing, at assembling and disassembling," said Mr. Coker, but not as skilled at machining, plating and upholstery, he said.
While his collection is a who's who of pre-1916 automobile makes, he reveres none more than his collection of Thomas vehicles
"For the earliest cars, they were very dependable," said Mr. Coker, who bought his first one in Altoona, Pa., in 1961 and now has eight. "They were wonderful ... big. They went from one cylinder to six cylinders."
Built between 1902 and 1912 in Buffalo, N.Y., they were a high-end marque and could cost up to $6,000, he said. By the end of their run, though, Ford was putting out Model-Ts that cost as little $380, he said.
IN THE COLLECTIONBesides his revered Thomas cars, other prizes in Harold Coker's antique car collection are:* The only restored Chattanooga-made Nyberg roadster in existence and one of only three left. Mr. Coker's son, Corky, has one of the other two.* A 1909 Petrel, whose purple color is authentic as evidenced by the original piece that accompanies the car in Mr. Coker's car barn.* A 1914 Kansas-made Case delivery van outfitted with a Human Eye Auto Lamp (which allowed drivers to see around a corner) and a whistle and keyboard, which, in calliope style, summoned its hearers to the van.* A 1951 Ford convertible, painted bright red and similar in style, Mr. Coker, said to the one in which he courted his wife, Lill. It was used as part of his granddaughter 's wedding festivities this weekend.
The doctors and lawyers and executives who bought the dependable Thomas car could buy 15 Model-Ts for the same money.
"It was a victim of its own success," Mr. Coker said.
The Athens, Tenn., native said his father always liked cars and "infected all three of his sons with the hobby."
Mr. Corker said his father bought an antique Model-T Ford when he was in high school in 1945 and eventually turned it over to him.
He said he learned to be an entrepreneur by selling and buying back the car for less money several times when the buyer couldn't fix it. His father, he said, could fix anything, allowing him to turn a profit each time he sold it.
Pre- and post-college jobs at an Athens tire store, B.F. Goodrich and eventually his own tire company have allowed Mr. Coker to combine business and pleasure, he said. His own company eventually spun off a division that distributes tires for antique cars across the world.
Mr. Moskowitz said he doesn't know where antique enthusiasts would be without it.
"It's important to our hobby," he said.
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