This morning I'm watching what could have been an awesome idea for a show, a special, heck I'd even pay $10 to see it as a movie. The idea was to have a host cruise around looking for "barn-finds" - cool old iron hiding out in sheds, garages and shops across, in this case, the south. A great idea for a show for sure because every car guy has heard about - and dreams of - coming of across a rare model that was parked long ago and can be hauled home and returned to it's original glory.
The host for this particular iteration of "Barn Finds TV" was none other than Corkey Coker, the multi-millionaire son of Harold Coker who started re-manufacturing old-style tires from his BF Goodrich tire store for the masses of cars being restored around the world. Over the years I've read a lot about Corky, as HotRod Magazine and other print media have featured him in many articles owing to his interest in all things automotive.
In print Corky rocks, with his bushy, curled under moustache and his penchant for finding, restoring and using classic cars of every size, shape and vintage. The millions he's skimmed off the profits of Coker Tire has also allowed him a lifestyle coveted by car-guys around the globe and when I see or read about people like that, there's always a part of me that hopes the guys is a decent sort, someone who knows how lucky he is and cares about the cars and people involved and maybe, just maybe, treats them with one-tenth the respect that people deserve to be treated, even if they don't travel in the concours de'elegance crowd of a Corky Coker.
On TV however, the way someone is portrayed - due largely to editing - can make or break the show and, of course, the host or person being featured. The way some editor decides to cut the shots, the things the get people say and the decisions as to what makes it into the final edit can seriously affect the personalities featured. In this case that personality was Corky Coker and that 20 minutes was enough to make him look like a cheap, grind you for $500, self-serving southern dufus!
The guy was so brutally portrayed, that that one show was enough to make me hate the guy! Poor rich bastard. Now I'm sure Corky Coker, or the editors of HotRod TV, didn't mean to make him look like the kind of guy that grinds you for $200 on a $10,000 car while holding $50 grand in his wallet, but that's what happened! And it's amazing to me that they - or anyone involved in the production of this episode - wouldn't have seen that having some rich guy cruise around finding rare old metal that any of us would beg, borrow and maybe even trade our kids for, then grind the owners down from $7500 to $6700 would be good for the guys persona! Poor rich bastard indeed.
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Well, so much for always giving people the benefit of the doubt (and blaming editors!).....
I posted thisblog entry on www.GarageJournal.com and not 2 minutes later another member posted a link to www.Hotrodders.com (excellent site) where they explain how Corky made himself out to be even (much) worse than he was portrayed on the HotRod TV episode! My aplogied to the editors of HR-TV!!!
Maybe Corky Coker really is "like that"!
Weird.
Don't forget to check out the website at www.E-tekRestorations.com !
