Coker buys pair of U.S. collector/vintage wheel producers

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Vintage tire and wheel supplier Coker Group has acquired PS Engineering and Vintage Wheel Works, producers of cast aluminum wheels for collector vehicles ranging from vintage to muscle cars.

Coker Group President and CEO Wade Kawasaki called both brands a "natural fit" for the Coker Group portfolio and said they represent a "continued focus on the restoration market while allowing us to give our customers a broader spectrum of choices."

The acquisition brings Coker Group its first aluminum wheel brands, Mr. Kawasaki said, ranging from "period-correct" 15-inch five-spoke "mag" style wheel to 17-inch pro-touring wheels.

Financial terms were not disclosed. The sister companies are based in La Habra, Calif.

Vintage Wheel Works offers a range high-quality wheels in styles popularized on muscle and race cars from the 1960s and '70s, Coker Group said.

The company's broad size and fitment options accommodate everything from restorations and period-correct builds to larger wheels for resto-mod and pro-touring cars, with diameters designed to accommodate modern performance brakes and tires.

PS Engineering was founded in 1988 to provide proper vintage wheels for now valuable collector cars, racing cars, street rods, and specials. The brand has been a wheel of choice in the historic racing and Cobra communities for decades, Coker Group said, and the wheels are competition proven on some of the fastest and rarest historic race cars.

This purchase represents the second major acquisition by the Coker Group since its purchase by the Coker management team and Irving Place Capital in October 2018.

The acquired companies will expand Coker Group's holdings, which already comprise Coker Tire, Wheel Vintiques, Universal Vintage Tire, Phoenix Race Tires, Specialty Wheel and Roadster Wire Wheel brands.