As a 2013 inductee into the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Hall of Fame, Wade Kawasaki has long played a role in the organization’s ongoing progress, especially as it relates to expanding SEMA’s international presence.
By 1978 he was a counterman for the Retail Speed Shop and Accessories Centers chain. From this vantage point, Kawasaki observed a steady influx of customers from overseas. Enthusiasts were walking into the store from Scandinavia, including Sweden and Finland, and searching for American muscle car parts. In an effort to better serve those customers, Kawasaki suggested that his employer start an export department, but his boss saw no need and thought that if people wanted to buy parts, they’d come into the stores.
Although his effort was initially rejected, the idea eventually spawned a business plan. In 1987, Kawasaki and his wife Rose started their own company, Exports International, in their two-bedroom house in Gardena, Calif.
“I remember our first 53-foot truckload of gaskets coming in,” says Kawasaki. “We literally had 4x8 plywood sheets that I set up all around the house. We filled the entire living room, dining room and kitchen with these gaskets, and I used the plywood to make little tunnels.”
Hoping for advice about operating his small business, Kawasaki joined SEMA. As a member of the association, he took advantage of every member benefit available, including global shipping incentives, marketing opportunities and the most important tool – networking. It was former SEMA Vice President Don Turney who encouraged him to get actively involved, beginning with an effort to try to organize SEMA’s younger professionals.
His volunteer work with the Young Executives Network was only the beginning. Before long, Kawasaki was elected to the SEMA Board of Directors. Suddenly, he wasn’t just networking with the sales managers and sales vice presidents at member companies; he was interacting with the CEOs. At this point, he met someone who would serve as a mentor, a colleague and an employer – Corky Coker of Coker Tire.
“Here’s a guy from Chattanooga, Tenn., who I would probably never have met, in a segment of the industry that I knew very little about – vintage tires,” Kawasaki says. “And because of work in (SEMA) leadership with him, especially serving as secretary/treasurer for the board, it’s led to this opportunity to work with Corky.”
Currently Kawasaki is executive vice president of the Coker Group, which includes 11 different companies. And despite his success, he remains humble about his ongoing career, stating simply that it is a tremendous blessing. He even admits that he’s enjoying things far too much to consider retirement.
“I get to work with people who I enjoy being with and who have grown far beyond co-workers and are really close friends,” he reports. “I don’t know how retirement could get better than this. I’m really enjoying this spot in my life.”
Kawasaki also remains as committed as ever to SEMA, insisting that there’s always a need to stay connected to the industry. Whether he’s serving as a sponsor/organizer for the annual SEMA Show Prayer Breakfast, becoming a founding board member of the SEMA PAC or working with the SEMA Show long-range-planning task force, he has always generously donated his time to the association. In fact, he continues to dedicate his time to numerous councils and committees purely out of gratitude to the association.
“If it wasn’t for the mentors that I met in getting involved in SEMA, I wouldn’t be where I am,” he notes. “If you do something you’re passionate about, work will actually be fun and you will do some really amazing things.”
Kawasaki recently answered a series of questions posed by Aftermarket Business World:
Q: How does it feel to be inducted into the SEMA Hall of Fame?
A: It’s still kind of a surreal experience. SEMA means a lot to me; I attended my first SEMA Show when I was 19. Everybody talks about getting that call from Chris (Kersting, SEMA’s president and CEO, who told Kawasaki of his Hall of Fame selection). It was pretty much a heart-stopping moment. I know that there are probably a bunch of folks out there who are more deserving than I, but there’s certainly nobody happier than I.
My interest in the automotive industry started at the age of 10, when I pumped gas at my father’s filling station. Just filling up those cars with gas, washing their windows and checking their oil – I got to look under their hoods. That was cool stuff! Each day, I watched all makes and models of cars drive in and out, and I knew at that time that was where my passion lied. I haven’t wavered since.
Q: What types of specialty tires does Coker carry?
A: We have 17 different brands and styles of bias ply tires, 10 different brands and styles of radial tires and 8 different brands and styles of performance tires. Those range from vintage race tires to vintage Ferrari tires.
Q: How would you describe your customer base?
A: The majority of our sales are to street cars. We also have vintage motorcycle and scooter tires. We even have vintage airplane tires and vintage bicycle tires for people who are restoring bicycles.
Q: Is there much demand for agricultural tires for enthusiasts who are restoring old tractors and related equipment?
A: That market is growing very rapidly. We have paddle tires for antique farm vehicles that went into the snow. Some agricultural tires are used for the monster truck industry.
Q: What is the extent of your distribution network?
A: We ship container loads of tires to over 40 countries.
Q: How can an aftermarket business owner best assist a customer with specialty tire needs?
A: The shop owners contact us directly. The second floor is filled with tire experts (to provide specific advice). We manufacture tires for some very unusual applications. We also build classic wheels and muscle car steel wheels.
Q: What is involved when creating a custom tire?
A: We do everything we can to replicate a period-correct tire. When we have a special tire, the more it’s going to cost. So the vehicle has to have a high value, but we’ll pull out all the stops for them.
Q: How do you decide whether a particular tire design is suitable for production?
A: We have a development committee, and we use a matrix of market demand, production availability and production costs. Do we have the original molds? Do we have the original mold drawings? Or will we be starting from scratch?
Q: How do you obtain hard-to-find designs?
A: The closest analogy is “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Corky will travel the world seeking out old molds, and we have license agreements with manufacturers to continue producing retired models.
Q: What are some of the other methods for producing specialty tires?
A: We have a tire engineer who has a lot of experience, and he will do a mold drawing from an existing sample. It all gets engineered in a process first. There are a number of factors to consider throughout the building process.
Q: What are the costs associated with ramping up production?
A: If the tire is very close to something we’re already building it can be as low as $25,000. If we have to start from scratch it could be as high as $100,000.
Q: How do you take into account outmoded tire manufacturing techniques and the technological requirements for today’s vehicle standards?
A: We can adopt an existing tire design. All of our tires are made in either a vintage mold or in a new mold with the original specifications. But they are all produced with modern tire making technology and with the latest materials.
For more information, visit www.wadekawasaki.com and www.cokertire.com.
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