The man who brought Porsche to America

Great read, WNGD! Thanks for calling attention to it.

Thanks for posting it

Very interesting read. Can you imagine the guts it would take to gamble on selling fragile European sportscars to a swaggering post-war America? Max Hoffmann was at least as responsible as Ferry Porsche for Porsche's success worldwide. Without him, Porsche might have collapsed under it's own weight, or been relegated to the margins of the automotive landscape.

That Americans bought them at all is surprising. That Mr. Hofmann established brands that would become icons and best-selling cars in this country was genius.

Yeah yeah, Hoffman was visionary blah blah blah. Ancient history and we all know it.

What I saw- the wheels with all those holes in them! It's inspiring, I tell you! Back to the drill press I go...

Thanks guys. I was a little sad there were no comments after 24 hours  

Stan Galat posted:

Very interesting read. Can you imagine the guts it would take to gamble on selling fragile European sportscars to a swaggering post-war America? Max Hoffmann was at least as responsible as Ferry Porsche for Porsche's success worldwide. Without him, Porsche might have collapsed under it's own weight, or been relegated to the margins of the automotive landscape.

That Americans bought them at all is surprising. That Mr. Hofmann established brands that would become icons and best-selling cars in this country was genius.

IaM-Ray posted:

Thanks for posting it 

Panhandle Bob posted:

Great read, WNGD! Thanks for calling attention to it

North Americans were already familiar with sports cars from overseas, as many returning soldiers from WWII brought back MGTCs with them.  Compared to the lumbering behemoths on the road at that time, a small, agile sports car was just what guys wanted.

So there was a market for Hoffman’s imports.

Is then when you brought yours

I understand that, Bob-- but can you imagine how hard it must have been for an average kid from Nowhere, USA to conceive of a Porsche Cabriolet that cost more than a Cadillac? For what, exactly?

He was able to sell NYC, and the country on that concept. I really do think that was something unique.

ALB posted:

Yeah yeah, Hoffman was visionary blah blah blah. Ancient history and we all know it.

What I saw- the wheels with all those holes in them! It's inspiring, I tell you! Back to the drill press I go...

I saw them too. They jumped out to me as well. Those wheels were 60 years ahead of their time.

Looking at photo#5, I feel as though I need to go out and buy a Stedson Hat, now......

Gordon:  You mean a fedora, don't you? 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedora

Wow.  Am I getting old, or what?

Stan Galat posted:

I understand that, Bob-- but can you imagine how hard it must have been for an average kid from Nowhere, USA to conceive of a Porsche Cabriolet that cost more than a Cadillac? For what, exactly?

He was able to sell NYC, and the country on that concept. I really do think that was something unique.

You are so right, Stan.  Those little four wheeled go karts were very revolutionary, and strange to so many people used to large land yachts.  Hoffman targeted the well-to-do with this cars, and thankfully, those cars eventually trickled down to the rest of us.  I remember back in high school, a local fellow had a 356 coupe, and few of us had ever seen one like that.  Porsches may have gotten over here eventually, but Max sped up the process, and maybe helped to make Porsche into a viable company.

Hey, Bob, my dad wore one of those daily  

So did mine, but just when he got dressed up.  Being supervisor of a provincial bridge crew didn't call for fancy hats.

I had a nice one a while ago - a little sportier than those - and it was a great hat.  An Orvis creation.  I actually tried some on this past week.  Hats are one 'fashion accessory' that are actually worthwhile. 

Enjoy this old car scene  from Sabrina Car scene

W

Bob: IM S6 posted:

So did mine, but just when he got dressed up.  Being supervisor of a provincial bridge crew didn't call for fancy hats.

I had a nice one a while ago - a little sportier than those - and it was a great hat.  An Orvis creation.  I actually tried some on this past week.  Hats are one 'fashion accessory' that are actually worthwhile. 

Well, my issue is that my head is so big my mother used to send me to the basement with it to get 10 lbs of potatoes.  

We were so many kids in the bed as well that if we got cold my mom used to throw on another kid. 

1. re holy wheels: note the holes in the knock-off ears.

2. re post-war sports cars: the market was made not just by Hoffman, but by the whole brace of "sporty-car" gentlemen racers. Guys like Briggs Cunningham, Bill Spear, Johnny  Von Neumann and the rest were obviously having a grand old time, and a lot of folks wanted in. There were magazines (The Motor, Autocar, Road & Track and then Sports Cars Illustrated (soon to be Car & Driver) founded in 1955), Gymkhana clubs....

It was a scene.

The best marketing strategy is to join or make a social scene, and Porsche was from the first aiming straight at that rich-boy-racer scene, which was part of America's post-war car culture.

It was a massive rising tide. 

Hoffman did very well, but in that milieu, anyone would have.

3. re hats:  This is worth a read.

Thanks, Ed.  Nice piece.

I believe that Spyder with the "Holy Wheels" is actually a creation by Walter Glockler. He actually came up with the Spyder concept, and Porsche went with copying it in their own way after the 356s began to get outclassed by other makes.

Ah, so that's what this guy at Monterey car week was copying:

Hoffman convinced three reluctant car makers to build the following models. Each company thought there was no market for what he was suggesting:

Porsche Speedster

BMW 2002

Roadgoing version of Mercedes 300SL

Not a bad track record for someone in sales.

I don't think he was copying, they look pretty authentico to me Mitch.

"For someone in sales" indeed.  Most smart ideas in any corporation come from sales. Marketing always tries to take the credit but the idea  usually started with sales.

This was my experience during a 41 year sales / sales management career.  For Hoffman, the combination of owning a dealership plus sales experience enabled him to understand the American market very well ---what a smart guy.

I never knew Hoffman was responsible for the 2002.  Another home run he had.

Men wearing hats was pretty universal until Kennedy became president. It is interesting how it suddenly changed. Now I have to wear a hat every day to ward off skin cancer on my naked scalp.

Michael McKelvey posted:

Men wearing hats was pretty universal until Kennedy became president. It is interesting how it suddenly changed. Now I have to wear a hat every day to ward off skin cancer on my naked scalp.

I remember that well, and based upon what had happened with beaver hats, I could see it coming....this time I didn't get stuck with a bunch of inventory...

His showroom, since demolished, was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

I’ve mentioned this before, but since it pertains to the topic, I’ll post again. Our neighbors had an uncle and about the time I was eleven years old, would park out front of their house (seemed like a few times a week). He’d stop by for dinner I guess. Back in that era, he was the picture of a German rocket scientist (whatcha think Kelly), or at least a German auto race driver or pit crew engineer.

I just over the past few years found out differently.

So this little beauty, another Max Hoffman idea, was a “Continental”. Max surmised that if you splashed on some stupid chrome name on them, American drivers would be attracted by the “shiny objects” and buy more. Which apparently caught Uncle Victor’s eye. As the story goes from his niece. he wasn’t a rocket scientist nor an engineer of sorts. In fact, he was gassed in WWI and didn’t have his full wits about him. Spent the evenings reading magazines in the basement after dinner.

As you might notice, he didn’t take good care if it and sold it a few years later without telling the annoyed relatives.

None of this stopped me from drooling all over it every time it was parked there.