Maxhoffmaninterview.1308361657

Sterling silver 356 occupies a place of honor in Hoffman's Palm Beach home. It was a gift from Ferry Porsche in honor of Hoffman's racing success in 1952. AConversation with MAXHOFFMAN Maximilian E. Hoffman pioneered the marketing biography of Hoffman for Automobile Quarterly. of Porsches in America. He did the same for "About Max Edwin Hoffman there is no shortage of Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, A/fa Romeo, opinions, ofpoints of view. But no one says that he is Lancia, Fiat, Jaguar, and a host of lesser European not interesting. So harsh and intense is the concen makes. From his Frank Lloyd Wright designed trated blue light that Hoffman focuses on his affairs showroom on Park A venue in New York, Hoffman that many cannot stand the glare. Such men are introduced the United States to exotic foreign respected, but not loved, and so it is with Max Hoff automobiles and at the same time persuaded Euro man. " pean manufacturers to design special models and op Hoffman was born near Vienna, Austria, on No tions for the American market. The going was not vember 12, 1904, the son of a wealthy bicycle factory always easy on either side of the Atlantic, but with the owner. From childhood on he was surrounded by patience and persistence of a skilled negotiator and motorcycles and automobiles, racing both with some single-minded determination, Hoffman prevailed. It success as a young man. As he says, he has seen the en is not an exaggeration to suggest that Max Hoffman is tire development of the automobile. There can be no thefather ofthe imported car in America. doubt that he has been a major influence in the As Karl Ludvigsen points out in his excellent 1972 postwar phase ofthat development. JUNE. 1980/ 5 He immigrated to America in 1941 with the idea of BJT: Tell us how you came to know Porsche. You selling European cars in the United States. But by had some contact with Porsche before you heard December, A merica was at war and the prospects of about the car. selling imported cars here were bleak. Hoffman sur Hoffman: I had before the war with Anton vived during the war years by manufacturing metal Piech, the son-in-law of Professor Porsche. He was ized plastic costume jewelry, samples of which he still a lawyer in Vienna. He did some work for me before keeps in a small velvet-lined box. By 1947, Hoffman the war. I knew the family Porsche by name, you had returned to his real love, automobiles. He opened know, but I didn't have any connection with Porsche. his showroom on Park A venue with only one car on I met Mr. Porsche after the war. the floor, a Delahaye. Soon he was importing a wide A Swiss journalist, Max Troesch, came to America. variety offoreign autos to meet the growing appetite He could travel as much as he wanted . Germans ofcar-conscious Americans. couldn't travel to America in those days; they couldn't In the fall of 1950, Hoffman took delivery of the get a visa. Mr. Troesch came to New York and he first two Porsches to arrive in the United States. With showed me pictures of the Porsche car. He asked me these 1100 cc coupes, he laid the foundation of how I liked the car and if I would be interested in it. I Porsche's success in this country. In the years to told him I liked it very much, as much as I could see, come, he was to regularly absorb as much as seventy and that I was very interested. He went back and percent ofPorsche's annual output. talked to Mr. Porsche, Mr. Porsche wrote me a letter It is difficult to overstate the influence that Max and so the whole thing started. Hoffman had on the development of Porsche. He is First he sent me two cars over. Of these two cars, I responsible for the creation of the America roadster. gave one to Briggs Cunningham and tbe other one I Some ofPorsche's earliest racing successes in the U.S. drove to Watkins Glen. Briggs Cunningham lent the were scored by Hoffman himself. It was his initiative car at Watkins Glen to Sam Collier's wife. So, Mrs. that gave birth to perhaps the best loved ofall Porsche Collier was in one car and Bedford Davie and I were models. the Speedster. On his suggestion, the Porsche in the other. We drove around in the mountains near crest was designed. It was Max Hoffman's idea to give Watkins Glen until somebody came to us and told us the name "Spyder" to Porsche's 550 series of sports that Sam Collier had had an accident. We went back racers. His association with the Porsche family was immediately and found that he was dead. Karl Lud close and personal. When Professor Porsche died in vigsen writes that Briggs Cunningham made a present 1951, Ferry Porsche gave to Hoffman the binoculars of the car to Mrs. Collier, which is not true. He lent that the Professor used at every race. They remain a her the car for a day so that she could drive around. treasured keepsake. There is something else which is not true. I told In 1959, Porsche of America Corporation was somebody that the Porsche firm was very nice and formed and Hoffman ceased national representation sent some spare parts with the first two cars. These of Porsche, although he continued as importer east of spare parts were cylinder gaskets and a few little the Mississippi for five more years. By 1964 when the things valued perhaps between five and ten dollars. Hoffman era ended, the German firm was fully Ludvigsen wrote in the book that they sent all the established and successful in the United States. Hoff spare parts for the cars and that I sold the spare parts. man's pioneering efforts for Porsche not only paved This is absolutely untrue. They sent for the first two the way for the great success that Porsche now enjoys, cars between five and ten dollars worth of spare but it is possible that without the skilled and ag parts-a few little things, a few gaskets and such. gressive talents of Max Hoffman, the tiny Stuttgart BJT: The first cars arrived in the fall of 1950. That manufacturer might have faced many more dif same fall you went to the Paris Salon. Is that the first ficulties in becoming established in America. time you met Professor Porsche? In the mid-sixties, Hoffman relinquished represen Hoffman: Yes, I met Professor Porsche, his tation ofall other European manufacturers to concen secretary Ghislaine Kaes, and Professor Prinzing. trate his energies on BMW. He is now retired and BJT: What was your impression of Professor divides his time among homes in Palm Beach, Florida, Porsche? Los Angeles, California, and his villa at Tegernsee in Hoffman: A very good one. He was a very lovely Bavaria. nice person. A very kind person. A strong man. In February, PANORAMA had the rare opportunity BJT: I've read that after he came home from to interview Max Hoffman at his home in Palm France after the war, he was never very strong again. Beach. We found him courtly and soft-spoken, a man Hoffman: I am sure that through his capture in to whom the aura of power, past and present, clings. France he suffered, but I had the impression of a very A t 75, his enthusiasm for automobiles is undimin fine, kind and strong man who knew what he wanted. ished. You'll find the following interview a BJT: Prinzing was his general manager? fascinating look at some of the early history of Hoffman: Yes, he was a school friend of Ferry Porsche through the eyes of the man who put Pursche Porsche. He was general manager, a very good on the United States map.-BJT manager. BJT: Was there anything about those first two cars 6/PORSCHE PANORAMA At Warthersee, a Corinthian resort, in 1937. that you felt should be improved or changed? The police allowed me to do that. I liked the car very, Hoffman: No, only the carburetion was not in very much. I think the car, after the first year, was order. When I came to Paris, I told that to Professor superior to any other car. It was a lovely automobile. Porsche. His car, in which Mr. Kaes had driven him BJT: Compared to the Jaguar, for example, which from Stuttgart to Paris, had the same trouble. The you also sold, what did you like better about the carburetion was out of order exactly as in my car. Porsche? When you adjusted it, it went out of order immediate Hoffman: The handling, the finish and the ly. The main factory for Solex is in Paris and Mr. workmanship. The car's handling was excellent. Kaes went with Professor Porsche's car to the Solex BJT: At this time, you were also racing cars. Did people. They fixed it and Professor offered me the car you race only Porsches or other cars as well? to drive. I drove it from the Hotel George V to the Hoffman: Before, I was racing other cars, but Arch of Triumph with Ghislaine Kaes and the car when I had the Porsches, I was racing only Porsches. I buretion was out of order again. I cannot tell you raced a Porsche at the Mount Equinox Hillclimb in what the trouble was, but my mechanics here fooled 1951.

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