Pasadena Area Porsche Dealers in the 50's

[Benjamin Abraham]

I am trying to figure out what dealers where around in 1958 selling Porsches in the Pasadena area. The gentlemen that owned my car told me that it was because of a German-Fellow that ran his dealership in Pasadena, was so inquisitive about his income, and ability to afford a Porsche that he decided not to buy it from him but rather buy the car directly from Ferry Porsche in Germany.

I thought it might be Rusnak, but after checking they only established themselves in 1966.

My other thought would be Johnny von Neumann.

Of course, neither Rusnak nor von Neumann are German, but to some Americans, and accent is an accent.


Anyone have other ideas?


Thanks!
Benjamin

[Benjamin Abraham]

Anyone hear of Krause motors in Califronia?

Or Trans-ocean motors?

I think this was the dealer that I am looking for.

Any information on the above would be most helpful

Thank you,

Benjamin

[Benjamin Abraham]

Just found this on Samba:

Karl Kraus was the second VW and Porsche dealer in California.
He opened the dealership in 1953 at a location in the
1800 block of Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena
and built a new dealership at 2124 East Colorado in 1956.
Due to health reasons, he sold the company in 1960 and returned to Germany.

Other history:
1953 Pasadena City Directory: Karl Kraus is working as a service depot manager at Trade World Corp., Pasadena, CA
1954 Pasadena City Directory: Karl & Elizabeth Kraus are owners of Kraus Motor Company, 1987 East Colorado, Pasadena, CA
1956 Pasadena City Directory: Karl Kraus, President & Elizabeth Kraus, office manager of Kraus Motor Company, 2124 East Colorado, Pasadena, CA

[Jim Nelson]

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/inf ... _photo.jpg

This is at least one of Pasadena dealers, the Colorado Blvd dealer, VW/Porsche.

[Benjamin Abraham]

Great Find! Yes, they changed their name to Trans Ocean.... so that is the same dealership

Any other pictures?

Thanks,

Benjamin

[John Hearn]

Benjamin
How about going to the Library and looking in the telephone book (for that year) in the yellow pages under Porsche dealer or automotive?
KTF
John

[Alex Mestas]

Benjamin:
Several years ago, Tony Aguirre and I researched Trans Ocean Motors in Pasadena since my car had been purchased there by the original owner. What we discovered was that Trans Ocean Motors opened in July 1960 by Tom Ballard as a Porsche/VW dealer. In 1962 they added the Land cruiser marque. If memory serves me correctly, some time in the mid to late 60's Porsche gave them an ultimatum of being an exclusive Porsche dealer and they chose to stay with VW.

My dealer book dated March of 1963 list Trans Ocean Motors in Pasadena.

Contact me by e-mail and I'll send you the newspaper articles on PDF that I can't load here.