Possible Dealer

[Peter Silten]

On the Kardex for my 1959 Convertible D it lists Max Hoffman as the importer and that the was purchased by a person residing in Encino, California. Is it fair to assume that sale was handled by Vasek Pollak (Manhattan Beach)?

[Mike Wilson]

Possibly but maybe Competition Motors as they were a distributor out here.

Mike

[Peter Silten]

Thanks Mike.

[Mike Wilson]

As always, glad to be of help, Peter.

All the best,

Mike

[Doug McDonnell]

Jack McAfee was in Sherman Oaks which is next door to Encino.

[Martin Benade]

That calendar was printed in uncensored form? Pretty racy for 1960. Appropriate considering that they sold race cars.

[Wes Bender]

Nah. SoCal racy and Cleveland racy are two different animals. That was pretty tame by sixties standards.

[Steve Douglas]

Peter there were several dealers closer to Encino, than Vasek Polak, Manhattan Beach is about 40 miles south. Allred Bros - Glendale, Competition Motors - Hollywood, Universal Motors - LA, Europa Cars - N Hollywood, Jack McAfee - Sherman Oaks, and Klein in Van Nuys
I remember hearing that Vasek Polak opened in mid- 1959 so very few A models were sold there.

[Peter Silten]

Thanks Steve.

[John Wurner]

Mine was purchased at Allred Brothers in Glendale.

[Mike Wilson]

Peter, do you know the original license plate number? That might tell you where the car was first registered.

Mike

[Spencer Harris]

I guess your Kardex doesn't list any details under "Wartungs-dienste" (Maintenance services). My '58 cabriolet Kardex lists Hoffman as the handler; shows initial service work done by Hoffman, and five-weeks later at Competition Motors. (Yeah, I know the mileage figures don't make sense.)

[Steve Douglas]

Peter, attached is the listing of the authorized dealer, the Dealer List booklet is from late 57-58. There were a few more VW dealers that sold Porsches too, plus there were grey market cars coming in from tourist delivery, which would be listed as imported by Hoffman, even though they were picked up at the factory.
If you have the original owner's name and maybe an address, go to the on-line telephone directory for 1959 or 1960, Encino was and is a neighborhood of Los Angeles City and County. See if you can find names phone and other information there, then start working to more modern years. Also sites like Realtor.com can provide you with when the property was sold. I have had three different cars that we were able to trace the original owners family thru these methods and with the genealogy sites.
I had a 65 C coupe, the 3rd owner bought it from the parts guy at Lukes and Shoreman in who bought it from the original owner, the Kardex showed the original owners name only. And the car was purchased in Oakland. With the old phone directories I found a full name and address. Looked up the address, on Realtor.com and found the home was sold only once, in 2010. Looked up on-line obituaries for 2008-09 and found information as to the surviving family, then did a on-line search and found the daughter in Los Angeles. She had photos of the car when new and some other very neat papers that her father had collected. Bill Rogers in San Diego now owns the car and has a full history and has met the daughter got some great stories.
I used the same methods to trace my 59 Coupe, ordered tourist delivery, and the Kardex shows serviced in Munich late in 59, and then in early 1960 serviced at Porsche Cars Pacific in Burlingame CA, the distributor. The original owner's name just showed an address of San Francisco. Looked up the last name in 1959 SF directory, found 11 possibles. Did some on line search of obituaries, and narrowed it down to 3 possibles. I had bought the car in late 1968 in the SF East Bay Area, plus I had found a local independent repair guy who knew the car, with all of this information were able to confirm much of the history, added by a contact with a brother of the original owner.

[Martin Benade]

That’s some fancy detective work! Nice job.

[Steve Douglas]

Martin, it also helped to know the area where the cars were from. Local knowledge and thinking outside of the normal channels gets some amazing results. I am trying to find information on a 57 Coupe, we know it was serviced at Lukes and Shoreman, LS stamp on the engine, was purchased by the current owner early in 1968. The Kardex has no information other than Hoffman. It seems that there was rumors of a name Peter Wilkinson. Found a few of that name, but nothing in the 1957-66 directories of the area around Albany CA. But, did find a Susan Wilkinson who was from Berkeley back in the era. So far that has turned up nothing. Talked to the many old guys that gather at EASY, nothing... Will keep trying when I make the time.