Dealer history

[David Aronson]

Anyone have historical information about Porsche Car Pacific, San Francisco. Just received a Kardex. That was the dealer.

[Mike Wilson]

I just Googled Porsche Car Pacific San Francisco and found an old thread from the 912 Registry. It looks like they were in Burlingame in the mid-60's.

Mike

[Jan Kolm]

Porsche Car Pacific was the West Coast importer. I do not believe U.S. dealers are typed on the Kardex, just the regional importer. There are other threads on this subject within this forum.

[Mike Wilson]

The Kardex for my May 30,1963 B coupe only lists Competition Motors, Culver City, California.

Mike

[David Aronson]

The following is copied from PCA history documents. Author is unknown. If you know who to credit please chime in.

SACRAMENTO AREA PORSCHE DEALER HIISTORY.

The history of Porsche dealers in Sacramento is a little hazy – in those days no one was taking notes. So here's the results of my detective work. Bob Clancy, the original owner of my 1955 356 Speedster, bought the car new from Oxford Motors, 1501 “I”Street, Sacramento (behind the Memorial Auditorium) which was owned and operated by Sammy Weiss. He was the local Porsche dealer in 1955; perhaps the first in Sacramento. Oxford Motors also was the dealer for most British cars. Sammy was a big-time successful racer, and on the west coast did most of his events initially in a Porsche 550 RS Spyder and then a Porsche RSK Spyder.
At about the same time, in 1954, 19 year-old George Grinzewitsch, Sr. arrived in Sacramento fresh from Germany, with no inkling that he would someday own one of Sacramento's most successful automotive ventures, the Von Housen Automotive Group. Despite the fact that he spoke little English and knew little about cars,
Grinzewitsch managed to talk his way into a job as a mechanic and later as a service manager for Oxford Motors. While working for Weiss, Grinzewitsch also developed an interest in road racing and became a top-ranked professional driver, winning several North American driving titles. In late 1958, Grinzewitsch left Oxford Motors and opened his own auto parts and repair shop named Von Housen, which in German means "from the better house." Completing the "racer's shop" stamp on Oxford Motors was Gordon Glyer, Sammy's chief salesman who was also a successful Ferrari road racing driver.
Sammy kept the Porsche franchise until late 1959 when he put up the RSK Spyder for sale in MotoRacing, a southern California sports car racing publication. To explain the sale Sammy said in the ad, "The reason for the sale is the withdrawal of the Porsche Franchise." At the same time, Porsche Cars Pacific was formed, with Reynold C. Johnson president, to be the Porsche distributor to eight dealers in Northern California. Sadly, the next year, June 4, 1960, Sammy was killed in a Cooper Monaco during practice at Laguna Seca at the old Turn 4, now Turn 6 (left turn to go up the hill to the corkscrew).
In 1962 (perhaps since 1960), the Volkswagen-Porsche dealer in Sacramento was Haines Motors at 2241 Fulton Avenue. Established originally as the first VW dealership in Sacramento by Bob and Charlie Haines in about 1954 and located in North Sacramento across the street from Wyn Robertson's Continental Auto Service, the business was expanded to include Porsche and moved to the Fulton Avenue location. After I arrived home from France in late December 1961, I took my 1961 356B coupe to Haines at the Fulton address for warranty work. Also in 1962, Wes Lasher and Richard "Dick" Niello were partners in the Lasher-Niello Company, a VW- Porsche dealership at 1701 “K”Street, Sacramento. Both were early VW dealers in Sacramento, Niello started in 1954 and Lasher in 1955.

[David Aronson]

From all the information available to date. My notch was purchased by Jim Ontjes, from eithe Haines Porsche or the new Niello dealership in March of 1963. The car is a 61, registered as a 1962 and purchased in 1963. I am trying to get a contact going with Mr, Ontjes. Would love to fill in the blanks. Thank you all for your input. I have decided to leave the plates original and have a set made. The originals will be mounted on a display board at shows. I hope others can make use of the information presented.

[Mike Wilson]

Nice detective work, David!

Mike

[Mike Wilson]

Haines and Niello were the two dealerships in the Sacramento area at that time. If you search VW dealerships on the Samba, you can see all the VW dealerships in the U.S. from eally '50's to later '60's. In the early days, the VW dealerships also sold Porsches.

Mike

[Tom Coughlin]

The factory "Distributors and Dealers from Coast to Coast" dated fall edition, 1964 states that in Sacramento R L Niello 2241Fulton Ave and W B Lasher 1701 K St. are the dealers and the distributor was Porsche Car Pacifiic inc 805 Burlway Rd. Burlingamne, CA covering North California, North Nevada and Utah. There was no Haines dealership listed in CA.
I hope that may be of interest.

[Dan Seelig]

Don't know if this helps but Dave Rasmussen was a VW/Porsche dealer in San Mateo ( next to Burlingame). My mother bought her 68' bug there.

[David Aronson]

Very interesting stuff Tom and Dan. The wealth of information that this group has, as a resource, is quite amazing. Very glad so many of you are willing to share. The people part of these cars is what keps many of us intersted in growing our passion. Thank you contributors.