Maximilian Edwin Hoffman (12 November 1904 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria – 9 August 1981), was an Austrian-born, New York-based importer of luxury European automobiles into the United States during the 1950s. Known equally for his acumen and influence, Hoffman was instrumental in development and refinement of several iconic luxury sports cars, including the

Mercedes-Benz 300SL The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (chassis code W 198) is a two-seat sports car which was produced by Mercedes-Benz as a gullwinged coupe (1954–1957) and roadster (1957–1963).Werner Oswald: ''Mercedes-Benz Personenwagen 1945–1985''. Motorbuch Ve ...

''Gullwing'',

Porsche 356 The Porsche 356 is a sports car that was first produced by Austrian company Porsche Salzburg, Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH (1948–1949), and then by German company Porsche, Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH (1950–1965). It was Porsche's first ...

''Speedster'', and V-8 powered

BMW 507 The BMW 507 is a roadster that was produced by BMW from 1956 until 1959. Initially intended to be exported to the United States at a rate of thousands per year, it ended up being too expensive, resulting in a total production figure of 252 cars ...

roadster. Hoffman's contributions to both automobile development and sports car racing earned him induction into the

Automotive Hall of Fame The Automotive Hall of Fame is an American museum. It was founded in 1939 and has over 800 worldwide honorees. It is part of the MotorCities National Heritage Area. the Automotive Hall of Fame includes persons who have contributed greatly to au ...

in 2003. Both his home in Rye, New York, and Park Avenue Jaguar showroom in Manhattan were designed by famed architect

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

Career

Hoffman's dealers made requests through him, both for existing models and new types they thought their customers would purchase in the booming post-war American market. The most famous result of Hoffman's suggestions is the

"gullwing". More than 80% of the 300SL's total production of approximately 1400 units were sold in the US, making it the first Mercedes-Benz widely successful outside its home market and thoroughly validating Hoffman's seat-of-the-pants prediction. Its success is credited with changing the company's image in America from a manufacturer of solid but staid luxury automobiles to one capable of rendering high-performance sports cars. From 1950 until 1953, Hoffmann was the importer and distributor for

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

for the eastern United States. He was also the importer and sole distributor for BMW from the mid-sixties until selling his business to BMW of North America in 1975.

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." ...

was also imported to the United States by Hoffman starting from the mid-1950s. The Giulietta Spider was born by request of Hoffman. In 1961 Alfa Romeo started importing cars to the United States. The

1955 "Speedster" was the result of a Hoffman suggestion that a less expensive, racier version of the standard 356 would sell well in America. With its low, raked windshield—which easily could be removed for weekend racing, bucket seats, and a minimal, folding top, it was an instant hit. Some of the dealers, such as

Lake Underwood Lake Underwood (July 4, 1926 – September 12, 2008) was an American entrepreneur who competed as a champion in the racing of prototype automobiles and motorcycles. He was a master mechanic who, although high performance fuel delivery and carburet ...

and his team's machine engineer,

Dick DeBiasse Dick, Dicks, or Dick's may refer to: Media * ''Dicks'' (album), a 2004 album by Fila Brazillia * Dicks (band), a musical group * ''Dick'' (film), a 1999 American comedy film * "Dick" (song), a 2019 song by Starboi3 featuring Doja Cat Names ...

, were especially influential on Hoffman.

Personal

The

Max Hoffman House Max Hoffman House is a Frank Lloyd Wright designed waterfront home in Rye, New York built in 1955 for European automobile importer Max Hoffman. History Hoffman had commissioned Wright to design the Hoffman Auto Showroom for his Jaguar dealers ...

was designed and furnished by

a few years after Hoffman had commissioned Wright to design and build his

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

Hoffman Auto Showroom The Hoffman Auto Showroom was an automobile dealership at 430 Park Avenue, New York City. Designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright for notable European importer Max Hoffman in 1954, the glass and steel space was located on the ground floor of an ...

at 430

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenu ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. In 1982 Marion O. Hoffman established the non-profit ''Maximilian E. and Marion O. Hoffman Foundation Inc.'' in

West Hartford West Hartford is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, west of downtown Hartford. The population was 64,083 at the 2020 census. The town's popular downtown area is colloquially known as "West Hartford Center," or simply "The C ...

, Connecticut, in memory of her husband. The organization donates to groups, mostly in Connecticut, that further education, medicine and the arts. In 2013 the foundation had assets of approximately $60 million. Hoffman, who had Jewish ancestry was an auto racer in Europe before immigrating to the United States to avoid the Nazis .

References

External links

*
Automobile / US-Markt: Aufreißer für Europa
',

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

, 9 September 1968, p. 124. * Donald Osborne:
Max Hoffman Made Imports Less Foreign to Americans
',

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, 18 March 2007 *
Visionär und Autohändler
',

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...

'', 26 September 2014. * Christof Vieweg:
Er brachte deutsche Techniker zum Tanzen
',

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat. History ...

, 24 March 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffman, Max 1904 births 1981 deaths People in the automobile industry Businesspeople from Vienna 20th-century American businesspeople American people of Austrian-Jewish descent Austrian Jews Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States

Career

Personal

See also

References

External links