Overview

This fascinating story charts the career of Max Hoffman, the US car dealer who represented Jaguar, Porsche, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Fiat, Lancia, BMW, and many other European car brands during the decades following WWII. He pushed for distinguished now-classics like the Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing, Porsche Speedster, BMW 507, and Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider. Hoffman built a reputation as an effective middleman, but as the car companies he represented became more successful under his watch, the less they needed their go-between. When it was inevitably time to say goodbye to Maxie, he showed his teeth with everything from lawsuits against his suppliers, to threatening executives with a mob hit. However, Hoffman also had a very good reason to be defensive. He understood the American market, and he pushed manufacturers specifically for cars that would strike a chord and make everybody involved richer. Sometimes the hero, sometimes the villain, but more often than not, Max Hoffman was the unseen puppet master behind some of today’s best classics.

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9781787115033

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Myles Kornblatt’s lifelong passion for automobiles has led him to search the globe for interesting cars. He has gained a reputation for rediscovering and writing the histories on vehicles that the automotive community had thought were long-lost or never even knew existed. He is an industry consultant and former museum curator. His work has appeared in publications such as Top Gear, GQ, Classic Cars, Classic Cars Weekly, Hemmings Daily, and Octane. Myles understands that a car is just metal, glass, and rubber, but when combined correctly, it creates something more: he finds the soul.

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