Úpon receiving it, Hoffman entered the May 1953 road races at Bridgehampton on Long Island but turned the driving over to Johnny Von Neuman, soon-to-be successful Porsche distributor on the West Coast. Von Neuman finished third in the 1,500 cc class and brought the Glockler-Porsche and Hoffman valuable publicity, including the cover photo in the September-October 1953 issue of the SCCA magazine, Sports Car. Shortly thereafter Hoffman sold Glockler-Porsche Number 3 to Fred Proctor, Jr. of Connecticut.
Porsche took his new Glockler-Porsche to the Giant’s Despair hill-climb and Brynfan Tyddyn road races in Pennsylvania in July 1953 and finished second in class in both events. Another second followed on August 8 at Lockbourne Air Ford Base in Ohio, then a third at Thompson Raceway in Connectiuct.
After that, the Glockler-Porsche Number 3 disappeared for several years before showing up in 1958 in Denver in the hands of Alex Thompson. Its appeal and quality apparently endeared it to Denver-area enthusiasts, and it passed through several hands including Charlie Lyons’ and possibly even Bob Carnes’, the creator of the Bocar specials, before ending up wîth automotive sculptor Larry Braun of Loveland, Colo., in the late ’60s.
Braun began a restoration which languished semi-finished for many years stored in an open shed, but the car was fortunately preserved by the arid Colorado climate unit it was eventually located and acquired by the present owner in 2000. A comprehensive restoration was needed, and for this the Glockler-Porsche was sent to Tempero Restorations in New Zealand, specialists in restoring and constructing lightweight aluminum body work. The restoration has only recently been completed.
This historic and important Glockler-Porsche roadster is correctly marked wîth only Porsche identification, indicative of the close cooperation between Glockler and Porsche in the development of high-performance sports cars for competition. Its influence upon Porsche, and particularly on Max Hoffman’s insistence that Porsche develop the lightweight Speedster for the Ú.S. market, makes it one fo the most important of the Glockler-Porsches. It is brilliantly restored in Porsche Silver wîth black interior and carries a yellow nose band similar to its livery at Nurburging when it was raced by Helm Glocker in August 1952. The workmanship is absolutely of the highest quality and includes careful restoration of the elaborate brass fuel tanks surrounding the spare-tire pocket in the nose, specially constructed and sealed to withstand the corrosive effects of its alcohol fuel.
The removable hardtop has been meticulously re-created using a surviving portion of the fire-damaged original top as the pattern, along wîth the low windshield to which it mates for high-speed tracks. It rides on BMW 328-style disc wheels, but a pair of the original magnesium wheels have survived. It has been restored wîth the engine that was wîth the Glockler-Porsche in Colorado; however it is believed that the aluminum and magnesium in the original engine, as well as several that followed it, were corroded beyond repair by the alcohol fuel.
source : Gooding & Co Company
