The history of the American automotive market and sportscar racing would have looked completely different without Max Hoffman. Rarely the influence of one single person on a single market was so important, as Max Hoffman’s. He never worked for brands like Porsche, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, or BMW. But his name will be connected forever to the history of many of their most expensive classics.
In ‘Max Hoffman – a million dollar middleman’, the author Myles Kornblatt tells the story of Max Hoffman. Hoffman started his career as a racer in Europe but became the catalyst for getting some of the most celebrated sports cars into the hands of the American public.
In 12 short chapters, the author tells us the story of Max Hoffman and his influence on the American automotive market. It starts with the introduction that learns us how Hoffman fled to the USA with his mother, at the beginning of World War II. He immediately started a business in exporting trucks, despite not mastering the English language. But the war prevented him to build out the business, and Hoffman started making gold-plated plastic jewelry for a while.
Each chapter tells a part of the business life of Max Hoffman, not in the usual chronological way of these kinds of biographies. The author chose to tell the stories manufacturer by manufacturer, with an extra chapter filled with ‘additional tales’, learning the reader more details about specific cars.
Conclusion
Finally, Max Hoffman, the man that shaped an important part of the history of European sportscars on the American market is honored with a biography. By reading the book, we learned a whole lot about Max Hoffman. However, we realize that the 160 pages the book counts are actually insufficient to tell his story. We know for sure much more could be told, and lots of stories remain covered. ‘Max Hoffman – Million dollar middleman’ is definitely a good read and a must-have for any sportscar enthusiast. The low price of about 30€ is encouraging to buy the book, even though we hoped for more in-depth details and stories.
Support Love for Porsche and buy the book on Amazon
Amazon USA
Amazon UK
Amazon Germany
Amazon Netherlands
Amazon Belgium
Biography
Veloce Publishing
October 18, 2022
160 pages
227 pictures
English
978-1-787115-03-3
