Page 55 - Club Braman Magazine Fall / Winter 2018

PORSCHE EXCELLENCE
BMW EXCELLENCE
General Manager Steve Grossman presents awards to two Porsche Certi ed Service Technicians. Sam Gundersen for 25 years of service and Craig Stoyer for 30 years of service. Both Sam and Craig are dedicated Porsche professionals that keep Braman Porsche West Palm Beach as one of the nest Porsche service facilities in the country.
General Manager Steve Grossman and the BMW Service Depart- ment paused to celebrate Steve Hollins. Hollins is not only one of the most knowledgeable BMW service technicians in the country, but is Shop Foreman at Braman BMW in West Palm Beach. Steve re- cently celebrated his 35th anniversary with Braman, pictured here with his delicious award.
Continued from page 7. Robert Crippen
them over the years and I do like a nice car,” he says in that precise, measured, ‘everything’s under control here’ astronaut voice that we were all used to hearing on TV whenever the Shuttle ew. “When we moved to Florida, I thought it would be nice to have a convertible, so I went shopping and decided a BMW was what I wanted, for reasons both big and small. I liked dealing with the salesman I had... and I was impressed with the smart engineering involved in the amount of trunk space in a BMW.”
So now he’s at ve... and counting. BMWs, that is. A 325 in 2005, traded in for a 328 in 2008. Then another 328 in 2011, swapped for a 428 in 2014 and that in turn replaced with another 428 in 2017 (silver with an ivory interior; a gorgeous car!)... all of them purchased from Braman BMW West Palm Beach, and all of them sold to him by BMW Sales Associate John Weltzien, a 20-year member of the Braman team.
“Although it sounds strange to say this, considering his background, but he’s actually a very down-to-earth kind of guy,” says Weltzien. “You’d never know he’s famous. He’s very easy to deal with and buys basically the same car every time, just in a di erent color. He doesn’t order exotic systems like lane departure warning or blind spot detection, but he does get the premium package with the navigation and audio system, and the sport package with the 18-inch alloy wheels. He always seems happy when he drops by the dealership and I know he and his wife like going to Club Braman events.”
Crippen may be retired, but don’t think for a moments it’s all cocktail parties and cruising around West Palm Beach in his BMW convertible. He’s as active as he’s ever been with his involvement in the Navy League (he was a Navy pilot ying o the aircraft carrier USS Indepen- dence before becoming a test pilot and astronaut), the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation that awards scholarships to students at 40 di erent schools, and as a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
“I’m an engineer by training and spent a good portion of my life working in engineering management, so I appreciate BMW as a well-exe- cuted example of complex engineering,” he says. “And I think Club Braman events are a nice feature of dealing with Braman. But I espe- cially appreciate the service I get from my salesman John and my service adviser Bryan Moore. They do a super job in a timely manner and that’s what keeps me coming back.”
And coming from a Hall of Famer like Robert Crippen, that’s an out-of-this-world compliment.
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