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opened an automobile repair shop, doing well enough financially to move west to Hermosa Beach, California in 1958 and open the first exclusive Porsche dealership in the United States. This “first Porsche dealership” was humble: a single-family home with four lifts in a garage out back and a separate woodshed in which they would perform alignment services. The actual house served as the showroom and parts department. Needless to say, they soon moved the whole operation into more business-like headquarters as the cars’ popularity soared.
Polak would eventually also become a franchised dealer for Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, Saab, and Subaru in Hermosa Beach. A license to make money, in other words. Although he had raced cars and motorcycles in Europe before and after the war, Polak now focused less on driving and more on preparing racing cars and engines for his clientele.
Vasek Polak became very well known for the successful cars he prepared for such drivers as Jack McAfee, Ken Miles, Jerry Titus, Roger Penske, Bob Holbert, Jean Behra, Jo Bonnier, and Wolfgang Von Trips. In 1966, he started his role as a race car owner when Jerry Titus took a Porsche 911 from his shop to win the SCCA D Production championship.
This was the operation Alwin Springer was joining when he moved to
Vasek Polak driver Milt Minter carried the torch for the team in the 1971 and 1972 seasons. (Alwin Springer collection)
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