53-54 Questions

[2bugtony]

Hello
I recently bought a VW from a friend of the a man that opened one of the first VW dealerships in VA. I also bought some 53-54 bus Sales Brochures. I was wondering if 53 was the first year VW sold busses at there dealerships.
Thanks for any help.

[gr8vw4sale]

Production started in 1950. It would have been around 1951 in the US, based on this white roof barndoor.

See the attached link to this photo: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/dealers/allwoodmotors_allwood_nj.php

Allwood Motors would have been one of the first VW dealerships outside of Max Hoffman's. Hoffman owned the sole VW dealership until mid-1950. This dealership, Allwood Motors, about 15 miles outside of NYC, is still in existence today and is considered the oldest, continuous family owned dealership in the US.

It now carries the name of the original family, Gensinger Motors.

https://www.gensingervw.com/dealership/about.htm

[2bugtony]

These have Herbert Webb Imoprted Motors Roanoke VA stamped on them

[Mr. OGPaint]

I have spoken to people who owned dealerships in the Hoffman dealership network. What I was told was Hoffman was serving as a distributor to a network of dealers of various manufacturers on the Eastern seaboard in addition to the dealerships Hoffman personally owned.
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https://instagram.com/mr.ogpaint
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Patrick Hall

[House]

It may be possible that they weren’t a VW dealer too.
Maybe they were early on then dropped them but you don’t see a lot of that,
especially for a dealership that lasted so long, until 2017 when Mr. Webb passed away.
Everything I saw with a quick search showed they were a dealer for Austin, Austin Healey, MG, Morris, Hillman, & Sunbeam…