History            

You can't argue with success.

Over the years, Bob Holbert and sons Al and Larry have simply gotten on with things while their successes fueled the legends that grew around them. For themselves, they have been happiest behind the wheel of some of the most exciting sports cars in the racing world or under the hood of cars both new and old.

Bob Holbert took his integrity, love of automobiles, Navy training and some lucky breaks and shaped them into top-notch Porsche VW and Audi dealerships right here in Bucks County. Out of an abiding passion and enabled by incredible talent, Bob and Al took on the sport of auto racing, rising to heights that amaze those who are just hearing about it today. (Where have you been?) Larry, who calmly accedes that all the racing genes went to his older brother, has managed all three dealerships since Al's untimely death in 1988, while gaining recognition for the classic car collection he's carefully restored himself.

The story that's told of Holbert's Motor Cars actually begins early in the 1900s, when Bob Holbert's parents owned a hardware and general store in Warrington—farm country, then—at the northwest corner of Bristol and Easton Roads. Bob Holbert liked to fix things, including bicycles, and then the war intervened.

It was exactly the right initiation for a future automotive entrepreneur: service-oriented family business behind him, mechanical work within his grasp, an eye on the future that was opening before him.

Into Business and Racing

Bob's journey from two wheels to four was partly shaped by a fortuitous stint in the Navy. After diesel mechanics training, he was sent to the Pacific to maintain the PT boats' trio Packard V12 engines. There, under the worst conditions and with people's lives depending on his knowledge, speed and intuitive mechanic's sense, he gained extensive hands-on experience and learned to keep a motor running. When Bob came home to Warrington, he took a job at his brother-in-law's service station, which he eventually bought. In 1951 he opened Holbert's Mobil gas and service station in the frame building next to the family business. People quickly came to rely on Bob's considerable mechanical skill, especially his gifts with the intricacies and mysteries of foreign car engines.

In 1952 Bob, 30, bought his first racecar, an MG TD, and started racing for the sheer joy of it. He made sure the car ran its best, rebuilding the engine when it broke down. And he began winning, quickly developing a reputation for reliability and excellent preparedness in his racing career that followed him into business.

Growing the business at home

In 1954, Don Hawk, a salesman, became Bob's partner at Holbert's Garage, a relationship that lasted until Don retired 21 years later.

That same year, Porsche made Holbert's a dealer, one of the first in the country. At the time, the German carmaker was new to the U.S. and not particularly well known. Here was this little service station surrounded by plowed fields and country roads, carrying a franchise for what would soon be one of the most sought-after sports cars in the world. And Bob himself would play a significant role in creating that intense appeal.

There's a tale that's been repeated: One day in 1955 Don Hawk drove to New York to pick up parts and returned driving a Volkswagen Beetle with a franchise agreement in his pocket. It may not have happened exactly that way, but what's true is that the VW was in Warrington to stay, making Holbert's a household name to fill in where Bob's growing racing reputation hadn't penetrated. Sales of the Volkswagen, the people's car, took off. It had a quirky appeal, with its humpy shape, air-cooled rear engine, gas tank under the hood, great handling on snow-covered roads—and a sticker price that put it in easy reach. Volkswagens were very good for Holbert's, and in 1959 Bob built an impressive Porsche VW showroom and service department on land at 1409 Easton Road, across from the family businesses. The new facility was state-of-the-art when that phrase still meant something, and it contrasted sharply with the old place, which housed the used car department for another 10 years.

Racing credentials

Passing the Baton

When Bob called it quits in 1964, racing was changing dramatically. Bob had been in the vanguard of the change, helping to bring about the shift from easy-going amateur club racing to the intense professional scene that later became Al Holbert's world. But "it was getting to be full time: either race or run the business. With boys in college, it was time to go to work," he recalls with a grin.

The boys had been working for Bob for years, from washing cars to learning the technical end of the business from mechanics who had been living up to Bob's standards. When Al graduated from Lehigh with a degree in engineering, he came into the business full time; Larry followed a few years later with his degree in marketing from Ohio State.

In 1969 a new larger Porsche VW showroom and service department went up at 1607 Easton Road. A year later, with one of the country's first Audi franchises in hand, Holbert's opened a separate sales and service facility at 1425 Easton Road. Porsche joined Audi there and Al took over the joint dealership's management. Larry soon was working in the VW store and eventually settled in to manage it.

Al Holbert: IMSA's winningest

"With me it was sport," says Bob Holbert. "With Al, it was his career." Al Holbert was a natural driver. As an engineer, he held a decided edge in the high-tech world that auto racing had become in the short time since Bob had pulled back from the sport. Along with his exceptional accomplishments as a driver, Al was widely acknowledged to be a gifted race-team manager and a consummate racing strategist. His integrity, attention to detail and ability to think while on the track were legendary, and he was well loved in the racing world.

He started out in racing as a go-fer for Roger Penske, his dad's competitor, co-driver and friend. Mark Donohue, Indy 500 winner and Penske driver, served as one of Al's early mentors and helped shape his style and determination. Al soon stood tall among racing's best: Al Unser Jr., Peter Gregg, Derek Bell, Hurley Haywood, Doc Bundy and many others.

In his career Al captured 63 roadracing wins, including LeMans and Sebring, and a fourth place in his only Indy 500. He set the international speed record at Bonneville in 1986, posting 172mph behind the wheel of a 1987 Porsche 928S 4. He competed in NASCAR stock cars, Formula 5000 and Indy cars. Al's Porsche 962—the No. 14 Löwenbräu Special that holds a place of honor in Holbert's Porsche showroom today—won more races than any 962 built and more than any other car in the IMSA series.

Al served as president of Porsche Motorsports North America and was the face of Porsche racing in this country. He was both a sports car driver and a team owner, and a devout Christian.

He died at 41 on September 30, 1988, when his twin-engine plane crashed on take-off near Columbus, Ohio. Besides Bob, Elly and Larry and his family, Al left a wife, Joy, and two children, Todd and Laura.

Restoring the classics                  

In 1989, Bob and Larry combined VW, Porsche and Audi into one facility at 1607 Easton Road where just VW had been, making it easier to manage the demanding enterprise. That year the extended Holbert's family—with such a low turnover, many employees have been around long enough to feel like family, and some of them actually are—celebrated the founding of the service station and foreign car specialists 35 years earlier.

For 25 years, Larry has indulged his automotive interests in a different way than his father or brother: his classic Audis, VWs and Porsches are a record of the early years of the successful Holbert franchises. "I never got the racing bug. I stuck with antiques." Then he smiles. "Al had to rebuild his car after every race. At least mine would last longer than that." Larry's first job at the dealership was taking inventory in the junkyard. For 50 cents an hour, the 12-year-old would take parts off junk cars and inventory them for sale. Mike Holbert, a cousin working there in the summers, taught Larry how to restore cars.A member of the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA), Larry has won a couple of "firsts" in the judging. Among his AACA Seniors are a 1957 VW convertible, 1959 VW ambulance, 1965 VW panel truck, 1962 Porsche 356 Cabriolet and 1964 Porsche 356 coupe. According to Vince Evans, general sales manager, "What Larry does is ‘typical Holbert,' because it always winds up to be the best. And they're not ‘trailer queens,' either—he drives them." Larry's collection includes a 1955 Bug purchased new by a Mr. Sommer of Doylestown who traded it for a 1972 Audi station wagon that Larry also now owns. Larry's VW ambulance, one of just two in existence, was originally bought by the Hatboro Jaycees for the Hatboro Fire Company.

50 years and counting

Although in his 80s, Bob Holbert looks a decade younger. He and Elly have remained active in the business and still come in every day—working at the dealership appears to be Bob's hobby. Meanwhile, on the occasion of 50 years in business, the Holbert family figured it would get ready for the next 50. Larry and Jean's middle son, Matt, recently finished at Penn State and is working at the dealership, learning all aspects of the business. Their oldest, Marc, is a PhD candidate in chemistry, while Michael, a senior at Ithaca University, works at Holbert's during the summer. And this fall Holbert's is unveiling the culmination of months of construction at 1607 Easton Road. New separate showrooms for Porsche, Audi and VW highlight the unique character of each brand, and the additional space more effectively displays new models and increases the size of all three service areas.

This is Holbert's future, right here. Three generations are looking ahead toward groundbreaking new designs, exciting technological advances and a stimulating driving experience—while staying right where they've always been, firmly fixed on the exceptional workmanship and warm, honest, respectful service from their family to yours