BUSINESS
Hoffman Auto Group’s centennial is a celebration of family By Stacey Dresner
H
ARTFORD – Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Hoffman Auto Group is about more than the observance of a business
milestone. For Co-Chairmen Jeffrey S. and I. Bradley Hoffman, the grandsons of founder Israel Hoffman. It is a celebration of family. From a single used car dealership started in 1921, to a car empire with locations in East Hartford, New London, Waterbury and Avon/Simsbury, the Hoffman Auto Group is one of Connecticut’s oldest and largest family-owned businesses, and a Jewish one at that. “We are grateful to our employees and the many customers who have played an integral part in attaining this century milestone,” says Jeffrey. “We look back with great pride, and are very excited about the future.” The Hoffmans’ American journey began in 1897 when their great-grandparents Joseph and Pauline Hoffman immigrated to the U.S. from their native Russia with their son Israel and daughter Rose. Another son, Barney was born in Hartford in 1900. “Our great-grandfather Joseph settled in Hartford in the North End as a lot of the Jewish families did in the late 1800s. He was actually a contractor and a painter,” Brad says. It was Joseph’s two sons who began the Hoffman auto business. In 1917, when Israel was 21 and Barney had just graduated from Hartford Public High School, they borrowed some money and bought a 2,000 square foot, two-car service station on Oakland Terrace in Hartford. “They started a used car lot,” Brad says. “Then in late 1921, they opened up their first new car agency, which was Ford, in New Hartford on Route 44.” It was there that Israel and Barney sold
their first Model T Ford. The Hoffman Motor Company soon had a waiting list of more than 100 customers wanting to purchase Model T’s. Each car sold for $565 and to attract more customers, the Hoffman brothers offered
Russia where he was a classmate of Chaim Weizmann, the first president of Israel. According to the book Harford Jews, 19591970, Krivitsky and Weizmann remained friends throughout their lives.) Just a couple of years after starting their
Bradley Hoffman’s first day working at the family business; (l to r) Jeffrey, Bradley, Burton, and Todd Hoffman.
four free half-hour driving lessons with each purchase. The popularity of automobiles continued to grow so much that customers had to wait as several months for their new Model Ts. And then the cars had to be put together. “The train would be running right near the building and showroom, which is still there in New Hartford. They would take the parts off the train and the car was assembled inside the [Hoffman dealership],” Jeffrey says. It would take two and a half hours to attach the fenders, wheels, splash pans and running boards to the main body of the vehicle. By then, Israel had married Rose Krivitsky who grew up on Vine Street in Hartford. (Rose’s father Samuel had immigrated to Hartford from Motele,
Ford dealership in New Hartford, Israel and Rose welcomed their son, Burton. As the family grew, Hoffman Auto business grew too with Hoffman purchasing a variety of new automotive brands. In 1922 the Hoffmans began offering customers the chance to make down payments and financing – an innovative business practice for that time. In 1932, the Hoffman brothers purchased a Dodge Brothers-Plymouth agency. They received the Dodge Silver Trophy Award for leading the 750 Dodge-Plymouth dealers of New England in sales. But while increasingly successful, not everything was easy for Hoffman Auto. After having a fruitful business relationship with Ford for several years, in 1932 Henry Ford, a virulent antisemite, cancelled their Ford franchise when he found out Israel and Barney were Vol. 12, No. 1, 2022 west hartford magazine
I
11
