Stoddard Porsche and Audi Willoughby

Stoddard Imported Cars, Inc. (SIC) was founded in June 1957 by Charles A. (Chuck) Stoddard, an automotive engineer (MIT '52) with Thompson Products (now TRW).  Initially, it was located in a stillborn Tucker dealership building, and was known as a "fix anything foreign" car-repair and used-car dealer.  Chuck believed that the heart of the business must be its service department, with a dedicated in-house body shop.  In those days, the generally prevalent insecurity of purchasing an imported car did not exist in Willoughby; any car purchased there could be repaired there.  Originally, it fulfilled the City of Willoughby requirement of permitting only new car dealers, by becoming franchised for the BMW Isetta.  This was a humble start.  However, a few months later brought the addition of the British Motor Corporation family (MG, Magnette, Midget & Sprite, Austin, Austin Healey, Morris, Mini, Riley), plus Alfa Romeo, Porsche and Lancia from the legendary importer Max Hoffman in New York.  Later, during the imported car boom, and by the early 1960's, other franchises were added including Jaguar, Fiat, Mercedes Benz, Ferrari, Volvo, Facel Vega, Toyota, Sunbeam Alpine & Imp, Elva, Abarth, Morgan, Berkley, Yamaha, and Vespa, for a total of about 30 nameplates over the years (and Chrysler-Plymouth for one year!)

The dealership financially matured to prosper on only top-quality cars with long-term import potential.  SIC invested in 4.5 acres of commercial real property, and Chuck designed and built its buildings, which were gradually increased and expanded to over 45,000 sq. ft. during succeeding years.  Alfa Romeo then outsold Porsche, and by the late '60's the Porsche of America Corp. (PoA) in Teaneck, NJ was established.  The SIC franchises were pared down to Porsche, Alfa Romeo, Mercedes Benz and Volvo.  Audi's USA introduction was in 1969.  Finally, in the early '70's the SIC franchises were Porsche, Audi and Mercedes Benz.  At the end of 1969, Porsche AG dissolved PoA, as well as announced the mid-engine 914.  In Germany, Volkswagen purchased Auto Union (Audi) to gain the successor to the Beetle.  In the then grand plan, all Porsche dealership franchises in the USA were terminated, and VW made an agreement with Porsche KG to become their official US importer.  Audi got off to a quick start, with the 914 and the formation of the Porsche Audi division of Volkswagen of America (VoA).  The Mercedes-Benz portion of SIC was reluctantly sold.  At that time, Stoddard Imported Cars, Inc. was one of only 13 original Porsche dealers in the USA which became franchised as a Porsche/Audi dealer.  For several months, SIC was the only Porsche dealer in Ohio.  Then in 2007, Jerry Severin and Pat DiCesare formerly of Metro Lexus joined with Brian Davis and Brett Goldberg to create a new and dynamic dealership with emphasis on class leading sales and service.