Continental vs. Porsche, 1955 battle over the name "Continental"

[kach22i]

Copy & Paste.........maybe you can help Barry out.

He wrote:

I'm researching the interaction between the Continental Division of Ford Motor Company and Porsche in late 1955.

In 1954 the sole US importer of Porsche products was Max Hoffman of New York. Max was convinced that Americans don't buy cars with numbers, just names. For 1955 US export the Coupe and Cabrio were fixed with fender tags that read "Continental".

The story goes that Ford file a law suit claiming all rights to the "Continental" name due to their use of it for the Lincoln Continental of 1939-1948. Tiny little Porsche backed down and ceased using the name "Continental". The story continues that the remainder of the years production was tagged with "European" fender tags. Another publication shows that there was a recall of all Porsches badged "Continental". I've been told that this was the first automotive recall.

Another story flying around is that the 4-point Continental Star developed for the Mark II was an infringement on the Mercedes 3-point star. It is rumored that Mercedes actually persueded Porsche to use the name in spite of their battle.

This all makes for some interesting lore. I'd like to get to some of the meat.



Also a sister thread here from a couple of weeks ago (ignore Tabs):

Continental vs. Porsche, 1955 battle over the name "Continental"