As of Feb 1, 2019, Steve Hoffman acquired 356 Unlimited from Buster Venable. Steve has been a long-time friend of Buster and owned an award winning 356 C Coupe restored by 356 Unlimited several years ago. Buster will remain with the shop for the remainder of 2019 and although he is retiring from the restoration business, Buster is building an airplane in another shop in the same complex as 356 Unlimited, so he is not far away.
Steve retired from the Boeing company where he worked for 35 years at Kennedy Space Center as an Aerospace Engineer/Project Manager, working on the Space Shuttle, Space Station, the X-37 and most recently as the project manager for the first Boeing Starliner spacecraft.
Steve’s passion for Porsche began in 1984, while going to college at Florida Tech where he acquired a 1973 914 2.0. He has been a Porsche fanatic ever since. At last count he has owned over 25 different Porsches, with ten still in the stable, including a one owner mostly original 75K documented mile 1965 C Coupe. Steve is the current National Tech Chair for the Porsche Club of America (PCA), was a Past-President of the local Space Coast Region of the PCA, currently also acting as the club’s Historian and a long-time member of the 356 Florida Owners Group (FOG).
Steve has been wrenching on his own Porsches since 1984 but got the restoration bug about 15 years ago as a hobby at his home auto workshop with a 1967 911S Coupe. He learned a lot from that experience and almost lost a wife in the process, his wife Robin loves to tell that story! He continued to restore older 911s, a couple 912s and even did the 356 mentioned above, but for that one, he entrusted 356 Unlimited to do all of the heavy lifting. That was when he met the 356 Unlimited staff, got to know them as individuals and realized what outstanding people they truly were.
Steve was also very good friends with Kirk Stowers, who had his 356 shop in the same location as 356 Unlimited for years before Buster moved in and turned it from a hobby shop to a full-fledged restoration business. Steve would stop and discuss the 356-world with Kirk and shoot the bull about once a month for years before Kirk’s passing in 2011. We discussed building a 356 Outlaw with a 912 engine and 5-speed tranny. We still have that shell on site and one day Steve hopes to complete that project.
After retiring from Boeing, Steve planned to continue with his side restoration business to stay out of his wife’s hair at home and continue to feed his Porsche passion. When Buster offered up the opportunity to purchase 356 Unlimited, he jumped at the opportunity. He was able to keep this excellent staff together, Dennis Brown, Jeff Stephenson, Jean Laswell, Austin Miles and our newest addition, his son Ryan Hoffman. All are excellent people and together we will continue the great tradition Buster started of building world class 356s. If anything, he wants to continue to raise the bar to assure every detail no matter how small is restored exactly as these cars left the factory. It is always the owner’s discretion to the extent we will go, but no matter the level of work that is performed, it will be done with the highest level of attention to detail. We want you to be proud of your car and proud of the shop that did the work.
You are always welcome to stop by and check out the projects in work or to just shoot the bull!
