Otto Zipper

cf. various sources:

It would appear that this is the Otto ZIPPER who became a car dealer in Santa Monica, Beverley Hills. He specialised in fancy sports cars - Ferraris, Bugattis etc. and even had his own racing team.

Research in progress ...

Factual Information courtesy of:

OTTO ZIPPER (1914-1979) | Social Security Death Index | Free Family History Records

http://www.mocavo.com/Otto-Zipper-1914-1979-Social-Security-Death-I...

OTTO ZIPPER (1914-1979) Social Security Death Index | Free Family History Records SSN: 545-30-6066 Last Name: Zipper Suffix: First Name: Otto Middle Initial: Death Month: 02 Death Day: 00 Death Year: 1979 Death Date: Birth Month: 10 Birth Day: 19 Birth Year: 1914 Birth Date: 1914-10-19 Last Residence ZIP: Last Benefit ZIP: 90265 (Malibu, Los Angeles County, California) State of SSN Issue: New Mexico

Many mentions in several sources, including the following:

Biography | Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences http://www.xrds.org/Page/Equity-and-Justice/Herbert-Zipper-Archives...

"Hitler’s troops invaded Austria on March 12, 1938. Despite the Zipper family’s precautions, Herbert and his brothers Walter and Otto were arrested at their home in the early morning hours of May 27th.While temporarily imprisoned at a local school, Herbert successfully convinced his captors to release his brother Otto who had been sick at the time. On May 31st Herbert and his brother Walter were overnighted by train boxcar to Dachau concentration camp just outside of Munich. ... The Zipper brothers were transferred to Buchenwald in September 1939, from which the Zipper Family was able to secure their release in late February 1939 ... After... release ... went to Paris."

Random Thoughts from an Aging Brain - Lucy Horwitz - Google Books

http://books.google.de/books?id=HEYGKoQe2BcC&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=lu...

re.Uncle Otto ZIPPER:

"The police came for my three uncles shortly after the Anschluss in March 1938. ... The third, who had recently recovered from TB, and was a talented actor, convinced his captors that he was at death's door. If they kept him, they would have a corpse on their hands, and an infectious one at that. He was released."

PHOTO OF FAMILY IN U.S.: (featuring Otto ZIPPER ...) DöW - Dokumentationsarchiv des österreichischen Widerstandes http://doewweb01.doew.at/frames.php?/thema/philippinen/10.html

And also ...

cf. : Eric ZIPPER - cousins search–Google Groups https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/soc.genealogy.jewish/xWiCFc...

"Emil ZIPPER married Regina/Rosie WESTREICH, b. 19.10.1877 d. Santa Monica, Ca, USA, March 1966,who was the oldest of 3 sisters - children of Emanuel WESTREICH. They met and married in Vienna in 1901 and had four children :

... Otto ZIPPER 1914-1979 California - motor car racing driver/dealer. ...

Apparently Otto drove his favourite car across the border and escaped from Austria but Herbert and Walter were arrested and interned in Dachau and Buchenwald. However their Father who had fled to Paris managed to buy them out in February 1939 and the family fled to Manila, Philippines, where they spent the war and then emigrated to the USA. I do not know if Otto or Walter had any children ..."

A wealth of various sources concerning the celebrated car dealer and racing car owner Otto Zipper include indications that he was, indeed, married and had a daughter ...

FCA Southwest Region - Sempre Ferrari Articles http://www.fca-sw.org/article.aspx?article_id=408

" ... In the meantime (late 50s), we saw Otto Zipper, an Alfa Romeo dealer on the West side, becoming more visible in the world of Ferraris. Among local enthusiasts, he was well-known as the owner of a Series I PF Cabriolet, with a cut down driver’s door and brakes specially modified for its first owner, racer Peter Collins. So when Eleanor Von Neumann left the scene, he became the Ferrari distributor for the area.

During this time, Otto held forth on Whilshire Blvd., in Beverly Hills, and in a large barn of a building on Lincoln Blvd. in Santa Monica, which later housed the restoration shop of Hill and Vaughn. Otto’s Ferrari shop foreman was Richie Vanderwater, and from the mid-60’s one of his mechanics was Bruno Borri, later one of the owners of Modena Sport Cars.

So far as I know, Otto Zipper never raced Ferraris during those early days, but later ran a Porsche 904 and an Alfa Tipo 33, with Scooter Patrick and Milt Minter among his drivers. In 1978 he was brought "out of retirement" to manage a team of three 1973 365 GTB/4’s at the 24 hours of Daytona. Drivers included actors Bobby Carradine and Paul Newman. The results were promising, so in 1979 he returned as team manager for a Daytona driven by John Morton and Tony Adamowicz. He died in his motel room the night before the race, but his organizational skills were rewarded with a first in class and 2nd overall.

In late 1962, Otto Zipper, as Ferrari distributor, granted a franchise to Chic Vandagriff’s Hollywood Sport Cars. Chic, who had started as a mechanic and had acquired a British Motors franchise, was quite successful at promoting the Ferrari image.

But not without conflict! Otto still had the distributorship, and was only a few miles away. The result was that Otto could discount the new car price and undercut Chic. But that conflict lasted little more than a year.

Fine German engineering - SFGate http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Fine-German-engineering...

Fine German engineering Jon Carroll Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, April 14, 2009

"In 1979, I was the editor of New West magazine, which had extremely fancy offices on Wilshire Boulevard ...

Back in those days, and very good days they were, the editor of the magazine got a leased car just for being wonderful. I chose a BMW 520i - not that I knew anything about fancy cars, but it seemed like a nice enough machine. The owner of the BMW dealership was Otto Zipper, and I saw Otto and his minions a lot because the BMW was not the most reliable piece of German engineering.

"Take your auto to Otto," was the slogan, and I did, rather too often. "

The Auto Channel - Forzal Magazine http://www.theautochannel.com/publications/magazines/forza/number10...

" ... a fixture in the Southern California automotive scene, Otto Zipper. The well-known dealer ..." ... " ...If anyone was depressed by the bad qualifying or lack of cooperation and respect, Zipper was the perfect tonic to keep the team's spirits high. As he reminded them over dinner at a coffee shop near the track, Borri and crew had an immaculately prepared machine, and they already had firsthand top ten finishing experience at Daytona with this exact same Ferrari from the previous year. As the team downed their meal, Zipper mentioned he was "a bit tired" and wanted to turn in early. "Take these," roommate Borri said as he tossed the team manager the keys. "I'll bunk up with someone else." With that, Zipper got up from the table, said good night and ambled back to the Holiday Inn across the street.

Borri awakened the following morning shortly after six. Even though the green flag wouldn't drop for another nine hours, his mind was already racing: The pit area needed to be prepped and organized, the car had to have a final check, the spares would need one last scrutinizing-was anything else overlooked?

After showering, Borri went to wake Zipper. Several knocks on the door were greeted by silence. Knowing his friend's habits well he figured Zipper was obviously in the shower. Borri headed to the restaurant for a small breakfast and cup of coffee, returning shortly after seven. When Bruno's knocks were again greeted by silence he waved to the maid and asked her to unlock the door. Stepping into the room Borri was unprepared for what he found. Zipper lay in bed, motionless, his body rigidly curled up. "The instant I saw him," Borri recalls, "I knew he was dead."

Shock quickly spread through the team. With Zipper missing, the ship was sailing without its captain. A blanket of silence engulfed them, their minds reeling. As word spread through the pits the team came to a consensus: they would withdraw in honor of their departed friend.

As their conclusion was on the verge of being reached, NART impresario Luigi Chinetti walked over to express his condolences and to see if there was anything he could do. When told of their decision, Chinetti launched into an impassioned plea. "Withdrawing is the worst thing you can do," he emphasized. "Think about continue! The best thing to do is to race in his honor!"

Cavallino Clydesdales | Hemmings Motor News http://www.hemmings.com/hsx/stories/2009/10/01/hmn_feature11.html

cf. PHOTO 1 "Most race cars are obsolete long before they're 12 years old, unless the car is a Ferrari Daytona. This photo was taken during the 24 hours of Daytona in 1979. The Daytona was entered by California dealer Otto Zipper, who died the week before the race, thus explaining the black stripe across the car's front end.

Remembering Otto Zipper http://www.sportscardigest.com/remembering-otto-zipper/ Remembering Otto Zipper April 19, 2011 by Stephen Mitchell 12 Comments Story by Stephen Mitchell

I spent a lot of time in a showroom at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and 26th Street in Santa Monica. It belonged to Otto Zipper and featured Ferraris that held me spellbound for hours at a time.

It would be awhile before I bought my first car which wasn’t a Ferrari but a Jaguar E-Type but that didn’t stop me from returning again and again to Otto Zipper’s to see what was new in the showroom. When I acquired my Berlinetta Lusso, it was to his shop on Wilshire that I took it for service. I remember developing a rapport with Mrs. Zipper who thought I should buy a Porsche 904 that they owned or was for sale by a customer. She was quite knowledgeable about the car and was convinced it would make an ideal street racer. As much as I liked it, it wasn’t Italian and didn’t have twelve cylinders.

When I bought the GTO, I wasn’t surprised to find that it had an Otto Zipper provenance. He had owned it when Richie Ginther raced it at Riverside where he finished fifth overall in the Times Grand Prix in 1964. One day, as I was waiting to collect the Lusso after some routine maintenance, I saw Otto standing in the far end of the shop in deep contemplation of what I think was a Porsche 906 parked in the corner. I was reminded of this quiet moment a lifetime later when I snapped a candid photo of Jim Glickenhaus in his shop in quiet reflection as he gazed at his cars. I’ve heard people say that “it’s just a car” but I could never think in those terms. Cars, like the people who get involved with them, give us a lot to think about."

etc. etc.