Knute Qvale Passes, Riviera Motors Founder Options

[minermike2003]

A Great Man, Mr. Knute M. Qvale passed away March 11th. Knute dared to distribute the beloved VW Beetle in the early 50's when Tailfin Dealers of the time scoffed at the odd looking little car. His Distributorship grew to 83 Dealers in 5 States, based in Hillsboro Oregon. He later added Porsche/Audi, and became the first Oregon businessman to provide profit sharing to his employees. In the early years he traveled from dealer to dealer to address service issues. In later years his Lear Jet brought a new era to the Hillsboro Airport. I was involved with the VW, Porsche Audi retail network from about 1967 up through 1983. I was a District Sales Manager for Mr. Qvale, and have not met a finer individual. I was there with him at Terminal 4 in Portland when the first 914's arrived to do battle, (retail), with the Toyota Celica. In 1963 he brought a Factory Porsche 904 over to compete in the first Portland Rose Cup Race, promptly putting the favored Chevrolet powered Cheeta to shame. He was also insturmental in early formula Vee Racing. He will be greatly missed. Mike Clark.