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From the Archives – February 2025 

Hello! Welcome to my first “From the Archives” article for our newsletter. My name is Jordan Godorov and I am the Las Vegas Porsche Club’s newly minted historian. Do you have a question about the history of our local club or the Porsche brand in Las Vegas? Drop me an email at jordan_godorov@yahoo.com 

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Most of us know that our local Las Vegas authorized Porsche dealership has been Gaudin Porsche since 1986. Being a Las Vegas native, I was curious to know who sold Porsches before Gaudin did. According to Gary Ackerman, the dealer principal of Gaudin Porsche, the dealer immediately before Gaudin took over the franchise was none other than Mike Salta. 

Mike Salta

Salta, for those that might not be aware, was one of the country’s first “mega” car dealers, having owned as many as 24 dealerships simultaneously along the west coast and Hawaii. According to Ackerman, for a short time before Gaudin’s hold on the Porsche franchise (approximately 18 months), folks looking to purchase a Porsche would go to Atlas Motors. Atlas was Salta spelled backwards. According to his obituary from 2014, when he passed away at 91 years old, “In 1955, Salta opened his first new car dealership in Long Beach, California, and before long, Salta Pontiac was the largest Pontiac dealership west of the Mississippi, and one of the largest in the country, and became a landmark in the city. Salta had franchises in California, Oregon, Hawaii, Nevada, and Arizona that included Cadillac, Chrysler/Plymouth, Dodge, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Acura, Jeep/Eagle, Buick, Isuzu, GMC Truck, Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, Lexus, Pontiac, Nissan and Toyota.

By the way, a word used by spelling it backwards is called a Semordnilaps. More about this later……

So, if Salta only had the franchise for a short time, who had the franchise before Salta? The dealership before that time was Sunland Motors. Sunland Motors was a family-owned dealership located at 2030 E. Fremont Avenue, which is now a U-Haul center. They were also located at 3131 E. Fremont Avenue, which is now a body shop. Check out these cool photos from those days…

– Jordan Godorov