This is one of 2 experimental prototypes designed by Rod Hoffman in 1929 and 1930. This one was powered by a Lycoming straight-8 and featured front wheel drive, something Mr. Hoffman strongly pushed in his early designs. The body was built by Baker-Raulang.
And if you think this car is a little bit strange, he went on to design a mid-engined sedan with an 8-cylinder motor in an X configuration. It was rear-wheel drive in contrast to the puzzle car, but made a tidy package and gave lots of room for driver and passengers, with no center hump down the middle of the car, which was based on a unit-body design. The previous cars had been relatively conventional in this regard.
Hoffman was from Indiana and attended college at Purdue in Lafayette, Indiana (my maternal grandmother's from that area, the family might have known him) and went on to work for Studebaker and then Packard. His designs might have gone further if it hadn't been for that little spot of unpleasantness known as the "Great Depression" of the 1930s. Hofmann refused to discuss any of his designs, stating that he'd been sworn to secrecy.
Hope that's a sufficiently complete description of this car and Rod Hoffman.
RtR
