Horst F. Winkler

He was born into the illustrious Shafenberger wine-making family, dating back to the 1600s. His father, Oscar Winkler, was a renowned German inventor and engineer.

Horst grew up in the picturesque town of Heidelberg, Germany. As a youth, he attended a monastery and furthered his engineering education at Heidelberg University, where he met his wife Margaret Hertel, a marriage that lasted until her passing in 2015.

In the 1960s, the Mercedes-Benz corporation brought him from Germany to Rockefeller Center in New York to assist the famous Mercedes-Benz executive Heinze Hoppe in expanding territories and broadening markets across America. Later, Horst built his highly successful dealership in Indianapolis, Indiana, which remained the area’s sole distributor from inception to its recent sale in 2025.

The Indianapolis News Wed, Apr 23, 1986 ·Page 40
Cutting Throught The Red Tape

What do honorary consuls do and why would a landlocked Midwestern city need them? The News talked to automobile dealer Horst Winkler

By BERNICE O'CONNOR The Indianapolis News

The red, black and yellow flag of West Germany hangs close by the seal of the Federal Republic and a framed photograph of West German President Richard von Weizsacker. These are not the items one usually finds in an automobile dealer's office in Indianapolis.

But then Horst Winkler is not your usual automobile dealer. The German-born owner of World Wide Motors Inc., a Mercedes Benz dealership, is honorary consul of the Federal Republic of Germany.



He is also an art collector, Mozart lover, wine connoisseur, avid student of history and 100 percent American citizen who loves this country and this city with a passion. "It was the best decision of my life to come here, the very best," Winkler said...

Winkler was appointed in 1978 by Consul General Richard Wagner of Detroit, who represents the West German government in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky. "Germany is the country most closely allied to the United States. It can't live without the United States!"' Winkler declared. The Indianapolis businessman has come a long way since he climbed fearfully out of a German cellar in 1945 several days after the American troops occupied his hometown of Heidelberg. He was 13 and hungry.

"We had nothing to eat when the war ended. My friends at Rotary Club meetings complain about the food, but I never do. My God, I think any food is a blessing."...

In the final years of the war, his father was one of a team of scientists and engineers working feverishly to develop an atomic bomb.

---'I could make this a full-time job.' - Horst Winkler ---

At war's end, the U.S. Army moved practically entire team to Oak Ridge, Tenn., site of America's atomic laboratory.

"My father chose to remain in Germany. He thought he should stay around to help rebuild the country." Winkler attended a commercial sales engineering school in Mannheim, then started working for Mercedes Benz, as his father and grandfather before him had done.

When promotions didn't happen as fast as he expected, he transferred to Mercedes headquarters in Canada for 10 years, then worked in the company's New York offices.

"To rise higher in the company I would have needed to return to Germany. After a time, my: wife and I realized we didn't really want to live in Germany again and I didn't want to fight my way up in the company.'

A dealership offered greater independence, so Winkler did a market study of five cities - Indianapolis, Atlanta, Toledo, Wichita and Memphis. Indianapolis came out on top.

He and his wife and daughter came here in 1968 and applied for citizenship soon after.

"Now I go over to Germany for meetings and rub elbows with the high and mighty at Mercedes Benz, but all the glory is out of it. I aspired so much to be up there with them, but not any more. I am deeply imbedded in this city and it has given me much happiness."

Winkler is an interesting contradiction. He is a wealthy man who says, "I don't worship money. If I did, I would open a dealership in Carmel."

Winkler owns a small winery in Germany managed by his cousins and he returns for the annual harvest. He is also in Germany several other times a year on business. In fact, Winkler and his wife Margaret maintain a home in Germany for their frequent visits. Their daughter is married and lives in Paris.

"When I go to Germany, I feel like an American. I would not think of retiring there. I will retire here, in Indianapolis, and start lots of little committees."...

The Indianapolis Star Thu, Jan 23, 2003 ·Page 20
A DIFFERENT VENTURE
Diplomatic Corps helps city, state

What: The Indianapolis Diplomatic Corps consists of the Indianapolis-based honorary consuls for six foreign countries and the official Mexican consul. The group was organized last year by Robert Reynolds, a partner with Barnes & Thornburg. Reynolds, chairman of the firm's International Practice Group, is honorary consul general of Japan and is president of the Japanese-American Society of Indiana.

Membership: Besides Reynolds, the corps includes... and Dr. James B. Steichen and Horst Felix Winkler, honorary consuls of Germany.

Horst Felix Winkler death July 2025

married Margaret Berta Hertle birth Dec 29 1927 Lebuust, Germany death Oct 22 2015 Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana Cemetery Our Lady of Peace Cemetery Burial Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, United States of Americadaughter of Han Hertel and Klara Hertel. They had:

Linda Anne WInkler married David Waldemar Sams; Paul A. C. Pettenaro believe she owned 2550 E. Shore Ln.

Early in 2024, Horst became a full-time Highlands, North Carolina resident, where he once again found happiness, meeting and then marrying Heather Lowe.