Karosserie Friedrich Rometsch, a German

metallurgical Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

coachbuilding A coachbuilder manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles. The trade of producing coachwork began with bodies for horse-drawn vehicles. Today it includes custom automobiles, buses, motor coaches, and railway carriages. The word ...

company based in Berlin-Halensee, Nestorstrasse 41, manufactured, modified, and repaired coaches, trailers, bodies and

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

History

Founded in 1924 by Friedrich Rometsch, the company was one of many in Europe providing car bodies for customers buying their motor-car in "bare chassis form", complete with an engine, and then employing a coachbuilder to add a custom-built body. By the late 1930s it was becoming more usual to buy the complete vehicle. Friedrich Rometsch and his son Fritz Rometsch had earned their experience while working for the coachbuilder, Erdmann & Rossi. During the early years most Rometsch car bodies were designed for use as taxis, using mainly

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Gr ...

chassis. There were also some bespoke bodies produced for private customers. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the company switched to manufacturing mobile field kitchens for the

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

. Johannes Beeskow, a Rometsch designer who had worked for Erdmann & Rossi during the 1930s, built the first prototype of a four-door sedan in 1950; the donor vehicle being a

Volkswagen Beetle The Volkswagen Beetle, officially the Volkswagen Type 1, is a small family car produced by the German company Volkswagen from 1938 to 2003. One of the most iconic cars in automotive history, the Beetle is noted for its distinctive shape. Its pr ...

scrap Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap can have monetary value, especially recover ...

condition. Rometsch took this concept into the production of a

taxicab A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

. The

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

had been stretched by about . Access to the backseats was improved by incorporating

suicide door A suicide door is an Car door, automobile door hinged at its rear rather than the front. Such doors were originally used on Horse-drawn vehicle, horse-drawn carriages but are rarely found on modern vehicles, primarily because they are less saf ...

s. The ''Beeskow'' and the ''Lawrence'' were also based on the Volkswagen Beetle, with a Rometsch body. These were named after their designers. Both models were available as a

coupé A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and typically with two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the Fr ...

and as a

convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a Car, passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary across eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air drivin ...

. These vehicles gained awards at the Geneva Automotive Show several times. About 17 examples were built per year. When sales declined, mainly due to the competition from the mass production of the Type 14

Karmann Ghia The Volkswagen Karmann Ghia are a family of three overlapping sports car models produced by Volkswagen, marketed in 2+2 (car body style), 2+2 coupe (1955–1975) and 2+2 convertible (1957–1975) body styles, though German production ended one yea ...

, which was 1,500 DEM cheaper and also built on the Beetle chassis, the general director of

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

, Heinrich Nordhoff, stopped the supply to Rometsch. He also prohibited dealers from selling either chassis or vehicles to Rometsch. When Rometsch realised they were selling the ''Lawrence'' at a loss, he was forced to cut wages to

piece rate Piece work or piecework is any type of employment in which a worker is paid a fixed piece rate for each unit produced or action performed, regardless of time. Context When paying a worker, employers can use various methods and combinations of m ...

. A further blow hit Rometsch in the summer of 1961 when the construction of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

separated the business from nearly half of its 90 employees overnight. The production of the sports car ended later that year. From 1962 the business was concentrated on car body repairs, specialising in taxis. However, it did carry out a small series of bespoke conversions using

Range Rover The Land Rover Range Rover, generally shortened to Range Rover, is a Sport utility vehicle, 4x4 Luxury car, luxury SUV produced by Land Rover, a marque and sub-brand of Jaguar Land Rover, owned by Tata Motors. The Range Rover line was launched ...

s, producing at least three lengthened-wheelbase "hunting vehicles" during the mid-1980s for General Secretary Erich Honecker. During its final years Rometsch turned to producing ambulance bodies and customising

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

bodies for tour companies, while still also rebuilding damaged vehicles. The company closed in 2000. At least 200 to 250 customised bodies were manufactured by Rometsch; automotive historian Werner Oswald wrote of a total approaching 500,Werner Oswald: ''Deutsche Autos 1945–1990.'' while the magazine

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

reported up to 585. Taxi entrepreneurs from Berlin made Rometsch manufacture 38 of the stretched Beetle taxis.

1951 Rometsch Beeskow

The ''Beeskow'' was twice the price of its platform and parts donor, the Volkswagen Beetle. The ''Beeskow'' became "the Beetle for the

high society High society, sometimes simply Society, is the behavior and lifestyle of people with the highest levels of wealth, power, fame and social status. It includes their related affiliations, social events and practices. Upscale social clubs were open ...

". The design of falling lines on head and tail of the pontoon body caused it to be nicknamed "the banana". A third seat was installed behind the driver seat, turned by 90 degrees, facing the nearside. The actor

Viktor de Kowa Viktor de Kowa (also spelled Victor de Kowa, born Victor Paul Karl Kowalczyk; 8 March 1904 – 8 April 1973) was a German stage and film actor, chanson singer, director, narrator, and comic poet. Life He was born the son of a farmer and engineer ...

bought the first ''Beeskow'' at the Geneva Automotive Show. As Friedrich Rometsch had not thought of a price, he took a look at the

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

exhibition booth next-door where the

Porsche 356 The Porsche 356 is a rear-engine sports car, and the first ever production Porsche model. The 356 is a lightweight and nimble-handling, rear-engine, rear-wheel drive, two-door available both in hardtop coupé and open configurations. Engineer ...

was offered for 10,000 DEM and Rometsch offered the car for 9,800 DEM, which was accepted. Today that price would equal EUR. Both

Gregory Peck Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 12th-greatest male ...

and

Audrey Hepburn Audrey Kathleen Hepburn ( Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress. Recognised as a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend from the Classical Holly ...

also bought Beeskows. In the late middle 1950s, the design engineer Johannes Beeskow moved to the Karmann company in

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population of 168 ...

as their department manager of technical research. Some of the design elements from the ''Beeskow'' were found later in other vehicles such as the so-called "wheelbrows" on the bumpers of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL and also the roof of the Audi TT. About 175 Beeskows were built, of which the majority were convertibles. The Coupés can be divided into three series, easily identifiable by the size of the rear windshield which grew considerably with each change. File:Rometsch beeskow2.jpg, 1956 Rometsch Beeskow Convertible File:Rometsch beeskow3-2.jpg File:Rometsch Beeskow Volkswagen (1957) 1X7A8065.jpg, 1957 Convertible File:1954 Rometsch Beeskow Coupé M-61006 in Los Angeles, rear right.jpg, 1954 Series 2 Beeskow Coupé, with panoramic rear windshield File:VW Rometsch Beeskow Coupe (25816125104).jpg, 1955 Series 3 Coupé with fully wraparound rear windshield

1954 Rometsch Porsche Spyder

In early 1954 Rometsch manufactured a light alloy body for a

racing car Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including ...

, following the shape of Porsche 550 Spyder, again utilising the Beetle chassis. The gearbox and the 1.1-litre, engine which were made by Porsche, gave a topspeed of 190 to 200 km/h (118 to 124 mph). Rometsch Porsche Spyder 1953 (14450189273).jpg 1954_Rometsch_Porsche_Spyder_09.jpg 1954_Rometsch_Porsche_Spyder_06.jpg, Original 1954 Rometsch Porsche Spyder

1957 Rometsch Lawrence

The ''Rometsch Lawrence'' was introduced in 1957. The furniture designer Bert Lawrence had drawn the shape of the car. Again a modified Beetle with a

brand-new In marketing, brand-new products or services are created and promoted under a new brand. This is a brand strategy alongside the brand stretching, line extension and multi-brands strategies. The brand-new strategy is focused on creating and int ...

body; 15 cm ( inch) lower and a harmonic two-colour appearance. The padded dashboard was uncommon at that time in Germany. A

Petri Petri is an Italian and Germanic surname derived from the Latin name Petrus, and may refer to: Surname * Adam Petri (1454–1527), Swiss Renaissance printer who founded a Basel publishing house * Alexandra Petri (born 1988), humor columnist f ...

steering wheel A steering wheel (also called a driving wheel, a hand wheel, or simply wheel) is a type of steering control in vehicles. Steering wheels are used in most modern land vehicles, including all mass-production automobiles, buses, light and hea ...

was available as an option. Design elements such as American-style tailfins, wrap-around windshield and Italian-styling won the car the "Golden Rose" at the 1957 International Geneva Motor Show. Available as a coupé and a convertible, it took about 1200 hours to build a ''Lawrence''. In 1959 in Germany it sold for 8000 DEM, which equals EUR today. Production of the ''Lawrence'' ended in 1961. A restored 1959 Rometsch Lawrence is exhibited at the

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian language, Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth-largest city in the Germany, German state of Lower Saxony, on the river Aller (Germany), Aller east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the locat ...

AutoMuseum Volkswagen. Rometsch-Lawrence Front Brunswyk (2012).JPG Rometsch-Lawrence Heck Brunswyk (2012).JPG Rometsch-Lawrence Innenraum Brunswyk (2012).JPG Volkswagen 1959 Rometsch Lawrence Coupe.jpg, Rometsch Lawrence Coupé

External links

{{Commons category * (German
Rometsch Modells

Stylish: Rometsch Beeskow
DW-TV ''Drive it!'', 2 March 2016
Vintage! Rometsch Lawrence
DW-TV ''Drive it!'', 27 April 2016

wolfsburg-citytour.de

References