Rometsch

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Rometsch (disambiguation) .

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Car body Friedrich Rometsch in Berlin-Halensee was a German car body construction company that manufactured and repaired trailers, superstructures on vehicle chassis , and rebuilt chassis .

history

Friedrich Rometsch, like his colleague Beeskow, worked for Erdmann & Rossi before founding his company in 1924, which initially benefited from the fact that many car buyers only bought a motorized chassis from a vehicle manufacturer, which they bought from a coach or wagon builder ( wheelwright ) had a body fitted according to their ideas. This habit ended in the late 1930s when it became common to buy complete cars from automobile factories.

Rometsch taxi from 1953

Rometsch built taxis in the early 1950s . The first was built by the designer Johannes Beeskow from a scrap-ripe VW Beetle ; Rometsch let it go in series. The wheelbase has been extended by 27 centimeters. The rear seats were accessible via rear-hinged doors , for which the original doors of the VW Beetle were modified.

The two-door Beeskow and Lawrence models were bodies specially developed by Rometsch, which were also built on purchased VW Beetles. They were named after their designers, both produced as a coupé and a convertible and received several awards at the Geneva Motor Show . Around 17 of these vehicles were built annually.

Goliath sports coupe from Rometsch

In 1951, Carl FW Borgward commissioned Rometsch to build a sports car on the chassis of the Goliath GP 700 , similar to the two prototypes by the coachbuilder Johannes Rudy from Delmenhorst. The car was similar to the Porsche 356 , but with a longer wheelbase - 230 cm instead of the 210 cm of the Porsche - and a slightly curved side line with a rear fender suggestion , it looked more stretched. Rometsch exhibited the Coupé at the IAA from September 6 to 16, 1951 in Berlin, which was praised in the press as a “treat for car enthusiasts”. Buyers' interest in the car, which was sold exclusively through Goliath dealers and at DM 9,700, only cost DM 500 less than the Porsche, was, however, low. But the relatively high price should not have been the sole reason for the reluctance. It is possible that the 36 hp two-stroke engine was not very attractive compared to the Porsche four-stroke engine with 40 hp. Only 25 vehicles instead of the planned 50 were built by 1953.

The sales figures for VW-based cars later stagnated, not least due to competition from the VW Karmann-Ghia Type 14 , which was cheaper by DM 1500 and was also built on the chassis of the VW Beetle. Volkswagen General Director Heinrich Nordhoff stopped the delivery and prohibited the dealers from delivering chassis or even entire VW Beetles to Rometsch, whereupon Rometsch could only buy entire vehicles through straw men that had to be dismantled afterwards. At Rometsch, the wages were changed by piece when it was found that every Lawrence model was being sold at a loss.

In 1961, Rometsch was separated from around half of its 90 employees when the Berlin Wall was built . In the same year the production of the sporty cars was stopped.

A total of around 200 to 250 special bodies were manufactured at Rometsch, the automobile historian Werner Oswald names up to 500, the Spiegel reports up to 585. According to other information, 280 Beeskow alone are said to have been. A former employee names 117 Beeskow and 85 Lawrence . Berlin taxi entrepreneurs arranged for Rometsch to produce 38 four-door Beetle taxis. The few remaining vehicles became collector's items.

The company was active until the year 2000 and dealt, among other things, with the production of individual bodywork for buses of travel companies. In the last few years until the business was closed, vehicles involved in accidents were repaired.

Rometsch Beeskow (1951–1956)

1957 VW Rometsch Beeskow Cabriolet with handcrafted aluminum body

The Beeskow cost twice as much as the VW Beetle on whose technology it was built. The pontoon body, drawn down in the lines at the front and back, earned him the nickname “Banana”. A third seat was installed behind the driver's seat rotated by 90 degrees, the associated footwell was provided behind the front passenger seat. It is said that actor Viktor de Kowa bought the first Beeskow from the Geneva Motor Show. Since the price was not fixed, Friedrich Rometsch is said to have taken a look at the Porsche stand , where the Porsche 356 was offered for DM 10,000, after which he named Viktor de Kowa the price of DM 9,800. That corresponds to EUR 25,588 in today's purchasing power . Even Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn designed to Beeskow. In the late 1950s, designer Johannes Beeskow became head of technical development at Karmann in Osnabrück. Design elements of the Beeskow were found in other cars, for example the so-called "wheel whistles" in the fenders on the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL .

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  Rometsch convertible from 1956 model "Beeskow" Hollywood Car

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Rometsch Porsche Spyder

In the spring of 1954, Rometsch built a racing sports car that some Berlin racing drivers had built based on the Porsche 550 Spyder. Like the Beeskow and the later Lawrence, the vehicle had a VW chassis, but a 1.1-liter Porsche engine with an output of 68 hp and a Porsche gearbox installed in front of the engine. Rometsch gave the 190 to 200 km / h car a flat and elegant pontoon body made of light metal. The roadster was first used in 1954 at the Leipzig City Park Race , driven by Helmut Niedermayr .

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Rometsch Lawrence (1957–1961)

Rometsch Lawrence Coupé

In 1957 the Rometsch Lawrence was introduced, named after the furniture designer Bert Lawrence, who drew the car. It was a converted VW Beetle with a new 15 cm lower body and some extras such as B. a harmonious two-tone paintwork. The attractive external shape of the vehicle, the padded dashboard, which was unusual at the time, and an elegant Petri steering wheel, if desired, were striking . The combination of American design elements such as tail fins and a panoramic window as well as elegant Italian lines earned the car the Golden Rose of Geneva award in 1957. The vehicle was available as a coupé and a convertible. The aluminum body was handcrafted and the interior was luxurious, which had an impact on the vehicle price. It took around 1200 hours of work to build a Lawrence . In 1959 a new car cost about 8,000 DM, which corresponds to today's purchasing power of 18,944 EUR. In 1961 the production of the Lawrence was stopped. A restored Rometsch Lawrence from 1959 is in the VW Museum in Wolfsburg.

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Rometsch Museum

In October 2015 the “Rometsch Body Museum” was opened in Hessisch Oldendorf , which is entirely dedicated to Friedrich Rometsch and his company. In addition to various vehicles, many utensils, tools and documents from the company, as well as Rometsch's office, can be viewed there.

literature

• Bernd Wiersch: The noble beetles, special bodies from Rometsch, Dannenhauer & Stauss, Wilhelm Karmann, Enzmann, Gebr. Beutler, Ghia Aigle, Joseph Hebmüller & Sons, Drews, Wendler. Delius Klasing 2007, ISBN 3-768-81971-X

Web links

Commons : Rometsch  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Pictures of a four-door Rometsch taxi
• Models from Rometsch
• In style: Rometsch Beeskow , DW-TV Motor mobil from March 2, 2016
• The sheet metal dress of Rometsch Lawrence , DW-TV Motor mobil from April 28, 2016

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Spiegel.de about special bodies for the VW Beetle . Retrieved October 4, 2016.
2. ↑ New Rometsch Body Museum - The Noble Beetles from Berlin , Tagesspiegel from November 10, 2015
3. ↑ Peter Short: Borgward type customer . Delius Klasing, 2009, ISBN 978-3-7688-2599-3 , p. 45 and 46.
4. ^ Werner Oswald: German Cars 1945–1990. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2003 (2nd edition), ISBN 3-613-02116-1 , pp. 16/22.
5. ↑ Beetle Variations of the Fifties - Sekt instead of Selters , Der Spiegel, February 5, 2004
6. ↑ Volkswagen Classic about the Rometsch Porsche Spyder . Retrieved October 2, 2016
7. ↑ The better. Porsche 550 Spyder . Retrieved October 2, 2016.
8. ^ Motor Mobil - Das Automagazin , DW-TV from April 27, 2016
9. ↑ Focus.de (read on April 12, 2010)
10. ↑ New Rometsch Body Museum - Die Edel-Käfer from Berlin , Tagesspiegel from November 10, 2015, accessed on December 9, 2019.