Erdmann & Rossi

Erdmann & Rossi was a coachbuilding company from Berlin, Germany. In early half of the 20 Century the company became known for manfacturing bodies of luxury vehicles, but funds never recovered from World War II.

History

Fundet in 1898 by Willy Erdmann, the company began manufacturing coaches with wheelwrighting in Luisenstraße, Berlin, Germany. In 1906 the cars salesman Eduard Rossi joined the company which started metallurgic coachbuilding for cars. Rossi was jounger than Erdmann and became CEO, moved the company into Linienstraße in Berlin. In an acciedent 1909 Rossi died and Erdmann interimed as CEO before he retiered. At that time Erdmann & Rossi had about 50 employees and no supra-regional significance.

The golden aera

Friedrich Peters from Schwerin, known as the CFO, had worked in various other positions at the company married a weathy customer and made him acquire the company in 1910. His affable nature made him to establish best relations to nobility and other opinion leaders. In 1912 Erdmann & Rossi became royal warrant for Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Wilhelm II, German Emperor ordered luxury cars as gifts for foreign heads of state and top politicians, such as Enver Pasha, Ottoman Minister of War.[1]

World War I caused the first smaller constraint. Beside body repair jobs, only vehicles for medical use and mail delivery were built.

In the 1920s the company moved into Karlsruher Straße in Berlin. In the 1930s the business model focussed more on luxurious bodies onto frames of German and other manufactureres from abroad. The company also became the German representant for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and Bentley.[2] Erdmann & Rossi did modyfications on trucks for advertising. Maggi placed a large order.

After the seizure of power by the Nazis the company took advantage of new orders, leading nazies became customers like Hermann Göring, Rudolf Hess and regime loyal celebrities like race car driver Bernd Rosemeyer who ordered the Horch 853 Coupé "Manuela" in 1937/38 [3] and first owner of the Academy Award Emil Jannings whos modified Mercedes is exhibited in Aalholm Castle, Lolland. Race car driver Rudolf Caracciola, pilot Ernst Udet and Ernst Heinkel were customers.

In 1933 the competitor Wagenfabrik Jos in Neuss with 60 employees was aquiered and moved to Berlin-Halensee. Its fromative designer Karl Trutz retired and Johannes Beeskow followed as chief designer. That time Erdmann & Rossi was Germanys leading luxury coachbuilder, followed by the remaining competitor Voll & Ruhrbeck from Charlottenburg. Beeskow and Peters liked aerodynamic car shapes and ticked with innovative ideas.

Also in Halensee coachbuilder Rometsch who specialized in mid size cars like Opel, today a subsidary of General Motors, cooparated. Designer Beeskow would have started working for Rometsch after the war. A new business were luxury interiors of Junkers Ju 52 for Lufthansa.[4]

About 200 workers, once their number exceeded 250, manufactured two to three car body per week. Individual custom designs for royal houses were created, for example, for Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld the Netherlands, or in 1935, a Mercedes-Benz 540K for the King Ghazi of Iraq, which was designed by Figoni et Falaschi.[5]

Beeskow and Peters' brother Richard traveled often to England. Beeskow got inspired by the British automotive design of J Gurney Nutting & Co Limited.

War caused decline

In 1936 Richard Peters took over the company as Friedrich Peters felt ill and died a year later. Businesses were going well until World War II started in 1939, only repair jobs were ordered again.

There's rarely information about quipping of Siebel Si 204, Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor and Breguet Aviation which were possibly used by Luftwaffe, the German air forces. In early 1940s a bombing on Berlin the areal of the company including its archive burned down causing huge losts of information of the company history. In 1943 to 1944 the remaining employees moved the company to Trebbin, Fläming Heath, 20 miles south of Berlin.

In 1949 assemlbed on a Maybach SW 42 chassis the last car body was manufactured. War destructions, a difficult economy, and the separation of Berlin, which became an terrerorical island, caused too huge problems for reestablishing the former business and declined it to car body repair jobs. Richard, son of Günter Peters, was last CEO.

Gallery

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ P. 28
  2. ↑ Classic Car Consultants
  3. ↑ Rebirth of Rosemeyer's dreamcar – Picture 29.
  4. ↑ Rupert Stuhlemmer: The coachwork of Erdmann & Rossi, S.210
  5. ↑ Coachbuild.com

External links

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