Erdmann & Rossi

The coachbuilding company 'Karosserie Erdmann & Rossi' dates back from 1906, when Eduard Rossi joined Willy Erdmann's company, which he'd found in 1898. Willy Erdmann had been building horse drawn carriages since 1898, but when car-salesman Eduard Rossi joined the company in 1906, they started to offer coachworks for cars as well.

Rossi died in 1909 in a traffic accident and Erdmann decided to leave the company. The main administrator Friedrich Peters took over the firm.

The company survived World War One by manufacturing utility vehicles and focussing on body repair. After WW1 Erdmann & Rossi specialized in designing and building bodies for luxury German and foreign automobiles, like Mercedes, Horch, Bentley and Rolls-Royce. The company also became the exclusive distributor of Rolls-Royce and Bentley motorcars in Germany.

During the 1920s and 1930s, many famous one-off designs were delivered to several Royal Household members, like for instance Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands and King Ghazi of Iraq. About 200 craftsmen manufactured 2 to 3 bodies in one week.

In 1933 the company took over the coachbuilding company Jos. Neuss in Berlin-Halensee. Friedrich Peters died in 1937 and his brother Richard Peters took over. The very last Erdmann & Rossi body was built in 1949 on the chassis of a Maybach SW 42. Since then the company only focusses on body repair.