What ever happen to the wooden forms ("models") that were used at Rometsch? I heard one still existed at a nearby technical school (Berlin?)
Most auto buffs have no idea what coachbuilt means, since modern cars are stamped out like soup cans. I've grown tired explaining the process to
the so- called "know it alls".

I have pics of the tree stumps at Rometsch, no kidding!

Maybe a photo essay would be more effective in explaining the art of the coachbuilder?

Your thoughts?

The Grundmanns have some "models"in their collection in H.O.

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm not surprised Herr Grundmann has them. Good for him! Good for the rest of us.

When the Rometsch werks were cleaned out in 2002, quite a lot of tools and equipment were saved along with fantastic papers and photos. All is now in the largest private VW-collection in the world - the Grundmann collection. It seems that about 75 pros of the wooden bucks for the Lawrence model survived and they are all in the collection. To my knowledge, no Beeskow model bucks are known to survive.

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I Posted this picture at TheSamba before.

Baldur next to an original rometsch-tool at the Grundmann-collection at Hessisch Oldendorf, explaining how they worked with that tool back in the fifties (still knowing how to exactly handle that machine)...



The one with the orange shirt is Björn, our perfect guide for the collection, knowing th story of every car in there.

Regards Jörg

So what are the chances of them hammering out a few more Rometsches for us all?

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Good idea. Believe me, those people still could do that. I have seen Baldurs friend (who did not work at Rometsch but another Berlin coachbuilder) restoring a Karmann Ghia Type 34 - perfect work. These skills get lost over the decades.

When Kaulmann in the 90ies talked about his work at Rometsch, he finished with the following sentences: "Was man in den 50er Jahren konnte, ist natürlich auch heute noch möglich. Geben sie mir fünf Mitarbeiter, die gerne Autos bauen wollen, und wir bauen ihnen auch heute noch innerhalb eines halben Jahres eine Kleinserien Autoproduktionslinie auf."

This translates to: "What has been made in the 50ies is still possible today. Give me 5 workers who are willing to build cars, and within half a year we will set you up an coachbuilding production line"...

But remember (and you realize this when you talk to the people): it was their job, nothing special for them, and they don't worship the cars they built back then like we do today. It's probably like our grandchildren ask us one day: "hey, you really were the guy who mounted the turn signals and mirrors to the Volkswagen Rabbit? That's great!"

Regards Jörg

NOW THAT WAS FUNNY! 🙂

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