One of the great things about attending meet-ins like Cars & Coffee is their surprising nature, you never know just what’s going to show up. This past weekend at my local Saturday crack of dawn congregation a pretty special car made an appearance, and it’s one that might have you saying, when in Rometsch…

Prior to World War II custom bodied cars were extraordinarily common, and in fact before the war Rolls Royce didn’t produce complete cars at all, leaving body work to coachbuilders like Baker and Hooper. One such coach builder – although not for Rolls – was Fredrich Rometsch. In 1924 he set up his panel beating business in Berlin, producing Taxi bodies for companies like Opel and Ley. At the same time Johannes Beeskow started working for another Berlin coachbuilding company owned by Josef Neuss, while at the same time taking design classes at night. He was 14 years old. Neuss evolved into Erdman and Rossi, and Beeskow continued to do designs for the new firm.

As you might expect, the war put a crimp on Germany’s coachbuilding businesses, and following the war resource constraints and a shattered economy continued to make such exclusive businesses difficult to maintain. Rometesch was able to restart his business following Germany’s capitulation, while Erdman & Rossi was forced to shutter, leaving Beeskow in need of finding new work.

That was what led Beeskow to approach Rometsch with an idea for something new – the series production of a car based on a Volkswagen platform and powered by that company’s flat four engine. Prior to the war Rometsch had built nothing but one-offs, single models that were usually commissioned by a company or individual. Now Beeskow was advocating joining the likes of Karmann, Dannenhauer & Stauss, Drews, Denzel, Beutler, Wendler, and Hebmuller in producing cars in series and without advocacy up front.

The Sports Cabriolet debuted at the 1950 Berlin Motor Show where German film star Victor de Kowa offered to buy the show car right off the floor. This presented a problem for Rometsch and Beeskow as they had not yet decided on what to charge for the cars. Business planning at its best! A quick look at what Porsche was charging at the show for their Cabriolet gave the pair a benchmark and they matched that company’s DM 8,250 price.

Rometsch was initially able to buy the platforms and motors for the cars from Volkswagen, but upon seeing the success of such small-time makers, VW President Heintz Nordhoff cut off that supply as he envisioned VW building their own small sporty car. That would eventually become the Karmann Ghia, and forced Rometsch to buy complete cars to convert to his coachbuilt editions. When VW caught wind of that, they banned Rometsch’s company from buying VWs outright.

The total number of Beeskow models remains up for debate, some saying as few as 175, and some saying as many as 500. More certain is that there are presently around 30 left in the world, of which this one – once displayed at Pebble Beach – is a fine example. These cars possess an elegant mix of fifties styling tropes, from the faux grille in the front (some cars had just a single bar) to the fender caps over the front wheels, just like the Mercedes 300SL, which interestingly debuted after the Sport Cabriolet.

Other elements are very reminiscent of Porsche’s 356, and demonstrates how that Porsche also represented the styling trends of its time. In fact, had the Sport Cabriolet been more successful, and had Volkswagen decided to nurture the marque rather than attempt to put it out of business, we might today debate the pros and cons of Porsche vs. Rometsch. Instead, the German coach builder stands as a source of inspiration for others – Freeman Thomas once claiming to have channeled its design when overseeing the original Audi TT.

Cars & Coffee is always an eclectic meet, and pretty much everything under the sun and powered by an internal combustion engine is welcome. Well, last week there was a Tesla too so I guess we’ll have to amend even that criteria. Usually you’ll see a lot that’s interesting, and almost always something you’ve never seen before. In the case of last week’s show, that was a handsome and historic German, and one that I thought you’d like to see too.

Historical resource: Rometsch Registry

All Images: ©2014 Hooniverse/Robert Emslie, All Rights Reserved.