Erdmann & Rossi Mercedes-Benz S680 Sports Tourer 1928

Erdmann & Rossi Mercedes-Benz S680 Sports Tourer
Ordered by Daimler-Benz AG Sales Office Berlin on February 13, 1928. This chassis was shipped by train to Berlin for coachwork by Erdmann & Rossi on April 14, 1928.
The S ("sporting") Mercedes benefited from an entirely new low chassis and positioning of the powertrain within the frame. The S model was not only fast but also versatile, for it could crawl along in top gear at a walking pace and with the supercharger engaged it would top 100mph. It was the S Mercedes that Otto Merz and Rudi Caracciola campaigned, winning across Europe.
The car was sold new to an owner on the American East Coast and remained until its discovery by Mr. Ed White of Eastman Kodak Company, in 1964. It moved through several owner's hands and is now in concours condition.

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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.