- Founded
- 1936
- Headquarters
- Lorch, Germany
Michael Binz founded Lorcher Karosseriefabrik Binz & Co. at Lorch in 1936. The workshop supplied medical transport and military bodies by 1939, then resumed civilian special bodies after the Second World War on platforms including Gutbrod, Steyr-Puch and Volkswagen. Volkswagen commissioned its T1 double-cab conversion in 1953, the same year Binz built the Brütsch 1200 sports convertible on Ford Taunus 12M mechanicals. The company also produced scooters from 1954 to 1958, a motorcycle-sector sideline retained in the history but excluded from this automobile catalog. All-steel ambulances on Mercedes-Benz Ponton saloons began in 1955, followed by BMW 501 medical cars, long-wheelbase W110 bodies and the Europ 1100. From 1965 Binz expanded beyond patient transport with Mercedes light-commercial rescue and doctor vehicles, then created named intensive-care concepts including Reanimobil, Clinicar and Cardiomobil. Ambulance 2000 appeared on the W123 in 1977 and expanded to G-Class off-road forms; Ambulance 2001 Long followed in 1985. An Ilmenau subsidiary founded in 1991 took over ambulance manufacture in 1996 and developed Sprinter box bodies, mobile hospitals, command, fire and security vehicles. Ambulance 2003 used a complete composite E-Class superstructure. Binz became an official OEM for extended E-Class 212 vehicles in 2009, producing six-door limousines and extended estates. Ilmenau introduced the RESCUBE modular box in 2014 and continues the rescue lineage, including RESCUBE V25 and Aqua, while the funeral-vehicle business offers BINZ.H2, BINZ.H4 and Tesla-based BINZ.E hearses. Corporate ownership fragmented after RMA acquired the Ilmenau assets in 2012 and the Lorch company entered insolvency; Woodall Nicholson recreated Binz International in 2019, while Binz Automotive later expanded into the former MAN bus plant at Plauen. The catalog treats these connected specialist branches as one historical marque lineage but distinguishes their products, excludes the scooter range, and records donor chassis and engines as configurations rather than multiplying them into Binz models.
Text adapted from “Binz” on Wikipedia ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗