Schebera

Schebera combined three intertwined activities: luxury coachbuilding in Berlin, mass automobile sales, and a short run of Schebera-branded compact cars made at Heilbronn. Ernst Schebera and Heilbronner Fahrzeug-Fabrik owner Paul Günther founded Carrosserie Schebera GmbH in Berlin-Tempelhof in February 1911 to manufacture and sell bodies. The new firm built coachwork for existing chassis rather than cars of its own during the opening phase; a surviving 1914 Benz 8/20 PS is one example. Schebera emigrated to the United States in 1919 and later worked for Fleetwood Metal Body, after which Odessa-born dealer and financier Jacob Schapiro became manager and owner. Schapiro helped form Carosseriewerke Schebera AG in May 1920, with Hans Köppen as chairman, and used the group to assemble a vertically connected automobile empire. One celebrated coachbuilding commission from around 1920 was the body fitted to 1914 Rolls-Royce 40/50 hp Silver Ghost chassis 54PB. Probably designed by Ernst Neumann-Neander, its doorless skiff-torpedo body used mahogany planks over boat-like frames, metal mainly for hood and fenders, an unusually finished interior and a pointed stern. It remains a Rolls-Royce model with Schebera coachwork, not a Schebera car. In Heilbronn, Günther's existing factory became Süddeutsche Karosseriewerke Schebera GmbH in November 1920 and an AG in March 1921. Schapiro's group also participated in establishing Cyklon Automobilwerke AG in 1922. The Berlin Schebera operation increasingly became a Benz and Protos distributor—briefly described as Germany's largest car dealership—while Heilbronn built the Schebera-branded cars. Three compact families form the complete published range. The 1922–23 5/18 PS used a Cyklon chassis and approximately 1,300 cc inline-four; a surviving advertisement shows a four-seater, while sources disagree whether the earliest engine was slightly above 1.2 litres. The 1924–25 5/20 PS retained a 1.3-litre Cyklon four with output raised to 20 PS. For 1925–26 the 5/25 PS switched to an NSU 1,309 cc side-valve four rated 25 PS/18.4 kW and reached about 80 km/h. Touring/double-phaeton and closed saloon forms are associated with the NSU-derived final chassis, but exact Schebera body ledgers are unavailable. Sales were poor in ordinary retail channels. Roughly 1,000 cars—without a reliable model split—reportedly went to Schapiro's Kandelhardt AG Berlin taxi business, so that figure is neither a complete lifetime total nor proof of 1,000 identical vehicles. The Carosseriewerke AG became Schebera AG Automobilwerke after a December 1924 resolution. In 1926 financially endangered Schebera was forced into NSU; the acquisition and Schapiro's broader speculative network burdened NSU badly. The separate Heilbronn corporate shell/body operation continued until liquidation in 1930, when Drauz took over coachbuilding, but no Schebera passenger-car production is documented after 1926. Three rows therefore account for the full branded automobile range. Schebera is distinct from donor Cyklon and NSU cars, Benz/Protos vehicles sold through its dealership, Schebera-bodied cars of other makes, Paul Günther's earlier Heilbronn-branded automobiles, and the independent Szawe marque.

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