Drögmöller

Drögmöller was founded in 1920 coachbuilding company in Heilbronn, the particular produced high-quality coaches and in 1994 was sold to Volvo. The body was discontinued in 2005, the Volvo bus production moved to Poland. After that was in Heilbronn only a repair and maintenance facility, the Volvo 2010 also finally concluded. Total produced Drögmöller about 3500 buses.

History

Founded in the body shop of the Mecklenburg Stellmacher and body shop technicians Gotthard Drögmöller (* August 3, 1884, † 29 January 1957 in Heilbronn) in an outhouse Allee 36 in Heilbronn. In 1921 Drögmöller acquired a property at the Heilbronner Koepffstraße. In 1923 he was also a building site at the 14.2 Koepffstraße 7 in Heilbronn purchase. Were first produced car bodies and truck platform bodies. In the 1930s, they began to produce bodies for buses.

In 1957, son Carl Schmid took over the management. First bodywork built (cars and buses ) were prepared on chassis from Ford, Opel, MAN, Bussing, Henschel, and Daimler -Benz. In 1965 in Heilbronn Plant II was opened at the Lichtenberger road for the body. In the work I ( Koepffstraße ) remained the repair operation.

Since 1965 the Drögmöller - ups were mounted only on chassis from Daimler -Benz. In the same year has been completely for the first time a vehicle with the type DR 35 ( Drögmöller coach with 35 seats). A special segment formed the coaches with increasing rearward seating, known as panoramic or theater seating, which offers passengers more view options forward than conventional buses.

The numbers of Drögmöller - body series were always low. For decades, the annual production was about 100 buses. Overall, Drögmöller 3,500 vehicles were manufactured.

In 1994 Drögmöller was acquired by Volvo. Owner prior to the acquisition were the daughters of the founder, Elisabeth Schmid and Gerda Roth. In 1995 the company was renamed Volvo Bus GmbH in Germany. Volvo's hope backfired, however. Once a new model by using the typical theater style, the Volvo was initially been 9900, introduced in 2001, 2005, production was finally stopped and closed the factory in Heilbronn. By 2010, remained the workshop, the customer service, the Gebrauchtbusverkauf and parts sales in Heilbronn. The offered today on the German market Volvo buses with the series 7700 (city buses), 8700 ( intercity buses ) and 9700, 9900 ( coaches) are manufactured in Poland; stick with Volvo buses with a market share of about 2% in Germany continues to be a marginal phenomenon.

The company Drögmöller is part of the exhibition in the Heilbronn House of History.

Series

• Easy Coach: types DR 35, DR 256, O 302, O 303, 0319, LPO 608d, E 300 / E 300H, E 310 / E 310H, E 320 / E 320L, E 280 / E 280H, 290 / E 290H, E 325, B12 -500 / B 12 - 500H, B10 -400
• Levels Decker ( special body form): Types Eupu 256, O 302 Eupu
• Double Decker: Types E 420, E 400, E 430, E 440 and the MB O 404 DD as a prototype single piece of Daimler -Benz
• Super high-decker with underfloor cockpit: Type U 430
• Coaches with panoramic or theater style: Types E 330 / E 330H, E 330K, E330 / 3, E330/11, 3, E 330H / 3, E 430, B12 -600, 9900

Additional designation from the various series were Comet, Minicomet, Eurocomet, SUPERCOMET, Pullman, Pullman euro, Super Pullman, Meteor etc.