by George Dyke…..
Forget the official museums, the endless bars and the historic landmarks in Berlin – the one place you’ll want to make sure you visit is Classic Remise, and specifically in there; Atelier Automobile GmbH – a Citroën restoration shop. Quite the place and always a dozen or so superb Citroëns on display and available for sale! The owner of Atelier Automobile, Roland Kayser, is proud to have sold over 160 H Vans, many restored and customized for owners specific needs (like raising to roof) for food trucks and promotional vehicles.
The facility works on other interesting cars as well. When I was there a Facel Vega was on the rack getting a full under-carriage re-build. A very complex front end for a rear wheel drive car!
The scope of Classic Remise complex is impressive. Opened in 2003 it’s a center for vintage cars, in a historic tram depot, originally built in 1899. Some architectural changes to the building were made in the 1920s. There were limited damages in the war, the places where firebombs damaged the building can still be seen on the ceiling. After the tram system was given up in then West-Berlin in the 1960s the depot did not serve any purpose and was in decay until the present owners bought it in 2002 and started to reconstruct it into a classic car center.
Now there are garages, services and dealers for classic cars, shops for spare parts, clothing, model cars, accessories and restaurants in the landmark building. And of course Citroëns!
View a full photo gallery of Classic Remise Berlin and Atelier Automobile GmbH here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsm1FQeKY
The second center of this kind is the Classic Remise Düsseldorf, also well worth visiting.