Gläser-Karosserie

Gläser-Karosserie GmbH was an important German coachbuilder, based in Dresden, and known in particular as a producer of bespoke cabriolet car bodies. The enterprise was founded in 1864 and lasted, by some criteria, till 1952.

History

Early years

In 1864 Carl Heinrich Gläser (1831-1902), then a saddler by trade, established a little factory for the manufacture of carriages and sleighs along the Rampischen Alley (Rampischen Gasse 6), near the Frauenkirche, in Dresden.

The quality of the carriages and chaises he produced led to orders from the Royal stables in Dresden. The business also extended to upholstering, painting and finishing carriages supplied as basic shells by other makers. In 1898 Friedrich August Emil Heuer who had hitherto been one of the manufacturers supplying unfinished carriages, became a co-owner of the Gläser business. Heuer at this time was running his own forge and carriage workshop at Radeberg, some 18 km (11 miles) east of the city, but his working relationship with Gläser was already well established: he had indeed married Gläser's daughter back in 1885. When Gläser, by now more than 70, died in 1902 Heuer was left as the sole owner of the flourishing business that bore his father-in-law's name.