The team

Roland Kayser, Dipl.-Ing. Fahrzeugtechnik, owner and managing director, lecturer in automotive history at HTW Berlin, member of the parliamentary group Automobiles of Cultural Heritage and member of the working group Land Vehicles of the Deutsches Technik Museum Berlin.

Mr. Kayser lives in Berlin-Tiergarten and founded Atelier Automobile GmbH in March 2004 in the former Berlin Meilenwerk, now Classic Remise Berlin. He grew up in Bavaria and studied automotive engineering at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich. He can draw on fifteen years of experience in car development at BMW, VW and Ford. Particularly during his ten years at Ford, during which he got to know factories in almost every part of the world, he worked his way up from body design and diesel engine tuning to head of driving assessment. His team tested prototypes, so-called Erlkönige, under extreme conditions in the Arctic Circle, in the desert, at over 4,500 meters above sea level and under other extreme conditions. During this time, Mr. Kayser tested cars on test tracks around the world. Later, as Commonality Manager, he was responsible for reducing the variety of parts in the Ford Motor Company’s portfolio at the time (Ford, Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin and Mazda). “The higher I got,” he says, “the further away I was from the car!” This insight and his passion for classic cars – he has been driving his own collector’s cars since 1993 – led him to take part in a severance program at Ford Werke, which provided him with the start-up capital for Atelier Automobile GmbH. Since 2008, in addition to his work as managing director of our company, Mr. Kayser has lectured in the history of automotive engineering at the HTW Berlin. His personal everyday and favorite classic car is a dark green Peugeot 404 Superluxe Cabriolet from 1967.

Thomas Kauerhoff, graduate engineer in landscape planning, owner, office manager and controller

Mr. Kauerhoff lives in Berlin-Spandau, acquired shares in Atelier Automobile GmbH in September 2009 and has been part of our team ever since.
We had already noticed his keen interest in our vehicles in previous years and so the business relationship came about almost by itself.
When, due to constant expansion, active support in the management became necessary, we were able to rely on his willingness.
Since then, he has been organizing the office and helping Mr. Kayser coordinate the restorations.
In addition to Mr. Kayser, he is also in charge of vehicle sales negotiations.
Mr. Kauerhoff has also taken the opportunity to turn his passion into a profession.
Since September 2009, he has been the contact person for your concerns and, how could it be otherwise, he also drives classic cars privately.
His personal favorite classic car was a Citroën CX Prestige, but since he transferred a rare Renault 25 V6 sedan with a 27 cm longer wheelbase from Bordeaux, this has become his favorite classic car.

Markus Kaske, automotive mechatronics technician and workshop manager

Mr. Kaske lives in Berlin-Pankow and has been working for us since 2012.
He grew up in Müncheberg, east of Berlin.
After graduating from high school and completing his community service, he began studying telematics, but after two semesters he preferred to turn to the trades and completed his training as an automotive mechatronics technician at a VW dealership in Strausberg.
Although he was taken on after his apprenticeship, simply replacing components in new cars did not give him any fulfillment and, as he drives a classic car himself, his career in the classic car trade was predetermined.
This is how his path led him to us and he has since become a specialist in French and Swedish classic cars.
His expertise in electrics and electronics also comes in handy when installing audio systems, parking aids, reversing cameras, seat heaters, central locking systems and the like.
In the course of his more than ten years at our company, he has risen to become head of the workshop and his calm yet very communicative manner is greatly appreciated by our customers.
Mr. Kaske’s favourite classic car is the Citroën Traction Avant.

Sebastian Łaguna, bodywork plumber and our sheet metal artist

Mr. Łaguna lives in Berlin-Spandau and is a trained bodywork plumber.
He learned his trade in Poznan, where he was born, and we were able to draw on his gifted craftsmanship from 2011 to 2016.
To our regret, he moved to another classic car company in 2016 and we are delighted that he will be back in our team from May 2018.
Mr. Łaguna dengels steel and aluminium sheets into any shape and faithfully reproduces beads and edges.
For the production of three-dimensionally bent sheet metal, he can use our “English wheel”, a special sheet metal bending machine, and for cutting out rusty sheet metal, he can use our plasma cutter.
Together with Mr. Baszynski the two form our tinsmith duo and both complement each other impressively.
For vehicles whose body joints should not be visible, they are tinned accordingly before painting.
His personal favorite classic car is a Peugeot 504 V6 Coupé.

Dawid Baszynski, coachbuilder and our artist for detail

Dawid Baszynski lives in Berlin-Moabit and is a trained body builder.
He came to Berlin from Zielona Gora in Silesia in 1996 and completed his training here through a training provider in cooperation with the Daimler plant in Ludwigsfelde.
Before he came to us, he had worked for almost ten years in a classic car workshop for classic Mercedes.
He was known to us as a good coachbuilder and when the Mercedes workshop was restructured, we asked him if he would like to join us.
He has been with us ever since and we appreciate his extremely conscientious work and his calm and even-tempered approach.
Since he has been with us, he sees Mercedes automobiles from a different perspective and is enthusiastic about the innovative technology of the cars in our portfolio.
His favorite classic car is a Volvo Amazon.

Douglas Reece, electrician and classic car mechanic

Douglas Reece lives in Berlin-Moabit and trained as an electrician in the USA. He was born in Maryland, USA, and moved to Berlin in 2020. Before moving, he worked in Washington, D.C. as an electrician in the government district. His father’s hobby was drag racing, and at the age of five, he was allowed to drive his father’s race car for the first time. As a teenager, he tinkered with his father’s cars, and over time, classic cars became his hobby. When he came to Berlin, he first found work in a classic car workshop for British vehicles, and since February 2025, he has been part of our team. He is enthusiastic about the innovative technology of French classics. His favorite classic cars are the Ford GT 40 and Panhard CD.

Sebastien Berthebaud, Mechanical Engineer

Mr. Berthebaud lives in Berlin-Wedding. He was born in Saint-Nazaire at the mouth of the Loire River and studied mechanical engineering with a focus on automotive engineering in Besançon and Karlsruhe. He completed further training as an engine and transmission developer at the IFP (French Petroleum Institute) in Rueil-Malmaison. In 2021, he spent three months with Pur Sang in Argentina to learn how to weld aluminum bodies. Pur Sang has specialized in restoring pre-war Bugatti models for decades. For several years now, he has been giving seminars for automotive mechatronics technicians on engine tuning for carbureted engines or engines with Bosch K/D and L-Jetronic injection systems. In 2021, he set up a branch in Hamburg for Vectura System from Nates, which he relocated to Berlin in 2025. Vectura System advises companies on efficient transport logistics, for example, on what and when it’s worthwhile to switch to electric vehicles. However, his heart still lies with classic cars, and since we’ve known Mr. Berthebaud for almost ten years and he now lives in Berlin, he decided to work for us 20 hours a week. Even in his first few days, he was able to significantly improve the engine performance of two Peugeots, and he also did valuable work rebuilding a Citroën SM engine and replacing its wiring harness. In his private life, he drives Citroën Dyanes and CXs.

Lothar Lerche, car mechanic and our "old master"

Mr. Lerche lives in Berlin-Friedrichshain and joined us in February 2005 after a period of looking for work.
Born in Brandenburg, he is an example of how skilled workers of a more mature age are urgently needed due to their immense experience.
Thanks to his inner calm and his talent for finding solutions, trained in the GDR, he can get many a “cow off the ice”.
He is a true master at repairing parts that are no longer available.
Since 2005, he has dismantled and rebuilt a Citroën DS, Peugeot 404 or 504 engine almost every month and now knows these engines like the back of his hand.
He retired in February 2015, exactly ten years after joining the company.
Nevertheless, we are reluctant to do without him and he will continue to help us out.
What’s more, he could not imagine his sudden and complete retirement.
Lothar, we are delighted to know that you will continue to be part of our team.
His personal favorite classic car is the DS from Citroën.

Our new apprentice for the profession of automotive mechatronics technician

She lives in Berlin-Treptow/Köpenick and graduated from secondary school in 2022. She then completed an apprenticeship as a fashion designer, but realized during this apprenticeship that she was much better suited to craftsmanship. Since she already worked on cars in her free time and found it much more satisfying, she applied to work with us. After a week of trial work, she convinced us, and she has been training to become an automotive mechatronics technician with us since September 2025. We are now pleased to welcome a woman to the team, as our boss, in particular, is a firm believer in our diversity approach. She is also currently getting her driver’s license, and which classic car will be her favorite remains to be seen. Incidentally, she does not wish to appear with her picture and name on this website, and we naturally respect this wish. We wish her lots of fun and success.