In 1900, Gustav Drauz (1872-1951) founded the Heilbronn company 'Carosseriefabrik G. Drauz & Co.'. The first body was built for NSU, later bodies were built for many other automobile manufacturers: Adler, Benz, BMW, Buick, Chrysler, Daimler, DKW, Ford, Fiat, Horch, Maybach, Minerva, NAG-Protos, NSU, Opel, Plymouth , Porsche and Röhr. Due to the geographical proximity to NSU, Drauz was a house supplier there. Drauz's specialty was high-quality and exclusive convertibles, but all-steel buses were also built. Drauz was also a Fiat licensee. The bodywork company Alexis Kellner (Berlin) filed for bankruptcy in 1930. In the same year, Drauz acquired the name and patent rights from Alexis Kellner. This included, among other things: the Kellner patent for the use of a leather strap in the middle above the top to prevent the fabric roof from bulging when driving quickly. This patent was mainly used in convertible construction for Ford Germany. At that time, Drauz founded Alexis Kellner GmbH in Heilbronn, which served as a sales company for Drauz bodies. Also in 1930, Drauz took over the body production of Süddeutsche Fahrzeugwerke Schebera Heilbronn AG, a subsidiary of Schebera GMBH (Berlin), which was part of Jakob Schapiro's corporate empire. His automobile empire (NSU Motorenwerke, Cyklon Maschinenfabrik GmbH, Hansa-Lloyd, Gothaer Waggonfabrik including Dixi-Werke, Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft, and Benz & Cie., Protos, NAG, the Berlin taxi company Kandelhardt and the Berlin Sportpalast) collapsed due to the banking crisis. In 1944, the Drauz company's facilities were also destroyed. After a difficult new beginning, series production of delivery vans and buses began again in 1949. From 1953 to 1965, around a quarter of a million bodies for the Ford FK 1000/1250 (later Ford Taunus Transit) and 3,514 Porsche 356 Cabriolets D (from 1958 to 1961) were built and sold. During this time, the Drauz company also further developed pressing, drawing and punching tools and modernized the tool making department. In 1965, Drauz sold the Heilbronn body production to NSU and shifted its focus to building machine tools for automobile production. Drauz Werkzeugbau GmbH was founded and is still incorporated into ThyssenKrupp (formerly Hoesch AG).