Wilhelm Karmann acquired a carriageworks in Osnabruck, Germany in 1901. Karmann really wanted to build Motorwagen rather than horse-drawn carriages and had built his first body on a Dürkopp in 1902. By 1905 Karmann had a catalogue of 4 different car bodies, and by 1908 Wagenfabrik Wilhelm Karmann was building for Adler and Opel. By 1911 Karmann had patented a folding hood mechanism, and survived the First World war by building Ambulances. Car production in Germany was in the doldrums after the war and Karmann survived by building carts until 1920. As production picked up Karmann visited America and learned enough to realise that metal bodies was the future and the time was up for the fabric-covered wooden bodies. In association with Adler in the 1920s, Karmann developed many legendary cars, including the Primus and Trumpf convertibles. During the Second World War Karmann manufactured Aircraft components, but ended the war bombed out. Karmann, now with Wilhelm Karmann jr at the helm, started slowly after the war, mostly building truck bodies for the Allied Forces. However, in 1945 Karmann cut the roof off a VW Beetle and made it into a convertible. Volkswagen management initially rejected the concept, but when a prominent VW dealer ordered a 1000 VW Beetle convertibles the deal was sealed. In 1953 Karmann commissioned Luigi Segre at Ghia to design a sporting car based on the VW Beetle and then presented the concept to Volkswagen as the Karmann Ghia. Once again Wolfsburg was persuaded and Karmann's most famous product started the first of half a million to be sold. Karmann Ghias ended production in 1974, and convertible Beetles ceased production in 1980 after 332,000 had left the Karmann factory. The relationship with VW continued, with Karmann producing the Scirocco, Golf Convertible. Diversification saw Karmann undertaking the Ford Escort convertible, components for Renault convertibles, and then did work for Daimler-Benz and Chrysler.