Karl Deutsch GmbH was a coach building firm known, in its later years, for converting mainstream motor cars into cabriolets. The business was located in

Köln Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 million ...

-Braunsfeld, a district on the west side of what today would be defined as central

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

History

In 1913 Karl Deutsch acquired the wheel-making business of J. W. Utermöhle GmbH. In 1916 Deutsch changed the name of the firm to Karl Deutsch GmbH, now concentrating on the production of

trailers Trailer may refer to: a Transportation * Trailer (vehicle), an unpowered vehicle pulled by a powered vehicle ** Bicycle trailer, a wheeled frame for hitching to a bicycle to tow cargo or passengers ** Full-trailer ** Semi-trailer **Horse trailer ...

for the army. After the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

ended the company started building car bodies to spezial order on chassis manufactured by automakers. From 1930Odin, L.C. ''World in Motion 1939 - The whole of the year's automobile production''. Belvedere Publishing, 2015. ASIN: B00ZLN91ZG. bodies were provided for several batches of

Horch Horch () was a car brand manufacturer, founded in Germany by August Horch & Cie at the beginning of the 20th century. It is one of the predecessors of the present day Audi company, which itself resulted from the merger of Auto Union Aktienges ...

cars and the company also provided car bodies to the Cologne-based subsidiary of

Citroën Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...

. In 1929 Mayor Adenauer made available a 170,000 square meter site in the Cologne district of Köln-Niehl to

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

in order that they might massively expand and relocate their German assembly operations from

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

: in 1931 the Ford Cologne plant started producing cars. Ford very soon became the most important customer for Karl Deutsch. By 1934 they were delivering to Ford 8 to 10 car bodies per day, and four years later this had increased to 30 daily. Customers also included Ford's business in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the founder's son, Werner Deutsch, took over the business. Ford Germany remained the largest customer. However, in the mid-1960s Ford withdrew cabriolets from their model range. The company for a time continued to perform cabriolet conversions on Ford models in response to end-customer requests, and also produced cabriolet conversions for other automakers including

Borgward The former Borgward car manufacturing company, based in Bremen, Germany, was founded by Carl F. W. Borgward (1890–1963). It produced cars of four brands, which were sold to a diversified international customer base: Borgward, Hansa, Go ...

and, following the closure of the Autenrieth coachbuilding firm,

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...

. Nevertheless, the economics of auto-production were changing, as increases in wage levels and employment taxes encouraged greater standardisation of components and sub-assemblies and the beginnings of the accelerating automation revolution that transformed manufacturing in the final decades of the twentieth century. These developments involved capital investment on a scale that the volumes available to a firm like Deutsch could never justify, and the continuing labour-intensive nature of the cabriolet conversion business created an ever-widening cost gap between the standard cars and the cabriolet versions with which, apart from the roof and some body strengthening inserts, they shared virtually all their components. The prices necessary to accommodate those cost differences became too high to be passed on to car buyers. Growing public debate about the perceived lack of secondary safety available from open topped cars further reduced demand for Deutsch cabriolet conversions. Operations came to an end in 1971. Cabriolet conversions for English Company Crayford Engineering Ford Corsair Cabriolet (18) Ford Capri Cabriolet (32)

Sources and further reading

References

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External links

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Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1916