1 Change the history of not being able to produce cars
In the 80s of the 19th century, Karl Benz of Germany built the world's first car. In the following decades, the automobile industry developed rapidly, and many countries in the world had their own automobile factories. After the founding of New China, the cars used in the mainland still have to rely on imports, and we cannot yet produce our own cars.
In December 1949, when Chairman Mao visited the Stalin Automobile Plant in the Soviet Union, he told the staff: "We must also have such a factory. The Soviet Union promised to assist China in building a modern truck factory.
In early March 1950, the Ministry of Heavy Industry of China established a preparatory group for the automobile industry, with Guo Li as the director and Meng Shaonong as the deputy director. Meng Shaonong soon assembled a research and development team of 200 people.
In July 1953, the construction of China's First Automobile Manufacturing Plant in Changchun officially began. At that time, the conditions in Changchun were still relatively difficult, and the population of the urban area was less than 100,000, which was not comparable to the average small city today. In winter and spring, the weather in the northeast is cold. Before the factory building was built, the workers lived in small low, low, bungalows with strong winds outside and sand inside. It rained heavily outside and light rain inside.
The cold weather made the construction of the project very difficult, and there was no heating at that time, so the Ministry of Railways transferred eight steam locomotives from all over the country to use the steam spewed by the locomotives to heat the factory building.
Changchun First Automobile Manufacturing Plant is China's first large-scale automobile production base and the cradle of China's automobile industry.
On July 13, 1956, FAW produced the first "Jiefang" brand car, which was the first domestically produced car in China. Its appearance completely ended the history of China's inability to produce cars. On July 14, 12 Jiefang brand cars assembled by FAW slowly drove out of the factory.
The first batch of Jiefang brand cars produced is called CA10, [C refers to China, which is also the initials of Changchun, and A stands for the meaning of first] is based on the Guis-150 truck produced by the Stalin Automobile Plant, weighing 3.9 tons empty, equipped with a 90 hp, four-stroke six-cylinder engine, a maximum speed of 65 kilometers per hour, a load of 4 tons, and a maximum power of 71 kilowatts.
On August 21, 1956, 38 Jiefang-brand cars produced by FAW were sent to Beijing, 10 of which were arranged for exhibition in front of Tiananmen Square. The general public rushed to watch, and everyone was proud that China could have its own cars.
2. Independent production of cars
While developing and producing Jiefang-brand trucks, FAW's plant director Rao Bin is also actively preparing for the research and development of domestic cars. Soviet experts at the time were not very supportive, saying that the process of building cars was much more difficult than that of trucks.
At that time, the conditions for our research and development of cars can be said to be "four nothings": no information, no experience, no tooling, and no equipment. In this case, they decided to start with a copy of a foreign car, based on the French Sim Cabeditti.
At that time, many workers had never seen a car, and even if it was imitated, it was not as easy as imagined. The body chassis they refer to the French Sim cavetiti, and the engine refers to the Mercedes 190. Without readily available parts, they pick from imported scrap for surveying and mapping. They made body parts on drawing paper, cast-in-place castings, and without molds, they relied on sheet metal workers hammering with hammers.
Through unremitting efforts, on May 12, 1958, China's first domestic car - "Dongfeng" brand car was born. The front logo of the Dongfeng sedan is a golden dragon, the body is streamlined, the side of the body is embedded with the words "China's first automobile manufacturer", and the taillights are designed with palace lamps. The seat is made of silk Dongfeng brocade, double phoenix brocade and cloud twilight brocade, the ceiling is decorated with velvet, and the floor is covered with wool carpet. The car is equipped with hot and cold air.
The car is a four-door, six-seater mid-class sedan with an inline-four-cylinder, overhead-mounted high-speed engine, four-speed mechanical gearbox, a maximum horsepower of 70 hp and a top speed of 128 kilometers per hour.
3. High-end car Hongqi was successfully developed
After the successful production of Dongfeng Car, FAW was ordered to start developing a more advanced Führer car. To produce premium cars, we also do not have relevant experience and references. At that time, the blueprint that FAW could refer to was a borrowed Chrysler sedan. They completely disassembled Chrysler and mapped each part.
Then the oil clay mold body was made, and with the drawings drawn by the skilled workers themselves, the parts such as the door, the hood and the wheel hub were knocked out with a hammer. After 33 days of hard work, on August 1, 1958, it was successfully trial-made into China's first high-end car, Hongqi Car.
The front of this Hongqi sedan is marked with a red flag in the wind, the two sides of the front are engraved with "China's No. 1 Automobile Factory", the fan water tank mask is adopted, the bumper collision block is moire-shaped, the tail light is in the shape of a palace lamp, and the tail mark of the vehicle is the word "Red Flag". The interior is made of Hangzhou brocade fabric, Chinese handmade carpet. The vehicle was equipped with a remote-controlled radio, power windows, mobile seats, etc., and almost all the advanced technology of the time was used in this prototype.
The car uses a copy V8 200 hp engine and a homemade hydraulic transmission. The interior of the vehicle is spacious and comfortable, and the overall shape is solemn and generous. Later, the Hongqi car was finalized after several rounds of improved design. The improved Hongqi engine has a bore of 100 mm, a compression ratio of 7.5, a volume of 56 liters, 200 hp and a top speed of 160 km/h.
It also adopts self-developed hydraulic automatic transmission, front independent suspension, front and rear shock absorbers, diaphragm vacuum drum brakes.
Later, the first mass-produced Hongqi car was also arranged for exhibition in Tiananmen. On National Day in 1959, when the chief inspected the troops of the three services of the People's Liberation Army, he used our domestically made Hongqi car. Later, when receiving important foreign guests, Hongqi cars were also used. US President Nixon, Queen Elizabeth and others have praised the Red Flag car.
The birth of Jiefang brand cars ended the history of China not being able to manufacture its own cars, and also initially laid the foundation for the mainland automobile industry. After the advent of Jiefang brand cars, it quickly became the main force of urban and rural transportation and road transportation in China. From the first generation of cars until it was discontinued in 1986, Jiefang brand cars created a history of 1281502 vehicle production, accounting for almost half of the country's automobile production at that time. Since its birth, the pace of independent innovation of Jiefang brand automobile has never stopped, and has successively won a number of honors, including the first prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, and has embarked on a road of "intelligent manufacturing" to replace imports. By the end of 2018, Jiefang Truck had undergone seven generations of production and exceeded 7 million units. The Jiefang brand is a national brand created by the people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and is a witness, builder and witness of New China along the way.