Another vintage car: Fenghuang

[PGMJ]

As far I know Shanghai started its automotive production in 1958 with a car called Fenghuang (Phoenix) which I read long ago it had a 140 hp V8 engine.
Later Fenghuang became the basis for the well known Shanghai SH760, in 1964.

I searched about the Fenghuang and just found three main pics of which just two can be really Fenghuang. The third was in fact a Hongqi convertible of 1958.

Below the two other pics. They show a different car although they have some similarities. Which one is the real Fenghuang? Or are they both the same car in an original version and a later facelifted one?

1


2

[erik (laofan), cmvdc]

Shanghai Auto Works produced their first Fenghuang prototype in September 1958, this is your number 1 vehicle. The body was based on a Plymouth of 1956, the platform was from a Polish Warszawa sedan, the engine was made in Nanjing and was a copy of a Russian Pobeida engine. Only one unit was made.
Number 2 prototype had double headlights and was probably powered by a V8 engine developing 150 hp. Except for the front the bodywork resembles the number 1 model. The car was introduced in January 1959 and there was only one made.
Number 3 prototype was resembling the later Shanghai SH760 sedan, but had a different grille which looks like an embossed iron plate.
Number 4 is a production version, quite the same as the Shanghai SH760, with some minor differences, like the Phoenix bird on the bonnet. In November 1960 the first batch of 13 units was made. From 1960-1963 77 cars were made.
Your second photo shows a terrible made copy of the number 1 car (in fact this is a Russian Wolga, which has been 'Chinesed' , its is visible in a traffic exhibition on the main floor of the Shanghai Television Tower. In the SAIC headquarters there is another copy of the number 1 car, as the original was lost.
You can find all of them and a lot more in my historical document "Shanghai, saloons from the artisan era", see my website: http://www.chinesecars.net/index.php?page=4
greetings

[Johnny Blaze]

"Pobeda"

Moskvitch-407

[erik (laofan), cmvdc]

Sorry Johny, the blue/white car is a GAZ M21 Wolga, not a Pobeida.

[PGMJ]

Thanks a lot for all these info, Erik. And for Johnny, behold the GAZ M-20 Pobeda.

[Johnny Blaze]

shame on me...
as a generation of hybrid drivers, we call almost all volgas - as pobedas

[erik (laofan), cmvdc]

For the M20 Pobeida, there are still some questions about this car.
I have one photo from the Nanjing Auto Works, exhibiting this car together with their trucks, as their own products. As we know for certain that Nanijing copied the engine of the Pobeida, assembly of a small batch is possible. But I never could find confirmation for this.
In the DPRK (North Korea) it is also possible that there was a very small numbers locally assembled. I have no proof for this fact, it is mentioned on several Russian websites (but no photos), and I have the testimony of an American journalist who visited an industrial exhibition in Pyongyang in 1979 that they showed a Pobeida-like car as made in N.Korea. Helas, he can't find his photos back!
Greetings!

[PGMJ]

Pity you haven't found those pics from a possible north Korean made Pobieda. Local car and truck industry is quite a mistery for outside world.

[erik (laofan), cmvdc]

You can find a review of the North korean car industry at my picasawebsite:
http://picasaweb.google.nl/birgit140...at=directlink#

[dragin]

In the harsh years of the 1960s South Korean bus bodies were hammered out of 55 gallon oil drums. I wouldn't doubt that some of these in North Korea were of similar origin. Particularly the Wonsan 612 contributed by Kernbeisser I'd guess.