When visiting the Marshal's Mansion in Shenyang, as soon as you enter the gate, you can see a small truck with a special shape parked in front of the screen wall outside the courtyard. This small truck looks very simple, like a classic car: a black painted body, a transparent cab

Visiting the Marshal's Mansion in Shenyang, as soon as you enter the gate, you can see a small truck with a special shape parked in front of the screen wall outside the courtyard. This small truck looks very simple, like a classic car: a black painted body, a transparent cab with no doors on the left and right sides, and a simple shelf made of wooden boards. This car is the first car independently produced by the Chinese - Minsheng Automobile. As for whether the car currently on display in Dashuai Mansion is a refurbished genuine product or a replica, it is not yet known. Today, Xiaoqi will tell you the story of Minsheng Automobile.

Minsheng brand car on display in the Marshal's residence (suspected to be a replica)

Minsheng car side view

Simple carrying rack

Cabin with no doors on both sides

This Minsheng car was developed with the strong support of Zhang Xueliang An independent automobile brand founded by oneself. The time goes back to 1928. After the Huanggutun incident, Zhang Zuolin, the king of Northeast China, was bombed to death, and his son Zhang Xueliang took charge of the Northeast.

Zhang Xueliang

In December of the same year, Zhang Xueliang electrified the whole country and announced the " Northeast Change of Flags". So far, the National Government had formally achieved the unification of the north and the south, and the situation between the north and the south had become peaceful. The cessation of the war forced the Fengtian Mortar Factory to face restructuring. The original Fengtian Mortar Factory was renamed Liaoning Mortar Factory, and an industrial manufacturing office for people's livelihood supplies was set up, called the People's Livelihood Factory.

Liaoning Mortar Factory

It happened that the Nationalist Government at that time paid more attention to the research and development of the domestic automobile industry, so Li Yichun, the director of the mortar factory, proposed to Zhang Xueliang, the security commander-in-chief of the three northeastern provinces, the suggestion of manufacturing cars. However, Zhang Xueliang always loved cars. That year he happened to buy a Buick car from abroad as his own car. In order to satisfy the addiction of driving, many times he would put the driver in the back seat and sit in the cab to drive. Zhang Xueliang, who loves cars so much, was very happy after hearing Li Yichun's suggestion and expressed his strong support. In this way, in 1929, Zhang Xueliang directly allocated the remaining 40,000 yuan after the restructuring of the mortar factory to the Minsheng Factory as funds for automobile research and development testing. Soon, he allocated another 700,000 yuan to the Minsheng Factory as funds for vehicle testing and production. You know, 700,000 yuan in that era was an astronomical sum, equivalent to 10 million yuan today, only a lot more. Just like this, a R&D team composed of 30 technical backbones and 177 workers began to work on

with great fanfare. This 207-man team was definitely a luxury lineup under the conditions at the time. However, although there were sufficient manpower, the previous mortar factory had no experience and technology in building vehicles, so they hired technician Miles from the United States as chief engineer. After

was ready, Li Yichun proposed to build the truck first, which was agreed by Zhang Xueliang. Therefore, they purchased a Republic brand truck from the United States and disassembled its parts one by one to study its structure and principles in preparation for independent vehicle manufacturing.

Republic brand truck

After mastering the technology of truck manufacturing, Minsheng Factory proposed two manufacturing plans. One is a 55-type truck suitable for driving on roads with good urban road conditions, with a planned load capacity of 2 tons. It is a 100-type truck suitable for driving on poor roads such as rural areas. It has an estimated load capacity of 3 tons.

In fact, the Type 75 Minsheng automobile finally produced by the Minsheng Factory on May 31, 1931 had a load capacity of up to 2.5 tons. This model truck uses a six-cylinder water-cooled gasoline engine with a maximum output of 65 horsepower and a top speed of 40 kilometers per hour. The localization rate can reach 70%. Except for the engine, rear axle , electrical devices, tires, etc., which are manufactured by foreign manufacturers based on the drawings drawn by the Minsheng Factory, the other parts are made by the Minsheng Factory itself.

Minsheng Automobile historical photos

Not only that, Minsheng Automobile also improved and innovated some parts according to China's national conditions. It can be said that it was not easy in that era. Minsheng Automobile can be regarded as the first car independently produced by the Chinese.

From September 12 to October 4, 1931, at the 10th anniversary exhibition of the National Road Construction Association held in Shanghai, the Minsheng brand car was placed in an important position in the middle of the exhibition. It can be said that it attracted the attention of the world. Many people praised it.

Minsheng Automobile at the exhibition

It is said that the Minsheng Factory was ready to mass-produce Minsheng Automobile at that time. They planned to produce 100 75-type cars and 50 100-type cars every year. Even the parts for the 50 cars had been ordered abroad. Okay, but what I never expected was that with the outbreak of the "September 18th Incident", the Japanese invaders quickly seized various military industrial enterprises, including mortar factories. Among them, Minsheng cars that had not left the factory were also snatched away by them.

In this way, the bud of China's automobile industry was ruthlessly strangled in the cradle by the Japanese invaders, and the fate of Minsheng Automobile also ended.

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