Car museums are opening up seemingly everyday in China, one of the ones I paid a visit to during my last few months in China was the Weifang Generations Classic Car Museum in Weifang, Shandong Province. This museum is one of two museums owned by Zhang Yonglong, the other one is located in Taishan, Shandong Province, a couple hours southwest of Weifang. I visited both and will cover the Taishan museum in later articles.
In today’s article I will cover the first hall in the museum that I shall call Section 1. Mr. Zhang has collected a huge number of cars spread over 2 buildings and 4 separate sections plus a large outdoor area and a shed. Sufficed to say it will take quite a few articles to cover this museum alone!
The museum in Weifang is located about 25km west of the city center and best reached by either hiring a taxi or renting a car and driving yourself (which I did). Public transport is an option with a train station located a few kilometers away and a bus line running from the train station to a stop just down the road from the museum. The best way to find it is to search 潍坊世代古典汽车博物馆 on Baidu Maps as there is no cross road. There are food options available on site at the museum for a fair price in a couple of old railway dining carriages that have been placed on the museum grounds with delicious food cooked in them!
The structure of these articles will be fairly straightforward and use the gallery feature as in the last article I wrote about the collection in Jinan. Most cars had an info sheet near them and these have been included in the galleries for each car (where an info sheet was present).
Overhead view of Section 1
1885 Mercedes-Benz Patent Motorwagen and 1886 Daimler
Lincoln Continental (1940)
Dodge Coronet (1946)
Chrysler Windsor (1947)
Rover Mini (1980’s)
Studebaker Champion (1949)
Packard 200 (1954)
Buick Roadmaster (1954)
Plymouth Savoy (1956)
I can’t be the only one who thinks the Shanghai SH760 designers took at least a short look at this before designing their car? Spoiler alert: they did.
Lincoln Continental Mark IV (1958)
Ford Ranch Wagon
Lincoln Mark V (1977)
Shandong 750 (1995)
FAW Jiefang (Liberation) CA10 (1956)
GAZ-12 ZIM (1953)
Old Russian limousines were once a common sight on Chinese roads even up until the 1990’s as this one shows with its 1996 registration sticker in the windscreen (be sure to scroll through the gallery to see it).
Shanghai SH760 (1963)
Or is it a Plymouth Savoy…?
Shanghai SH760A (1976)
GAZ-24 Volga (1977)
License plates are fakes.
Hongqi CA770 (1965)
Hongqi CA770J Parade Car
Though the authenticity of these cars is often debated, it’s still cool to see a Hongqi Parade Car.
Cadillac Eldorado 8.2
One of the biggest engines ever fitted to a car!
Cadillac Series 62 (1959)
Arguably one of the best looking Cadillacs of all time – from a time when size was everything and you were a nobody unless you had massive tail fins!
Cadillac Series 62 (1959)
AND THIS MUSEUM HAS TWO!!!
Cadillac Series 62
Make that THREE!!!
Desoto Custom (1946)
Chevrolet Fleetmaster (1941)
License plate on the back is very cool and quite possibly original to this car. 08 indicates Shanxi Province.
Ford Model A (1928)
Morgan 3 Wheeler
Be sure to come back to China Car History in the coming days for more coverage of this wonderful museum and many more to come!
It looks like a trip to the US to address my much needed car museum-fix isn’t necessary after seeing the wide selection of vehicles available in Shandong. Thanks Sam, enjoyed the cars and the article.
The Mini is a very late model (late 1980s to 2000) customised with an older dashboard.
Yes you’re right, I hadn’t read the information board thoroughly because it does say it is a 1980’s model! Thanks for the tip!
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Has anyone told them their Series 62 Cadillac is a 1960, not a 59? Also, I think their Roadmaster is a 56, not a 54.
I hadn’t noticed errors on those cars specifically but I had noticed for other cars. I know the owner of the museum so may offer to help them with their info boards one day.
Give him the best regards from your readers.
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[…] Part 1 […]