The third floor of the Taishan Classic Car Museum contains all sorts of 4×4’s and military vehicles from around the world.
Amphibious army vehicle
This is known as a Type-85 Amphibious Engineering Reconnaissance Vehicle. It was conceived in the 1980’s and uses the running gear from a BJ212 with a custom body and other equipment needed to make it amphibious. Several different companies made similar vehicles.
ARO 244
The 244 is the 4-door version of the ARO 24 series SUV. 244’s used to be relatively common in China and indeed we have seen a few in recent years, though mostly abandoned ones. A large number of 244’s were apparently imported into China for use in petroleum exploration and for use by government officials, certainly the 244 is a far more advanced machine when compared to the Beijing BJ212. This particular 244 had an inspection sticker from 1994 and was in excellent condition, likely restored.
Beijing BJ212
Of course it would not be a car museum in China without a few BJ212’s. This particular BJ212 used to have a gun on the back but it had been removed.
Beijing Auto Works BJ2032KF1
This BJ2032KF1 is one of numerous versions of the BJ2020 series of SUV. This particular example is a troop carrier.
Daihatsu three-wheeled firetrucks
Mr. Zhang must have a soft spot for these Daihatsu firetrucks because he has several more in storage at his Weifang museum.
DKW Munga
The Munga was on off-road vehicle built by Auto-Union (one of the predecessors of Audi) between 1956 and 1968. Around 47,000 examples were produced with the majority going to militaries and governments around the world.
Volkswagen Type-181
Though not really related to the DKW Munga, the Type-181 is a similar type of vehicle thought it is only 2WD whilst the Munga was 4WD. The Type-181 was built from 1968 to 1983 and was an evolution of an earlier military vehicle. The Type-181 was based on the Karmann Ghia. A total of around 91,000 were made and it was marketed in the United States as the Volkswagen Thing.
Dodge Power Wagon
Developed from a WW2-era military vehicle, the Power Wagon is a 4WD light truck that was produced between 1945 and 1981. Various different versions were produced and the Power Wagon name is now applied to a special off-road version of the Ram pickup truck. The museum has two older Power Wagons.
The second Power Wagon.
Ford GPW
The GPW was the name given to the Bantam Jeeps produced by Ford. Ford produced these Bantam designed Jeeps because Bantam, a smaller company, was unable to meet the production demand of the US Army.
Willys M38
The M38 was the replacement for the original Bantam Jeep and was produed by Willys between 1949 and 1952. The museum has several of these Jeeps.
The second M38.
The third M38.
Ford M151
The M151 was the successor the the M38 and was built by Ford, Kaiser and AM General. More than 100,000 were produced between 1959 and 1988. The museum has several of these on different floors.
The second M151.
GAZ-69
The GAZ-69 is a Soviet Icon produced between 1953 and 1972 by GAZ and UAZ. It was the predecessor to the UAZ-469. The museum has two GAZ-69’s.
The second GAZ-69.
UAZ-469
Developed as a successor to the GAZ-69 and possibly in conjunction with the Chinese BJ212, the UAZ-469 has been in production since 1971 and is commonly known as the UAZ Hunter today.
International Harvester KB-12
The KB-12 is the grandfather to the famous Jiefang CA10 truck. The International was produced in the USSR as part of a deal between the US and the USSR. The USSR then helped China develop their own version which became the Jiefang CA10.
Jiefang CA10
The museum has several CA10’s.
The second CA10 with a very interesting colour scheme.
A beautiful CA10 firetruck.
Land Rover Series 1
The Series 1 was produced between 1948 and 1958. The museum has two of these.
The second Series 1.
Land Rover Series 2
The Series 2 had a very short life of only 3 years between 1958 and 1961. The museum has three of these.
The second one.
The third one.
Land Rover Defender 90
Land Rover Defender 110
The Defender is perhaps the most famous Land Rover product and late model examples in China can go for 100,000 USD.
Mazda Pathfinder XV-1
Also affectionately called the Myanmar Jeep or Mazda Jeep. Not sure how it ended up in China but I would guess it is a recent import, this is one of several XV-1’s owned by the museums with a few distributed between the Taishan and Weifang museums.
Mercedes-Benz Unimog
Yet another very early Unimog owned by Mr. Zhang, the other one resides in his Weifang museum.
Mitsubishi Jeep
The Mitsubishi Jeep was a license produced version of the CJ Jeep. Production lasted all the way from 1953 to 1988. The museum has three of these.
The second Mitsubishi Jeep.
The third Mitsubishi Jeep.
SSangyong Korando
This generation of Korando was produced between 1982 and 1996. The museum has two and both have likely been in China for a while, one had inspection stickers from 2010.
Toyota FJ40
An icon in many countries around the world. The 40-series was produced from 1960 to 1984 (production continued in Brazil until 2001). Mr. Zhang has collected quite a few 40-series Land Cruisers.
The second FJ40.
Willys Jeep Station Wagon
The Willys Jeep Station Wagon was produced from 1946 to 1981 across several generations. The Chinese badge on this particular car means “Jeep Station Wagon” and is almost certainly an aftermarket addition.
Yuejin NJ230 Tanker
The Nanjing NJ230 was manufactured by the Nanjing Automobile Factory, later called Nanjing Auto, and today part of the Shanghai Auto Industry Corporation (SAIC). Production of the NJ230 started in 1965 and ended all the way up in 1980. The NJ230 was the successor of the Nanjing Yuejin NJ130.
The NJ230 was based on the Soviet-Russian GAZ-63, which was a reverse-engineered copy of the Dodge WF-32 cargo truck that was shipped in great numbers by the United States to the Soviet-Union during the Second World War under the Lend-Lease program. So here we have it: a Dodge went from America to Russia and ended up in China. The Chinese army kept using the NJ230 until the late 1990’s, and some are still around even today. (link)
This concludes my coverage of the third floor of the Taishan Classic Car Museum, be sure to come back soon for more!
Fascinating museum. They must have spent a fortune importing various vehicles, eg the RHD Land Rovers. Perhaps they should have one of the (Mini) Mokes being produced by Chery?