The Shanghai Saloons

The Shanghai brand is one that has always fascinated me. Growing up in Shanghai certainly helped fuel my curiosity but I was never really able to understand the evolution of the brand and when different models were sold, particularly in later years. Searching online I also found that an accurate account of the development of the brand is hard to find, even finding accurate production dates for the models in one place is a challenge. So I decided to create my own articles on the Shanghai brand, starting with the saloon cars and in future articles focusing on the pickup and station wagon variants. Many thanks to Erik for his help with this series of articles.

Shanghai Auto Works actually traces its roots back to before the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Prior to that it was a repair shop run by members of the Kuomintang in downtown Shanghai. After the founding of the PRC the repair works were taken over by the Communists and combined with two other repair shops to create what would eventually become Shanghai Auto Works. The new company was moved 30km outside of the city center and was situated amongst fields being used for agriculture in Anting.

The early days of the Shanghai Auto Works relied heavily on manual labour and handcrafting of components and cars. There was a significant surplus of workers in the factory and interestingly a large portion of the workforce were women. Work in the factory was slow but visitors noted that the workforce worked hard and took pride in what they were doing.

The Shanghai saloons were aimed at filling a gap in the market between the various Jeeps which were for lower level Cadres within the Communist Party, and the Hongqis which were reserved for the higher ups in the CCP. The Shanghais would be used by middle level Cadres.

Birth of a Phoenix

The story of the Shanghai saloons begins all the way back in 1958 with the unveiling of the first Phoenix prototype, produced by Shanghai Auto Repair and Assembly Works on the 28th of September.

This first Phoenix protoytype was actually based on the underpinnings of the 1957 FSO Warszawa. The engine came from Nanjing Auto Works in the form of an NJ050 2.1-liter 4-cylinder petrol engine. This engine made around 50hp and was hooked up to a 3-speed manual transmission. In fact this engine was a copy of the Russian Pobeda M20.

The body of the car was “inspired” (copied) by (from) the 1955-1956 Plymouth Savoy.

In January 1959 a second Phoenix prototype was produced, this time with dual headlights. It is thought that the car was powered by a 150hp V8 engine giving the car a top speed of 120km/h. Others suggest that it had a new Nanjing engine – a 3.5-liter straight-six petrol engine called the CN070 that produced around 70hp.

In November 1959 a third prototype based on the Phoenix was produced. It was called the “Jiaotong” (a name which was also given to commercial vehicles produced in Shanghai). The above photo appeared in a Russian Car Magazine called “Automobile Transport”. The prototype was produced by the Shanghai Auto Repair and Assembly Works. It apparently had a V8 engine that gave it a top speed of 120km/h. The front end design was different from the previous Phoenix prototype with a new grill design incorporating two dragons into the grill. Two new hood emblems were seen too.

Up until now all the Phoenix prototypes were still based on Warszawa mechanicals. This changed with the final prototype of the Phoenix as it was based on the Mercedes-Benz W180 220. This final prototype had a very unique and very beautiful grill design.

Finally in the Summer of 1959 the production version of the Phoenix sedan was introduced. The car looked very similar to the SH760 but there were some key differences between the Phoenix and the later SH760, namely the Phoenix emblem on the hood. Also the Phoenix has a gutter running above windshield then along the roof and down the C-pillar. The SH760 did not have the gutter above the windshield.

There were also some versions of the Phoenix that were produced with no Phoenix hood emblem. It is not a SH760s as the badge on the hood is smaller than those found on SH760. Production figures for the Phoenix were very low, some sources point to 22 and others to 77.

Beginning mass production with the SH760

In December 1964 the Phoenix name was dropped and replaced by the “Shanghai” nameplate. A proper model designation was also given and the SH760 started rolling off the assembly line with 50 cars being produced in 1964. Roughly 3,800 cars were produced over its 10-year lifespan and quite a few can still be found in museums today.The SH760 (and likely the Phoenix) was powered by a 2.2-liter straight-six petrol engine known as the Jinfeng (金凤 Golden Phoenix) 680Q. It was based on the Mercedes-Benz M180 engine of the same displacement. It made 90hp and 166Nm. Transmission was a 4-speed column-shift manual.

SH760A

The SH760 was produced until 1974 when it was replaced by the SH760A. The SH760A was a complete redesign of the SH760 with a new front and rear end design. It continued to use the powertrain from the SH760. Production continued until around 1989 when it was replaced by the SH7221. Air conditioning was developed and approved in January 1983 but apparently only became available almost 5 years later in the SH760B. Roughly 49,000 cars were produced and it is probably the most common Shanghai saloon you will find in museums and private collections.

SH760B

In October 1980 Shanghai Auto Works completed development of the replacement for the SH760A in the form of the SH760B. However, the SH760B and its new engine would not be available until 1988 after passing evaluation tests in 1987. The SH760B came with a new engine called the 682Q, an enlarged 2.3-liter version of the 680Q that around 100hp and 167Nm. Two versions of the SH760B were available. The first continued with the same basic external design as the SH760A but with a new plastic grill (shown above). The second incorporated more trim pieces from the Volkswagen Santana (shown below). Production continued for just two years until around 1989 when it was replaced by the SH7231. The rationale behind the introduction of the (horrible) black plastic grill was to “Beautify the outside appearance” of the car. Right… The SH760B did also incorporate better electrical and mechanical systems from the Santana.

Santana pieces included the bumpers, taillights, steering wheel, mirrors and some other interior trim pieces. This white car is on display in the Volkswagen Museum in Wolfsburg.

SH7221 and SH7231

By 1989 the SH760A and SH760B were still going strong but the naming convention for cars produced in China was changing from a 3-digit to a 4-digit standard. The cars were therefore given new names

The SH760A became the SH7221 and carried on with the 2.2-liter 680Q.

The exterior was updated (ruined) in line with the SH760B.

The badge for the SH7221.

The SH760B became the SH7231 and carried on with the 2.3-liter 682Q.

Again the exterior was the same as the short-lived SH760B.

The badge of the SH7231 (seen on an abandoned car in Hohhot, though the one in the museum is a SH7231 I didn’t get a very good picture of the badge).

The end of Shanghai saloon production finally came at 2:30PM on the 25th of November, 1991. Thankfully, production of pickup trucks based on the saloons continued for a few more years, but that is a story for a later time.

Some useful links

Erik’s book on Shanghai

Timeline of Shanghai’s Automotive Industry