The Shanghai Pickup Trucks

Welcome to the second article on the Shanghai brand. In the previous article I introduced you to the saloon cars and took you through the development of those models. In this article I will cover all the pickup truck models produced under the Shanghai brand, starting with the reasoning behind creating these models and going on through the development stages to the models that went on sale.

By the mid 1980’s the Shanghai saloon was 20 years old and mass production of the Volkswagen Santana had begun in 1985. It seemed clear that the classic Shanghai would soon die unless drastic steps were taken. Ironically the Shanghai saloon would enjoy its most successful year in 1990 when 6,072 units were produced. However, there was no way for the production rate to match that of the Santana and just one year later in 1991 the last Shanghai saloon would roll off the production line. Shanghai decided to not just let the design go to waste so elected to extend its useful life by producing pickup trucks based on the saloon. In total, three basic versions were produced – single cab, extended cab and dual cab. Whatsmore, they thought they might be able to challenge Peugeot in the sedan-based pickup truck market both in China and abroad.

In 1986, Shanghai Auto Works elected to outsource the design and prototyping of the pickup trucks and an ambulance (more on that in the next article) to a British company called Locomotors Limited. Locomotors produced prototypes as well as full engineering drawings and the necessary equipment to produce the vehicles in China. Production of the pickup trucks took place at Shanghai Auto Works until the end of Saloon car production in 1991 when that factory shut down and was taken over by Volkswagen. After that the production was moved to what was formerly known as Shanghai Engine Works and became known as Shanghai Shenlian Special Purpose Vehicle Works.

Single Cab

The single cab prototype was known as the SH760C.

The first of the Locomotors prototypes was the single cab with British registration C617WDD.

The engine of the SH760C was changed to a 2-liter 4-cylinder petrol engine from a Ford Sierra. This was done in order to make the truck potentially more appealing to markets in South-East Asia, the Middle East and South America where Fords were quite popular and having a Ford engine would be beneficial. The single cab had a payload capacity of 600kg.

Locomotors tested the SH760C at MIRA’s proving grounds.

Later on when production started in China the single cab was renamed as the SQ110, seen here in the sales program of SACO (China National Automotive Industry Import & Export Corp. Shanghai Co. Ltd) of 1989. The engine was the 2.3-liter “682Q” 6-cylinder petrol engine from the later Shanghai saloons. Ultimately the export program never occurred.

Extended Cab

The extended cab prototype was known as the SH760D.

The second of the Locomotors prototypes was the extended cab with British registration C616WDD.

This model was referred to by Locomotors as a “Farmer’s Truck”.

Happily the SH760D prototype appears to still exist, here it is in the SAIC building in 2003. Erik took these photos.

The interior of the SH760D prototype was quite different from any other Shanghai. The SH760C prototype did not have this new interior

Later on when production started in China the extended cab was renamed as the SQ110A, seen here in the sales program of SACO (China National Automotive Industry Import & Export Corp. Shanghai Co. Ltd) of 1989. It also used the 682Q engine.

In 1990 a two new versions of the extended cab pickup appeared, all sold as the SH1020SP. They were initially produced by Shanghai Auto Works and later by Shanghai Shenlian Special Auto Works.

The first is this one which I refer to as the “short window” as the windows of the second row appear to be shorter in length than the “long window” version shown below. The short window appears to be most similar to the Locomotors developed SH760D. The C-pillar of the short window version appears thicker than the long window.

This is the “long window” version. The length of the second row windows appears to be longer than the short window version. The C-pillar is thinner and the lip on the tray only runs from the tailgate as far forward as the C-pillar unlike the one on the short window version which has the lip running to the B-pillar. It also has stripes in place of the black plastic trim of the other variant.

Dual Cab

The dual cab Shanghai pickups appear to have been developed in China and not by Locomotors. It was introduced in 1991. All dual cabs were sold as SH1020SP and two distinct versions were made. There was also a single prototype with a Santana “esque” fascia called the SH1021SP. Pictured above is the most common dual cab model with SH1020SP decals running down the side. There were three stripe patterns. The first was the one pictured above – blue top stripe, red bottom stripe.

The second one consisted of a red top stripe and a black bottom stripe. A third option was a blue top stripe and black bottom strip (refer to the prior photo of the SH1020SP long window).

The final option was to have no stripes at all!

Apparently there was a canopy available from the factory for the pickup, though we don’t have any photos other than this one from a brochure for Shenlian.

There was also a rather unusual dual cab that had the rear doors and C-pillar from the regular saloon.

There was a prototype called the SH1021SP that bore more than a passing resemblance to the Volkswagen Santana. Certainly it used the headlights from the Santana but also the doors were very similar to the Santana. Indeed the door mirrors are located along the door further towards the B-pillar like the Santana rather than at the base of the A-pillar like on the other Shanghai pickups. The rear doors also resemble those of the Santana. Perhaps Shenlian managed to fit the doors from a Santana onto a SH1020SP and created the SH1021SP? We may never know… if you do please let us know!

Sadly the pickups were not popular enough and production came to end in 1994 with a total of 6,840 having been produced.

Many thanks to Erik and his wonderful book about the Shanghai brand which can be found here and contains even more photos, information and specifications of these vehicles.