When travelling in Xi’an in 1984 I noticed, in front of the fire station in the centre of the city, a strange car, registered 24-05900. Or truck? The front looked like a Hongqi, the wheels were as big as truck wheels. And the wheelbase was very short in regard to the length.
In fact, it was a fire brigade commander car. Also the rear was spectacular.
I couldn’t find out the make. Was it made by FAW, based on a Jiefang? On the left side it had one door, on the right side two doors.
A year later, I went back to the same place and to my luck I found the same car. But no one there.
Long forgotten, one of the many questions without answer.
Five years ago, my dear friend Liu Zhaohui from Guangzhou sent me some photos of a car, found in 2014 in Liaoning. This fire brigade commander car is named Zhendan, which means Aurora. I don’t know if the Liaoning car is the Xi’an car or just one from the same series.
The Zhendan in very poor condition in Liaoning.
Liu came also with an interesting page from a book with fire trucks. From here we know the Zhendan is based on a truck, the Yuejin NJ130 and not the Jiefang. The car is made around 1964 and was already 20 years old when I met it.
The book doesn’t give the manufacturer, but I found a Shanghai Huaxia Zhendan Fire Equipment Co. Ltd. They made trucks under the designation SZX (now withdrawn) and were established on 259 Husong Road, Songjiang District in Shanghai.
Six-cylinder 3480 cc Nanjing engine.
The engine confirms the NJ130 underneath, it is the old side-valve Yuejin truck engine.
Do you have photos of Chinese vehicles which you want to have analysed? Maybe I can help you, give it a try!
And as always, comments etc.
oh