From 1936 on, small Dodge trucks were assembled in Tianjin.
The Dodges were put into crates in the USA and sent to China.
In Tianjin the trucks were assembled.
The factory was called “The Frazar Assembly Plant“. The owner was the E.W. Frazar & Company (Tianjin Gongmao Yanghang).
The truck which was assembled, was the Dodge (道奇 卡车) 1.75 ton truck, either as a single chassis, a chassis+cab, or as a pickup, or as a bus.
I have no information about production figures.
Other Dodge trucks of the same model (but bigger) were delivered to China via the Lend Lease during the 2nd World War and also to the Guomindang after war (including some of the WK-series, or the T203 and the T234).
Shanghai scrapyard, another Dodge T203, with left a Jiefang CA10 and right a Landrover. Photo copyright Oliver Barnham, Summer 1981.
And of course the Dodge T234, as we have described earlier.
That Land Rover looks interesting – strictly not a Defender but more like an earlier Series IIA or III lightweight/air portable military version although the bodywork looks odd. How and why is it in that scrapyard?
During the 50s 60s and 70s the government imported small numbers of series I II and IIA for state projects in rural areas such as things like surveying lands for resources, or geological mapping. These vehicles were imported up until the 70s because, although China had its own military jeep, the BJ212, It was introduced during the cultural revolution, so they could not build enough to meet the country’s demands. Also the BJ212 did not have comparable equipment to that of the Land Rover, nor the reliability. Land Rovers were also used as embassy cars by diplomats and some crossed… Read more »