About the History of Cars in China
The fourth floor of the Taishan Classic Car Museum houses a wide assortment of mainly foreign cars with everything from old Austins to a ZAZ. A rather beautiful Hongqi also makes an appearance but it is the only Chinese car on display.
Continue reading “Trip Report: Taishan Classic Car Museum (Part 4)”
This picture shows four Hongqi CA72, three Beijing CB4 and two Tianjin Heping 2-type, together on Tian’anmen square in Beijing in 1959 or 1960. It is a very interesting gathering of the three candidates for manufacturing state-limousines for the People’s Republic of China. The chances are already clear taking into account the number of cars present: 4 Hongqi, 3 Beijing and 2 Tianjin.
Yes, it was Hongqi that won. And Beijing and Tianjin were the losers. Recently new photos have been found of the limousines from Beijing , which we will present here.
Continue reading “The lost Beijing and Tianjin limousines of China.”
The third floor of the Taishan Classic Car Museum contains all sorts of 4×4’s and military vehicles from around the world.
Continue reading “Trip Report: Taishan Classic Car Museum (Part 3)”
The second floor of the Taishan Classic Car Museum consists mainly of cars from China and the USSR. Everything from old Hongqis to an example of almost every Shanghai model and all sorts of glorious Soviet metal.
Continue reading “Trip Report: Taishan Classic Car Museum (Part 2)”
The Taishan Classic Car Museum is the second museum owned by Zhang Yonglong, the other being the Weifang Generations Classic Car Museum that I have covered previously. His Taishan Museum is located on the north shore of Tianyi Lake (天颐湖) in the Tianyi Lake Resort Area, about 20km south of Tai’an city. The museum itself is a massive 5-storey building with each floor having a distinct theme. The collection is diverse and contains some vehicles that are very seldom seen in other museums in China. It is definitely worth a visit!
Continue reading “Trip Report: Taishan Classic Car Museum (Part 1)”
Thunder Sky is a major player in the development and production of LiYePO4 Rare Earth Lithium Ion batteries. Thunder Sky started experimenting with electric vehicles around the turn of the last century by converting existing petrol powered cars to electric power. This included, as you shall discover from this article, everything from the humble Geo Metro to über collectible Hongqis. Join me as I take you on a journey to discover one of the most ambitious, ingenious and downright insane (in a good way) companies we will ever discuss here on the pages of China Car History. A journey so long it has to be split across two articles. The first shall cover all their vehicles prior to 2007 and the second everything after. Please note that right up until the day of publishing we were uncovering more and more vehicles produced by Thunder Sky and likely may find more in the future so these articles will more than likely be updated.
In today’s article I cover the third hall (what I will call Part 4) of the Weifang Generations Classic Car Museum. Around 25 cars are on display in this hall and there is a wide variety of cars on display.
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In today’s article I cover the first floor of the second hall (what I will call Part 3) at the Weifang Generations Classic Car Museum. This hall consists of all sorts of trucks, SUV’s, guns and a rather special bus. We start with a tractor, a lovely old lady and the 1RMB note.
Continue reading “Trip Report: Weifang Generations Classic Car Museum (Part 3)”
In today’s article I cover the second floor of the second hall (what I will call Part 2) at the Weifang Generations Classic Car Museum. This hall consists mostly of foreign cars, though one rather special and unique Chinese car does make an appearance!
Continue reading “Trip Report: Weifang Generations Classic Car Museum (Part 2)”
Car museums are opening up seemingly everyday in China, one of the ones I paid a visit to during my last few months in China was the Weifang Generations Classic Car Museum in Weifang, Shandong Province. This museum is one of two museums owned by Zhang Yonglong, the other one is located in Taishan, Shandong Province, a couple hours southwest of Weifang. I visited both and will cover the Taishan museum in later articles.
Continue reading “Trip Report: Weifang Generations Classic Car Museum (Part 1)”