cars Archives - Shanghailander

1933 Michelin advertising car

Shanghai has constantly chased modernity. In Old Shanghai, inventions such as tramways, and electricity were introduced in their early days. This was also the case for automobiles. By the 1920s, Shanghai already had many cars and streets were often blocked by traffic jams. Along with cars came tires, as shown by the model of a car used for advertising Michelin tires in Shanghai.

The above car is part of a series of Michelin advertising cars models, distributed in France a few years ago. This model was used in Shanghai, in the early 1930s.

Michelin brand in Chinese in Old Shanghai was 咪吃兰胎 , which is different from Michelin modern Chinese translation, i.e. 米其林. The brand in Chinese is displayed at the front and the back on the roof. MICHELIN is displayed on both sides of the car.

The address for the advertising for Michelin’s tire demonstration is, “Rue Bourgeat”, “Corner of French Club”. This is located at the corner of Changle Lu 长乐路 / Rue Bourgeat and Maoming lu 茂名北路 / Route Cardinal Mercier. It is opposite the former Cercle sportif Français (today the Okura Garden Hotel) with Cathay mansions (Today Old Jinjiang hotel) on the opposite corner. The fourth corner is occupied by Lyceum Theater. In the early 30s. this was one of the main spot of the French concession.

The back of the model car with the advertising in Chinese characters is well reproduced, with characters easily readable (in traditionnal characters as they were used then). The meaning is the same as the English text including location near the French Club. The car had 2 license plates, one for the French Concession (that was also valid for the International Settlement) and one for the Chinese territory.

This car is a Morris Cowley Flatnose, produced between 1926 and 1931 at the Cowley plant of Morris Motors Limited near Oxford. The advertising support was probably added in Shanghai and removable.

Morris Motors cars were imported by Auto Palace Company Ltd. (利威汽车行, Liwei Automobile Co.) Auto Palace company was also the importer of Michelin tires, as show on above 1920 ad (Thanks to chinacarhistory.com). It makes sense that Auto Palace company used it’s own products for promotion.

The Michelin Supercomfort tires entered the market in France in 1932, so this adversitising car is probably from 1933. Moreover, French concession plates had 4 digits only in the 1920s, and 5 digits in the 1930. This car is plated 15552, so it’s clearly from the 1930s.

A friend forwarded the above ad for Yellow Taxicabs and Michelin Supercomfort. published in the China Press on 6th December 1933. The ad is explaining that thanks for the Michelin Supercomfort tires, Yellow Cab will have a smoother and more comfortable ride for the passengers. This looks very much like a cross advertising and must be from a similar time or later than the Michelin advertising car. This confirms the car is from 1933.

The level of details on this model is amazing. Some pictures must have been kept in the Michelin archives and used by the publisher for recreating the model series. No pictures of this vehicle are publicly available. In any case, this a really interesting piece of Old Shanghai and a great addition to my collection.

Below is a video IA created from a picture of the model picture, showing the car driving in old Shanghai.

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Shanghai Auto museum

Shanghai district of Jiading, located miles away from Old Shanghai in what used to be faraway farm land, is an unlikely visit for an Old Shanghai lover. However, it is worth the trip, showing interesting pieces of old automotive and documents about Shanghai history and its relationship with cars.

Old Shanghai was a super modern city, new inventions like electric lighting, tramways and skyscrapers were introduced soon after they became available. This was the case for cars, with the first automobiles introduced in Shanghai in 1901. By the 1920s cars were everywhere in Shanghai. They were a status symbol as well as used by various institutions and administrations. Cars in Shanghai were imported from abroad, mostly US, UK, France and Japan. Cars from the period are long gone in Shanghai, but the museum displays a number of collection car imported from abroad that are a match for the time.

This reminded me that a few years ago, a classic car show was taking place in Shanghai. Unfortunately, none of those cars are allowed to ride on Shanghai streets. That would be a great sight to have some of them driving the streets of the former French Concession. The only substitute for a while was driving a sidecar, although this is also not allowed anymore either.

The museum also displays a number of documents and old ads about cars from the 1920s and 1930s. This is only a small part of the museum, but I spent quite a while there, finding out that I have some pieces that could very well fit into this section.

What was probably missing was more pictures of those cars in Old Shanghai, just to show that those cars were in Shanghai, and not only in America and Europe. A good example is above picture of super star actress Hudie. Another small section could have been devoted to car dealership and petrol statinos in Old Shanghai. That would also have shown a stronger links between those beauties and Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s. In any case, it was definitely worth the trip.

The Shanghai Auto Museum is located a 7565 Boyuan Rd, Jiading District, Shanghai, China, 215332. It is located in the same area as the Shanghai Formula 1 race track.

Classic cars on the Bund

1920's Packard on the Bund — 1920’s Packard on the Bund

The very special history of China and Shanghai has been essential at preserving 1920’s and 1930’s architecture, making Shanghai one the world Art Deco hotspot (with the World Art Deco congress coming to Shanghai in 2015). As late as the 1990’s, most original Shanghai buildings had remained pretty much untouched. With clever restoration, the remaining ones have taken back a new life as private mansion, company’s headquarters or bars and restaurants. Old Shanghai dresses have also been coming back, either as part of classic parties (see pictures for my own 40’s birthday party in 2012) or as part of today’s fashion brand such as Shanghai Tang. The only thing really missing is classic cars, as most of them were either taken by owners when they left Shanghai, or destroyed during the war or later. Bringing classic cars back in Shanghai is the aim of the Bund Classic event, for one weekend at least.

BundClassic started in 2013 and the 2014 edition was really nice, under a fantastic weather. As the only classic car event in mainland China, it attracted collectors and classic cars admirers. It was a unique opportunity to actually see cars from Bund building’s period on this location. Due to Chinese regulations on old cars, they could do not really be driven (apart from a short parade), but the photo opportunities were great.

Not all cars were pre WW2, but a few of them really looked just at the right place in front the former British Consulate building. I particularly like the beige Packard that looked pretty much like 1920’s pictures of the Bund, before the Cathay Hotel (Peace hotel today) was built. I am not sure this actual make was ever on the Bund, but it clearly had close cousins right here.

The 1930’s Terraplane coupé was also just in the right place. It is clear that this particular make was imported in Shanghai, as the brand was really popular in the 1930’s in America. Coupé were also seen in Shanghai, a symbol of money and modernity for the youth of rich Shanghainese. I also liked the French Traction Avant, which was surely imported to China, at least for the administration of the ” Concession Française de Changhai”. Although the one on display was red and white, the original color for this model was black only, until the 1950’s.

This short trip to Shanghai glorious past was really enjoyable, sometimes feeling straight out old Shanghai movies or Beverly Jackson’s book ” Shanghai girl gets all dressed up”. Classic cars collection seems to a be trend amongst China’s superrich, so more cars will surely being brought in. However, there is little hope of ever seen one driving down the streets of the former French Concession as they are way too old to be allowed on today’s roads.