Siheyuan: Heavy Industry Revitalizes the Country

In the 60s, there was actually no A\B\C\D level division.

There are only small cars, mid-size cars, large cars and full-size cars.

And the span between them is also very large.

There are often no very specific standards.

As for full-size, it only refers to the large off-road vehicles in the United States, which are of no reference value and can be left aside.

According to this statement, Hongqi is already a supermodel large car.

As for the SH760, with its length of 4781mm, it can already be regarded as an entry-level large car.

After all, in a few years, the length of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class will be 4960mm, not much different.

But in the field of small and mid-sized cars, there is still a complete blank.

Of course, we can leave the SUV aside for now.

In fact, the small car designed by Fang Xiang before was, according to later standards, an A00-class micro car.

Trying to cram so many things into such a small car body.

The difficulty is actually quite high.

On the contrary, this model is called a mid-size car, but from Fang Xiang's perspective, it is actually a standard compact car, and it is better designed.

Especially the newly designed model, which has been named BMW.

If it doesn’t look like a real BMW, wouldn’t it be a waste of the name?

Well, since the name is BMW, does it also need to be a bit like BMW in terms of appearance and performance?

Fang Xiang quickly came up with an idea and did it right away.

First of all, in terms of body size, Fang Xiang referred to the 3 Series without extension.

The vehicle is 4650mm long, 1700mm wide and 1550mm high.

The wheelbase is 50mm because Fang Xiang deliberately designed it in a 50:2800 ratio.

If it were a little longer, it would reach the threshold of a large car.

But compared with other mid-size cars, it is much longer and wider.

Then there is the engine. Logically speaking, if you want to be lazy, you can just move the 2.0 engine from the previous Jeep and use it.

Because it has been improved and a new carburetor has been installed.

That four-cylinder engine has 105 horsepower and 236 Nm of torque.

If this car does not focus on performance and acceleration, it can be equipped with a four-speed manual transmission.

Although the 100-meter acceleration is a bit slow, it is still sufficient.

However, that engine still has a flaw.

That's the engine, it's designed for low torque, it's a bottom-mounted cam design.

Suitable for vehicles with low torque, low speed and high burst.

But on this new mid-size car, this engine seems less suitable.

So, Fang wanted to build on that engine.

It has been changed to an overhead single camshaft design to meet the high torque, high speed and high burst requirements that are popular in the world today.

Yes, it is different from the engines of today and in the future that prefer low torque, high speed and high burst.

In other aspects, the design of the previous engine was copied while minimizing modifications and workload.

In this way, the two engines can have more common parts.

Not only does it save costs, but it will also make repairs easier in the future.

As for the gearbox, there is nothing much to say, it is still the four-speed manual gearbox.

Then there's the chassis.

Fang Xiang still uses the same trailing arm non-independent suspension as on small cars.

Don’t ask, the reason you ask is to save costs, materials, and reduce process and precision.

But the good thing is that after the chassis of a mid-size car is enlarged, there are many areas that need to be strengthened.

At the same time, because there is more space, Fang wants to add some accessories to the shock absorbers.

This can add some support and increase comfort.

At the same time, for safety reasons, Fang Xiang also added front and rear support bars that are not available on small cars.

This way, the vehicle will have less roll when cornering, stronger support and better handling.

As for steering and braking, there's not much to say.

As for the tires, they were changed from 12-inch tires used on small cars to 15-inch ones.

Yes, 15 inches, but don’t laugh, tires these days are not only small but also have a very high aspect ratio.

The tires are thicker than each other.

Of course, the trade-off is increased comfort and reduced handling.

As for how to balance handling and comfort after the car model is built.

I can't worry about that right now.

One reason is that there is little demand for this in the market.

Another thing is that this is not the first time Fang Xiang has designed a chassis.

But I don't have much experience in this area.

Although the chassis of vehicles in later generations can be copied, to be honest, Fang Xiang is still thinking about the cars in his memory.

There really isn't much to learn from.

It’s either an off-road vehicle, an old Geely Emgrand, or a new electric car.

But it’s okay. At worst, after building it, you can test drive it. If you find it not suitable, you can fine-tune the suspension.

In addition, in terms of appearance, Fang Xiang also tried to keep it as close to the square box as possible.

There are some aerodynamic improvements, but not much.

Because there are more of them, the lines and roundness are higher.

In this case, the difficulty for manufacturers of car shells will increase exponentially.

It is impossible to do assembly line operations, so it can only be done by skilled and high-level workers hammering it out one by one.

Fang thought that he was not going to build a Rolls-Royce, so why make such a fuss?

Finally, the interior.

Although plastic molding is easy to use and was invented relatively early, it is only now that it has been widely used.

However, there is indeed no corresponding technical reserves and manufacturers in China.

Therefore, we can only choose large areas of wooden decoration as a replacement, just like Hongqi.

However, wooden decorations are indeed very popular in this era.

At least it is much better than the iron ones on compact cars and jeeps.

The ergonomic seats are the same as those in a small car, but with headrests and mechanical adjustment functions.

It also adopts the design that appeared in the 70s, with the interior tilted towards the driver's seat.

Then, just like a compact car, storage compartments and lights are added.

There are also more speakers, from two to four.

The radio also has a tape player that was not available on other cars of this era.

Yes, a tape drive.

Don’t disbelieve it, we were able to produce it domestically in 53.

It's just that it hasn't become popular on a large scale.

It really started to become popular in the 70s and 80s.

Remember Teresa Teng and the Beatles?

The Beatles did release authentic tapes.

It is precisely because of the global popularity of pop music that the development of tape recorders has been driven.

Double-layer laminated glass is also added to the car windows.

In addition to these, Fang wanted to increase the selling points of this car.

After racking their brains, a mechanical skylight was added.

Yes, skylight.

These days, there are only hardtops and convertibles.

There was no concept of skylight yet.

Everyone knows the advantages and disadvantages of skylights.

I won’t talk about the advantages, the disadvantage is that it will leak.

To this end, Fang Xiang designed two layers for this skylight, both with larger and thicker rubber.

At this point, the design of this mid-size car is basically completed.

At this time, not only was there hesitation within the Ministry of First Machine Building over a name for the car, but an internal conflict also broke out.

Helpless, he had to call Fang Xiang and put the final decision in his hands.

"A new model of BMW, let me name it?"

Fang Xiang looked at the helpless Cao Tianwei with a confused look on his face.

“Yes, they said, they had come up with several names, but they were all rejected.

Why not let you, the designer, take charge? "

Cao Tianwei nodded.

"do you have any requests?"

Fang Xiang picked his nose and dug out a large piece of contempt.

“Nice to listen to, easy to remember, and international.”

Cao Tianwei stated the requirements of the Ministry of First Machine Building.