Chapter 53

Listening to the report from the military, it was indeed a great thing! It turned out to be two trucks full of live pigs of various colors!

A total of 80 pigs, which brought great joy to the entire factory! Even Factory Director Lin Xiangrong, upon hearing the news, personally came to the east to greet them.

In those days, pork was an absolute luxury for ordinary people! It was only on New Year's Eve that they could have a meal with meat. Children often looked forward to that day every year because they could eat meat on that day!

Even the cars produced by the factory were good things, but the demand from the subsidiary food company was limited. They couldn't give special treatment to the car factory, which was still a small player in the city.

Lin Qiangsheng looked at the many live pigs in surprise and asked Gao Jun, "These pigs were squeezed out of the soldiers' rations, right?!"

It wasn't easy for the soldiers to get some meat, even though they had their own pig farm and could be self-sufficient. However, with a division-level force of over ten thousand people, the annual consumption of supplies was significant, and the military had to be frugal! The soldiers needed to eat some meat during training to keep up their strength. These pigs were clearly saved from the soldiers' rations. This made Lin Qiangsheng feel guilty about facing the soldiers' gazes!

Gao Jun smiled and said, "It's no problem. We in the military should be grateful for your factory's help. We in the military hope that your factory can improve this batch of vehicles! Besides, time waits for no one! We hope that the comrades at the car factory can work hard and complete the task within two months! If you have any difficulties, you can raise them, and we in the military will do our best to solve them!"

Lin Qiangsheng nodded, looked at the soldiers digging a large pit in the distance, and sighed inwardly.

He thought for a moment, then looked up at Gao Jun and said, "You want to modify this batch of vehicles to have the same performance as my red jeep, right?"

"Yes!" Gao Jun nodded and continued, "Our Commander Zhang has also seen your car, and he is very satisfied with it!"

"When did he see it?" Lin Qiangsheng wondered.

"The engine and powertrain of my car were handmade! To be honest, the parts inside the car are currently not producible by our factory. I think in this aspect, we need the help of the officers in your division! The military has close ties with the city's military-industrial system units. In this regard, we hope you can help us smooth things out, and they might be able to give us some assistance!" Seeing the military's enthusiasm, Lin Qiangsheng told the truth.

The car factory was just established, and the province and city were delighted to have an additional car manufacturer. They didn't think about the subsequent issues of product quality.

Looking at the SH brand sedan when it was first established, it took about half a year, and their products were also very popular!

In 1963, the Phoenix brand small car was renamed the "SH brand SH760 type" sedan, using the 680Q engine produced by the SH automobile engine factory, with a power of 90 horsepower. Through technical improvements and breakthroughs, SH collaborated with multiple enterprises to improve production processes and assembly, completing a set of stamping molds, ending the backward production method of hand-knocking the body, and producing 50 vehicles in small batches that year.

Modern people might think this is a fairy tale, but it was indeed the situation at the time. Those who were surprised might even drop their eyes out! In the future, who would dare to drive such a car! But at that time, all 50 vehicles were sold out!

For leaders, those who could ride in a car definitely wouldn't drive one. Moreover, those who drove had their own drivers, not the leaders themselves.

The vehicles produced by the car factory were sold to organizations, not individuals! The broader market and individual users were not yet considered! Because the state did not allow private ownership of cars!

The time when private individuals could buy cars was still far off. It wasn't until after 1985 that policies began to loosen. Even then, private cars had to be registered under a certain organization, and there was always the worry that the organization might take over the car.

Since the sedans produced by the car factory were sold to collectives, their feelings were naturally much less sensitive. Therefore, Lin Qiangsheng played a small trick. Our factory would first solve the problem of availability, and we would continue to manufacture the cars. As for quality issues, if there were any problems, you could come to our factory to solve them.

The managers and leaders, including Lin Xiangrong, didn't see this as a problem. We were originally a car repair shop, and if the vehicles we produced had problems, it was natural that we should solve them.

From this perspective, the factory was actually doing quite well! It didn't affect the enthusiasm of the purchasing organizations at all!

In those days, if you bought a Soviet Lada and had a problem, you would have to wait. It was imported from the Soviet Union, and if a part broke, you might have to wait for a year or more to get a new one!

The efficiency of the Soviets was notoriously slow, especially with vehicles exported to foreign countries, which they couldn't manage.

The Jiang'an Car Factory was right in the city, and the vehicles were sold right at the doorstep, which was very convenient! The leaders had a special feeling for the car factory right at their doorstep!

Although the factory couldn't produce gears and bearings at the time, they had good connections with several bearing and gear manufacturing enterprises in Bincheng, and there had never been any problems in their cooperation.

A transmission isn't something that can be designed and then produced; it is closely related to the materials of the gear set. If the material strength and other properties are insufficient, even the best design is useless. In actual operation, if the material properties are不合格, it could shatter all the gears inside the transmission.

The bearings and gears currently used by the car factory were provided by industrial units in Bincheng, introduced by the provincial industrial bureau.

In the 1970s, during the "Fourth Five-Year Plan" period, the bearing industry developed to meet the needs of "a major battle in mining," and the Second Automobile Manufacturing Plant also developed, becoming a new base for automotive bearings.

A number of local medium and small bearing factories were established, forming the second peak of development for the Chinese bearing industry.

During the factory construction boom at the beginning of the 1970s, there were already over 600 rolling bearing manufacturers nationwide. During this period, short cylindrical roller bearings, spherical roller bearings, and tapered roller bearings all saw rapid development, and the variety and specifications of bearings became increasingly complete.

By the early "Fifth Five-Year Plan" period, China's bearing manufacturing industry had gradually established five distinctive bases: Wafangdian, Harbin, Luoyang, Xiangyang, and SH (why use pinyin here? Is it too embarrassed to show its face?), as well as numerous small and medium-sized bearing enterprises.

Comprehensive research and design institutions and specialized factories for process equipment and testing instruments were also established, forming a bearing industry system with a basically reasonable layout, relatively complete research, production, and logistical support.

According to statistics from 171 major enterprises in 1977, the total industrial output value reached 1.01 billion yuan, the bearing production was 120 million sets, the workforce was 147,000 people, the main production equipment was 48,000 units, the original value of fixed assets was 1.49 billion yuan, and the labor productivity per capita was 6,821 yuan/person·year, all showing significant progress compared to the previous development period.

In the development and manufacturing of gears, in the decades since the founding of New China, gear design and manufacturing technology have made great strides, establishing gear machine tools, tools, measuring instruments, specialized gear, and gearbox manufacturing plants.

A relatively complete gear manufacturing industry has been formed. The design and production of low-speed heavy-duty and high-speed high-power gears have made significant progress. Various types of planetary gear transmission devices have been produced in batches. The manufacturing technology of various types of bevel gears produced internationally has been basically mastered. Various types of worm pairs can also be produced domestically.

In the automotive, tractor, and machine tool industries, the production and labor productivity of gears in large batches have made significant improvements. High-speed and high-speed heavy-duty gears used in ships and aviation machinery have reached a relatively high level. Systematic research has been conducted on gear meshing principles, precision and testing, strength testing and calculation, materials and heat treatment, high-precision and high-efficiency manufacturing processes, new tooth profiles, new process methods, new gear types, and structures, achieving gratifying results.

When designing the engine to match the Jetta, Lin Qiangsheng considered the domestic reality and deliberately reduced the power and performance. Therefore, the Jetta they produced, under low-power conditions, had not yet experienced the problem of transmission gears breaking.

However, Lin Qiangsheng always felt that the material issue was a major concern and must be taken seriously.

Fortunately, there were not many cars on the roads at the time, so if the gears broke, it wouldn't cause much harm to people. In the future, some cars would still be sold well even if their gears broke.

However, anything could go wrong! Bearings and gears are core technologies! They must be taken seriously and mastered!

The engine used in the Jetta produced by the factory is a 2.0-liter, 4-cylinder gasoline engine with a maximum power of 57 kW and a maximum torque of 128 N·m.

This was a very good parameter in the early 1980s, paired with a 4-speed manual transmission, it could reach a top speed of 130 km/h!

At the highest speed, apart from a bit of shaking, there were no major issues. Even modern cars shake, and people still drive them.

This was unimaginable for the BJ202, 212, and SH brand sedans of the same period! When cruising at 90 km/h, its fuel consumption was 10 liters per 100 km, which was very economical in 1978. The BJ202, 212, and SH brand sedans had fuel consumption of 14-15 liters per 100 km.

Therefore, the Jetta sedans produced by the Jiang'an Car Factory in the provincial capital were extremely popular within the province and city!

Moreover, because the province had this car manufacturing plant, the underground business of smuggling imported Ladas across the border began to decline.

The Jetta produced by the Jiang'an Car Factory was slowly squeezing the Lada market!

It should be noted that the Ladas currently entering the market, except for a few officially imported ones, were mostly second-hand parts that were then assembled.

Even with this small-scale underground channel, the number of Ladas in the entire Hei province region reached several hundred thousand at its peak in the 1970s and 1980s! Lada sedans even served as taxis on the streets of the capital! It's easy to imagine the ownership of Ladas throughout the country.

The establishment and development of the Jiang'an Car Factory in Bincheng indeed benefited from the right time and place. First, Hei province, as a major province for equipment manufacturing, had a very complete industrial structure! It not only had a complete and well-equipped heavy industry but also a relatively complete light industry. In the mid-1970s, a number of textile and other light industry factories were built within the province, filling the gap in the light industry.

The industrial departments of Hei province not only participated in many domestic industrial constructions but also carried out the production and research and development of many high-precision and advanced equipment.

The development of the "two bombs and one satellite," submarines, ships, large steam turbines, boilers, and electromechanical equipment, as well as the production and supporting of these, were all carried out by industrial units in Hei province.

Bincheng, as a bearing production base, held an important position in the national industrial landscape. The First Heavy Machinery Plant, the Three Major Power Plants, the Bincheng Machine Tool Factory, and the Qiqihar First and Second Machine Tool Factories all held important positions in the country. Bincheng was also an important talent cultivation base for the nuclear and shipbuilding industries, as well as a base for the production of related components.

It can be said that Hei province could independently produce 70-80% of the industrial products in the country, from the sky to the ground, from rivers to the sea!

The Three Major Power Plants in Bincheng, the Bincheng Electric Motor Factory, the Bincheng Steam Turbine Factory, and the Bincheng Boiler Factory, three large national equipment manufacturing enterprises, were known as the "Three Major Power Plants."

"Imagine, when over ten thousand workers in blue work clothes flood into the factory from several gates at 7:30 in the morning, how spectacular the scene is!" In the early 21st century, an elderly man who had worked in the Bincheng Boiler Factory for almost his entire life said.

Bincheng had hundreds of complete industrial equipment manufacturing enterprises and thousands of parts manufacturing enterprises. Several ring roads were built around the city, and major and medium-sized enterprises were connected by railways, forming a complete transportation system during production allocation! The ring roads and railways around the city turned Bincheng into a huge industrial fortress city!

This was the true portrayal of Bincheng's industry from the 1970s to the late 1980s! And there were still several large national enterprises like the Three Major Power Plants in the entire Hei province.

This was rarely seen in other regions and provinces in the country! Unlike some areas where there were some departments but not others, or where the industrial structure was单一.

Secondly, although Hei province began to support inland construction after the founding of the country, moving many industrial equipment and personnel, and during the Third Front Construction period in 1964, moving many more equipment and personnel, and again in 1972, moving many more equipment and industrial workers,

Even after these repeated divisions and departures, Hei province's industrial scale was still quite complete. Although many equipment were moved, Hei province could still produce them; although many people left, those who remained were still resilient!

The construction of the Jiang'an Car Factory would not have been successful without the industrial soil of Hei province and Bincheng! It was precisely because of the industrial support of this land that such a factory could appear in 1977-1978!

Lin Qiangsheng caught a good time! If he had been reborn a bit later, the declining industrial base of Bincheng would have already fallen from its peak, and at that time, the industrial sectors in the province were declining, and the personnel were restless. Just gathering the products of various units would have been extremely difficult!

The current industrial workers still had the spirit to fight and strive!

The "Daqing Spirit," the "Iron Man Spirit," and "We Workers Have Strength," these well-known and widely passed down spirits were still in full bloom! Hei province was truly an industrial province! Bincheng was truly an industrial city!

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