"Well, okay, I'll do it myself"

At the door of the workshop, Gu Litong took the cigarette from Li Xuewu but lit it himself.

Li Xuewu didn't care and lit one for himself with a lighter.

After the cold wind blew away the first breath of "immortal energy", they looked at each other and nodded.

"I've heard a long time ago that the steel rolling mill released a satellite of David"

Gu Litong looked at Li Xuewu with a look of inquiry on his face, and said: "I can't believe you are so young."

"I?"

Li Xuewu raised his eyebrows in surprise, then smiled slightly and asked, "Do you know me?"

"Haha, it's like thunder piercing my ears"

Gu Litong also smiled, looked aside, and explained: "The trade fair your factory held some time ago was quite fashionable."

"I'm sorry, at that time..."

Li Xuewu thought about the memory of that day, as if he had never seen the other person before.

Or maybe there were too many guests that day and I didn’t pay attention to the other person, so I tried to ask.

But Gu Litong waved his hand and said: "No, I didn't go. It was our factory's deputy director Liu who went. He admired you very much."

After speaking, he glanced at the cigarette butt in his hand, glanced at the factory area that was inevitably a bit rundown in the winter, and said: "It is difficult to start a business, and good generals are hard to find."

Li Xuewu looked at him strangely, then stood with him and looked at the factory together without saying anything.

It's not that he is tired of his reputation, nor is he afraid of gossip behind his back. Whether it's a compliment or a test, he won't become arrogant after just two words of praise.

After smoking half a cigarette, Gu Litong turned his head to look at Li Xuewu and asked, "Do you know anything about our factory?"

"I mean..."

He waved his hand hesitantly, raised his eyebrows and said, "It's about production."

“Sorry, I only know about small satellite taxis”

Li Xuewu smiled apologetically and explained: "I only found out about it when I was a kid watching the excitement. Later...well."

"Haha, it's been almost ten years."

Gu Litong chuckled and scratched his forehead and said: "I still remember the task I received in 1958 to solve the problem of rickshaw passenger transportation."

He took a drag on his cigarette, squinted his eyes and recalled, "Our factory's roots were built as an automobile repair shop in 1952."

"I'm afraid you don't know, it was many years ago, and I had just started working at that time."

Gu Litong exhaled the smoke and said: "It is an auto parts factory established by four companies: Jianzhong Automobile, Lihua Trading's repair department, Yongmao Industrial's auto repair shop, and Xiecheng Iron Works."

"We are a branch factory, the second branch factory, which was first located in Erligou and mainly engaged in diesel vehicle maintenance."

"I think I've heard of it"

Li Xuewu frowned slightly and asked: "Your auto repair factory has a large scale, right? We have learned about it when we were doing car maintenance."

“The largest in North China”

Gu Litong smiled very proudly and said: "Otherwise, we wouldn't have the guts and strength to build a car~!"

"Although it failed, hahaha~"

He is quite cheerful, proud of his factory, and faces past failures calmly.

Li Xuewu could see his initiative, nodded with a smile, and said: "At least we have trained the team and summed up experience."

"Yeah, indeed"

Gu Litong nodded and said: "The deeper it is, the more it is remembered, the more brave it is."

After sighing, he shook his head with some regret and said: "We put all our hopes and efforts into it, but we didn't expect it."

He only said half of what he said, and the rest was left unsaid.

Li Xuewu still remembers this incident. It must have been the summer of 1960 when he was in middle school. There was a cute little taxi in front of the Beijing Children's Hospital.

If these forty-nine cities are a bit lively, how can they be without young people like them?

Of course, they could only look at the dozens of cars at the door, but they couldn't afford to sit on them.

In fact, the lack of transportation capacity in Sijiucheng, whether it is passenger transportation or freight transportation, has always been plaguing the development of this city.

Today, young people who cannot find a job can make a living by buying a tricycle with some money from their family, laying wooden boards on it, and going to the transportation company to recruit people and goods.

It will be the same in the future. When young people in the capital have the least choice, they will find cars to rent and work hard to support their families.

Of course, later taxis became more popular and were no longer new, but in the 1960s, they were quite fashionable.

However, the good times did not last long. Dozens of taxis were parked on the streets one after another, causing trouble. Soon they were no longer seen.

At that time, Lao Biaozi also speculated that it was the rickshaw drivers who caused the damage and suspected that they were stealing business.

Of course, what happened back then was a joke, but from today's perspective, it is really a matter of helplessness due to industrial backwardness.

Gu Litong was particularly touched. He took the last puff of his cigarette, threw away the butt, looked at Li Xuewu and asked, "I heard that your factory's prototype cars are still undergoing road tests?"

After finishing speaking, without waiting for Li Xuewu's answer, he nodded seriously and said: "This is the right thing to do. Quality issues are always the fundamental issue."

"It seems that your understanding of our factory far exceeds my understanding of Second Automobile Works."

Li Xuewu said with a smile, then looked at the other party carefully and asked: "Now the second factory...?"

In Li Xuewu's opinion, the Satellite brand mini taxis have a very novel appearance, a bit like the QQ of later generations, and even have a convertible version.

It was just that due to the technical limitations at the time, the internal power structure was not solid, and the delivery was completed without road testing. It can only be said that it was too crazy back then.

How bold a person is, how productive the land is.

Work hard and fast, trial production in 1959, the project was launched in 1960, and delivery was completed directly. You can just say how blind the policy at that time was.

The automobile project of the steel rolling mill is equally bold and has a bit of the craziness of previous years.

The plan was made in May last year, the car will be available in November, and production will begin in May next year. It is not a bold decision.

But unlike the satellite minicar project of the Second Automobile Works Group, the Red Star Antelope of the Steel Rolling Plant was redesigned based on the Willys chassis.

Regarding Willis's power system, the steel rolling mill has learned about it early and used it in automobile maintenance projects.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! As for other key components, the steel rolling mill does not produce them at all, but purchases them all. This also makes car manufacturing a cooperative product.

Li Xuewu cannot look at the explorers in the automotive field from the perspective of future generations, let alone underestimate these labor pioneers.

So after Gu Litong introduced the history and development of Second Automobile Works, he also asked about his purpose.

“In July of the year before last, our factory received a task.”

Gu Litong paused slightly and said: "It is to solve a series of problems caused by carriages entering the city for transportation in the capital."

He glanced at Li Xuewu, and seeing that the other party understood what he meant, he added: "At the same time, to meet the increasingly heavy freight demand, the city has decided to organize the production of light-duty trucks."

"130?"

Li Xuewu reacted when he heard this, raised his eyebrows and asked, then nodded clearly and said: "This is a good project."

As for Gu Litong's pause just now, he certainly understood what the other person meant.

He has traveled all over the forty-nine cities. It is normal for him to say that he has never been to important government places. When it comes to people's livelihood, of course he knows.

What's the problem with carriages entering the city?

In fact, it is an environmental issue. You must know that the new society was created with nothing, and the appearance of the capital directly represented the advancement and status of the time.

Precisely because the country is huge, many foreigners are curious to enter the mainland to visit and even take pictures.

If you don't let me take pictures, you will be called stingy and don't have the guts to face reality.

It’s really amazing to take pictures. The cattle and carriages all over the street are really unsightly with their clattering sounds.

People can control the horse's "eating and drinking", but they can't control it at all.

Even though every horse had a bag on its back when entering the city, it was still littered all over the ground.

This has a great impact on the image of the capital and people's normal travel.

Therefore, it is imperative to replace horse-drawn carriages with cars.

Don't look at it. A hundred years ago, the streets of Paris were filled with sewage, and urine and feces were poured out of the windows.

The older girl and the younger daughter-in-law were wearing fluffy skirts. When they were in a hurry, the servants would put a bucket in and urinate while standing. They were worse than animals today.

But they can boast of being civilized and accuse other cities of being backward and dirty.

We want to be shameless. If others say it, we naturally have to solve this problem.

After all, it's the 1960s, and the national transportation problem cannot be solved, at least the problem in Beijing must be solved.

Therefore, under such circumstances, the light truck was assigned a task by the city and required to be launched.

This is the way it is in this day and age. It’s not easy for factories to do something on their own. After all, they all rely on the above to allocate funds.

Second Automobile's projects all come from "policy", that is to say, under the conditions of planned economy, the factory will produce whatever the "policy" requires.
To be continued...