A Nanjing NJ1020 Unique van, seen in the great city of Guangzhou, capital of China’s Guangdong Province, in 2015. The fine old van was in a good shape, painted in factory green , and fitted with decidedly non-factory wide tires and shiny gold alloys.
The character 粤 (Yue) refers to Yuefangyan, an old alternative name for Guangdong Province.
The Unique was made by Nanjing Auto. It was based on a mix of elements of the Seat Ibiza and the Seat Inca van. Nanjing Auto bought the rights to the fist generation Seat Ibiza in 1997 and started making it in China in 1999 under the Nanjing NJ6400 Encore name. The NJ1020 van arrived in 2000 and was made until 2005.
Basic design of the cargo area is similar to the Seat Inca but the window layout arrangement is different, and Nanjing added a fancy roof spoiler for better airflow! The Nanjing NJ1020 was powered by a 1.5liter four-cylinder petrol engine with 85 hp, mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. Top speed was 175 km/h, which is not bad for this kind of car, and 0-100 was gone in 10 seconds. Price in 2004 started at 55.000 yuan.
The owner of this example changed the standard seats for sport seats, and he also added a new gear lever knob and a sporty steering wheel. Ash tray seems almost full. Ah! In those great days we all happily smoked, talking about cars and trucks with the guys on stinky markets, without a care in the world.
At the time, the Unique seemed a great idea: an affordable van that could be used to ferry passengers as well. Sadly, it was a tad too late on the market, for when it appeared several competitors were offering cheaper and modern 5-seat family cars.
Characters: 中国南京, Zhongguo Nanjing, or China Nanjing. Back then, many Chinese car makers added 中国 (China) in front of their own name, a nationalistic thing, but kinda cool nevertheless. Mobil 1 decal was likely a gas station freebee.
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