Many of the first successful brands in China were American ones, including automakers like Lincoln and bikemakers like Harley-Davidson. In fact, a Harley-Davidson riders club loved American cars so much they started making tribute clones of classic Detroit metal on Chinese underpinnings.
The latest car from the company is the Full Good Rocket, which was on display at Auto Shanghai last week and looks like a lot like a 1959 Cadillac Series 62. It even has a real powerplant from General Motors. Everything about this car is slightly too much, which is why it’s absolutely amazing to me. Even the name: Full Good. I think this is a sub-brand, maybe? It’s a bit confusing.
Also, there’s an AI-created video running to promote the 1950s-on-the-mood aesthetic and vibe of the car. It’s equally enchanting and terrifying when you listen to the lyrics. Perhaps I should start there:
Here are some of the (I hope) AI-generated words:
Lights on lunar lanes
Sip our sodas, free from chains.
The world’s aglow, the future’s here.
Every day’s a frontier.
Robots work, while we just play.
Endless night, that feels like day.
The soda pop, cosmic tune, together we’re dancing past the moon.
Here’s to freedom, bright and true.
After starry skies so blue.
Seriously, it keeps talking about an “endless night” and being “free from chains.” An AI-generated woman puts her hand on a hot stove. The whole thing exists in the uncanny valley.
The car is fun, though.
Songsan Motors Is A Real Company With BYD As A Contract Builder
Tycho has written about the company before, mostly because they made the SS Dolphin, which sounds like a subplot from Danger 5, but is actually a ’50s Corvette clone built under contract by BYD. Songsan (or Song San) is a vague translation of easy rider.
Here’s Tycho’s brief explanation of the company:
These fellows love America. They started as a Harley club, then they started importing these motorbikes, and then one day in 2019 they decided to leave their choppers for motorcars. Their first creation was the Songsan Motors Dolphin SS, a two-door sports car with a retractable hardtop.
Design is inspired by the 1953 C1 Chevrolet Corvette. Songsan doesn’t hide that; they got pics of the C1 all over their website, mixed with pics of celebrities like Marilin Monroe, Johnny Depp, and Brad Pitt. The Dolphin SS honors the C1. But don’t think it is some cheap-ass kit car made in a shed in Boulder Creek. The machine is contract-manufactured by none other than Buffet’s BYD.
According to Tycho, these are not uncommon around Beijing.
The Full Good Rocket Makes Me Feel Good
Reader and member Dogapult happened to be on hand for Auto Shanghai and was able to return with photos and video from the display, as well as some intel.
Full Good is apparently some sort of a sub-brand from Songsan, which has been together since 1995. The company told Dogapult that total production capacity is 2,000-5,000 cars per year, with 2,000 vehicles produced in 2024. “I’m not sure I believe it,” observed Dogapult.
The car itself is built on the underpinnings of a GM/Wuling product, meaning this Cadillac tribute has a bona fide General Motors powerplant. It’s apparently the 1.5T motor/PHEV combo, which means the platform might be the Wuling Starlight PHEV, which has a range of 43-93 miles on the CLTC test.
“Other than the odd sunroof on the rocket, the details on these look pretty good. Quality-wise, I mean,” says Dogapult. “The chrome is definitely all plastic, but in looking at it up close, it still seemed decently built.”
The inspiration is extremely 1959 Cadillac Series 62, like this one sold by Classic Auto Mall:
The lights, in particular, capture the look on a scale that’s a bit more economy car than the original.
The interior doesn’t look half-bad either.
The color is right, although I’d be happier if it wasn’t covered in screens.
I’m not sure that the sunroof opens or adds much to the car.
I dig the badge.
The SS Dolphin is sadly out of production this year, according to the company, but you can nab a Full Good Rocket next year and/or the Summer:
It’s the ID.Buzz the way we should have gotten it: A plug-in hybrid with six doors. Wait, what? Why does it have six doors?
Admittedly, it falls apart a little in the rear, which adds two doors, making this an eight-door van.
I think Songsan is mostly for bikes now, which means this Morgan 3-Wheeler-inspired vehicle with a V-twin bike motor upfront is more a Songsan than a Full Good. A real Morgan 3-Wheeler is already a sketchy proposition, so I might take a pass on this one.
Overall, the fact that you can get ’50s Cadillac style in a car that’ll go up to 40 miles on a charge just goes to show how dynamic and fascinating the Chinese car market is right now. It’s like Japan’s ‘Bubble Era’ that’s 9,000% more into Americana.
Top photo: Dogapult
Cheap China knock offs all of them 🙁
I like that they doing it, that there is room in that hyper EV market for such retro styled cars and these aren’t concepts. I’ve seen several Dolphin SS and they look pretty good. The interior is both retro and modern (screens) and of course they’re partly electric so both quiet but with the small engine they can still drive forever.
I don’t understand the hate of the style (“bad copy”) while modern cars are hardly distinguishable from each other if you removed the badge, especially from the rear.
In the US these would hailed as ‘cool concepts’ (“but will never buy”), in China you can buy these things. It’s pretty amazing for a communist state.
That they will never see their way to Europe or the US is clear – it is more important to keep the rich owners and CEOs of established car manufacturers rich, than to add a bit of variety for the consumers…
Oh and these cars aren’t cheap neither. The Dolphin SS was close to $100k USD. Yes, $100,000. In China. Hard to believe.
While execution of the “fauxleetwood” is lacking, I totally support the, ahem, tasteful revival of classic designs with modern drivetrains, manufacturing techniques and safety features.
If Ford returned to actual car production with an electrified ‘49 Merc, or GM offered a ‘54 Series 62, I might get out the wallet.
The ’59 has beautiful lines, but they only work on something the size of a small house. That gently sweeping line that runs along the top of the rear quarter only works when it’s really long. Shortening it for a smaller-proportioned car just makes it look droopy. And it’s really jarring to see something that looks like a funhouse mirror reflection of a Cadillac, and then have everything above the beltline look so wrong. I realise even China has standards and nobody is gonna replicate the ’59’s A pillar on a modern car, but maybe don’t replicate that car then. It gives it a very uncanny valley vibe.