Sibal

At the beginning of 1955, engineer Kim Yong-sam, who worked in the car repair company at Kukje Chharyan, found a way to manufacture engine cylinder heads using equipment available in Korea.

In April 1955, the first engine produced / reconditioned was installed on a assembled Kukje Chharyan from several decommissioned US Army jeeps, the car body being made from oil barrels . Initially, eight cars were assembled.

On November 10, 1955, the car called “Sibal” (“Beginning”) was presented at the National Industrial Exhibition, which was held in the Gyeongbokgung Palace, where it received the highest award of the exhibition - the Presidential Prize.

In May 1958, the company agreed with the government a plan to produce 100 cars per month.

The volume of 1200 cars per year was significant: in 1955 there were only 18.356 cars in the whole country (6.556 cars, 8.103 trucks and 2.953 buses), while in order to reduce fuel import costs, the government introduced a restriction on the registration of new cars - the number car numbers were permanent, and to register a car, it was necessary to dispose of an old car.

The company was renamed Sibal Automobile Company and opened new workshops on Yulzhiro Street, in the very center of Seoul . Production facilities were mainly located in tents. Jeeps had a solid roof and painted in black or blue.

Details were first received by disassembling decommissioned American cars, but soon they began to assemble themselves, and if in 1958 the localization was 56%, then in 1960 it reached 84%.

After the Military Revolution of 1961, a new economic course was taken in the country and since 1963, the Japanese car Nissan Bluebird was assembled from car kits under license, and foreign companies gained access to the Korean market.

In 1963, Sibal production was curtailed. The number of cars produced is unknown, estimated at three thousand (according to Korean sources - 2,235 units).

Not a single copy of the car has been preserved, the cars that can now be seen in a number of museums are replicas.

• Republic of Korea Automotive

In those days, Kia’s manufacture of the first Korean ... bicycle in 1952 seemed to be a huge achievement, and the left row on the streets of Korean cities was intended exclusively for cow teams. It is hardly possible to begin the history of the Korean automobile industry in 1955: Sibal was assembled in a makeshift auto repair shop ... from several decommissioned American jeeps. Truly, car production only began in 1974, that is, at a time when AvtoVAZ was operating at full speed , not to mention Ford or Toyota factories. All the more striking is the success of Korean automakers, because now Korea is the fifth largest automobile manufacturer in the world.

- Andrey Lankov

• Andrey Lankov - Birth of the automobile industry // Seoul Bulletin , June 27, 2005