Today in China Car History a very red and very beautiful Jiefang CA10 firetruck, seen in the Dalian Classic Car Museum in the great city of Dalian in Liaoning Province. Jiefang, meaning ‘Liberation’, is a commercial vehicle brand of First Auto Works (FAW). The Jiefang CA10 was their very first truck, production started in 1956 and continued all the way until 1986, reaching a grand total of 1.281.502 examples built.

Gauges on the left for the water pump.

The Jiefang CA10 was primarily a military truck for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), but the factory also produced various civilian variants, including ambulance buses, fuel trucks , water tankers , dump trucks, lift trucks, construction vehicles, and fire trucks.

Ladder is sadly missing.

The Jiefang CA10 was developed with assistance of the Soviet Union. It was based on the Soviet ZIS-150 which again was based on the American International KR-11 which was supplied in great numbers to the Soviet Union during WOII under the Land-Lease agreements. The CA10 is powered by a 5.6 liter six-in-line diesel engine, in basic configuration good for 90hp. Transmission was a 5-speed manual. Top speed of the base flatbed version was 65km/h, but this heavy fire truck was likely a bit slower.

Characters Jiefang (解放) in Chairman Mao’s handwriting.

The truck was in reasonable shape and staff told me the engine was still working fine, but they didn’t start her up very often. I told them to park the vehicle inside the museum, it rains a lot in Dalian and all that water can’t be good for such an old firetruck. They smiled politely and nodded away…

A very early flatbed version, seen in the Beijing Classic Car Museum in Beijing.

A very rare and very special vehicle, Spotted in China just outside the fourth Ring Road in Beijing. This is a Sanxing G-Star MPV, based on the third generation Chrysler Voyager. The G-Star was manufactured by a company called Guangdong Sanxing Auto from the great city of Zhanjiang in Guangdong Province.

The company used a loophole in Chinese import laws in the early 1990′s. At the time import taxes on imported cars were extremely high, up to 200% or more. However, taxes on imported parts were very low. Creative Chinese companies in Guangdong saw an opportunity…

This is how it worked: a foreign car company would establish a small joint venture in Guangdong Province where economic-law enforcement was virtually non-existent. The joint venture would then set up a factory, import parts from abroad, and make cars in China. A fine solution, no high import tariffs and thus a cheaper car to sell.

Sound very legal, and it was, kind of… But! The ‘parts’ that were imported were in fact basically complete cars, with only things like the wheels, mirrors or windscreen-wipers missing. These would be installed in the ‘factory’, and this was enough for the Guangdong authorities to stamp the car as ‘Chinese’.

In the late 1990′s the scheme included at least15 foreign automakers, including Citroen. The central government in Beijing got enough of it and killed the whole thing in 1999.

Guangdong Sanxing Auto called Chrysler in 1993 and asked whether they could buy large numbers of Voyagers for (re)assembly in China. Chrysler knew very well what was going on but agreed nevertheless, undoubtedly happy with the extra cash. Chrysler however insisted the vehicles had to be rebadged and the Chinese agreed. The Sanxing Voyagers only wear the Sanxing name and, sometimes, Sanxing badges.

Sanxing Auto ‘manufactured’ the second generation and the third generation Voyager. Production of the second generation ended in 1996. Production of the third generation ended in 1998 when the factory was closed down by central authorities accusing the management of ‘smuggling’ and ‘bribery’.

In 2007 the Chrysler Voyager returned. The fourth generation was manufactured in China from 2007 until 2010 in a small and completely legal joint venture with SouEast Motors. The also produced the Dodge Caravan, and the old Dodge website still online. Today, the Chrysler Voyager is imported into China.

Most of the Sanxing Voyagers stayed down south in Guangdong and surrounding provinces. This is the very first example I see in Beijing. The vehicle looked rather sad, clearly in need of lots of love and maintenance. But I guess it doesn’t get much of either, anymore.

License plates are period, indicating this Sanxing is in Beijing since the 1990′s.

It is not a Chrysler.

A wine red example with Sanxing badges on the body, but with a Chrysler badge on the steering wheel! Guess they forgot to remove that one…

A very clean green example without badges.

A second generation Sanxing Voyager.

Today in China Car History the beautiful Beifang QJC7050 mini car, seen here on the streets of the great city of Xi’an in Shaanxi Province in 1989. The Beifang QJC7050 was manufactured by a company called Qinchuan Machinery Works Automobile Sub-Factory, which was owned by North Industries (Beifang Gongye) which in turn was owned by the People’s Liberation Army. Fortunately, the good Beifang QJC7050 didn’t see any battle.

Production started in 1988. At first the vehicle was called Qinchuan SX720, but after the first batch the name changed to Beifang QJC7050, which sounds catchier indeed. The QJC7050 was powered by a Daihatsu sourced ‘AB20′ two-cylinder engine with an output of 28hp and mated to a 4-speed manual. Size was 3200/1400/1450, wheelbase was 2000, and weight was 680kg.

The Beifang QCJ7050 is an extremely rare car. Only 500 examples were manufactured in 1986 and 1987 and most ended up as taxis on the streets of Xi’an. Today, not a single example is known to be alive.

Qinchuan Machinery Works however soldiered on for a long time, making a licensed local version of the Suzuki Alto, several other small series of interesting cars, and finally the Qinchuan Flyer.

In 2003 a certain battery maker named BYD Corporation bought Qinchuan Machinery Works from North Industries and renamed it ‘BYD Auto‘, famous today for the electric BYD e6 and the super Qin. North Industries focused on building weaponry, today the company is better known under its international trade name ‘Norinco‘.

Two Beifang QCJ7050 taxis in Xi’an.

Not all were red. A rare green example in front of a Xiali.

A very special photo of the first prototype with registration Shaanxi 01-test 5026. The prototype had square shaped headlights and a chromed grille without a logo. The square lights didn’t make it to production.

Erik van Ingen Schenau is the founder of  the China Motor Vehicle Documentation Centre and a world famous expert on obscure Chinese cars.

A very rare Hongqi CA771 limousine, seen in the Beijing Classic Car Museum in Huairou District to the far north of the capital. The CA771 was developed as a smaller variant of the gigantic Hongqi CA770. It arrived in 1967 and production continued until 1976.

The CA771 is one of the rarest Hongqi cars manufactured, in nine years of production only 129 were produced. The Hongqi CA771 had a very specific customer base: all went to provincial military leaders, who were deemed not important enough for the CA770 but too important for a simple Beijing 4×4. China has 31 provinces, including autonomous regions and municipalities.

The CA771 stands on the same platform as the CA770, albeit shortened by 30 centimeters and fitted with only two rows of seats whereas the CA770 had three. The fit and finish is more or less the same.

The CA770, and thus the CA771, is based on the platform of the 1955 Chrysler Imperial. The bodywork was designed in China by First Auto Works (FAW), the owner of the Hongqi brand. The Ca770 and CA771 share the same Chrysler-derived 5.6 liter V8 with 215hp.

This particular car one belonged to the commander of the Beijing Garrison, the army unit responsible for guarding the capital. The garrison should not be confused with the Beijing Military Region, which is a much larger military entity.

Sadly and badly, the CA771 in the museum was in horrible shape. Dirty and battered all over, and worst was the missing fog light on the bumper! Sadly and badly again, most vehicles in the museum looked very neglected and almost forgotten. Let’s hope the museum finds a way to turn things around again.

Picture from a period brochure.

A very badass Beijing-Jeep Cherokee Super Space, Spotted in China in a faraway suburb of east Beijing, looking very dusty but otherwise in good shape. The Super Space was a China-only variant of the Jeep Cherokee with a heightened roof, going up at the B-pillar till the C, making for more headroom for the passengers in the back and for more cargo space.

The Beijing-Jeep Cherokee XJ was manufactured in China from 1984 until 2009 by Beijing-Jeep, a joint venture between the Beijing Auto Industry Corporation (BAIC) and AMC/Chrysler. This is an early example with the complete 北京 Jeep (Beijing-Jeep) logo on the bonnet. Later cars had only ‘Jeep’.

When Chrysler pulled out of the joint venture in 2009 Beijing Auto decided to continue production of the Cherokee alone, under the Beijing Auto Works brand name, and production is still going on today. The brand new 2014 Jeep Cherokee has been launched on the China car market earlier this month, local production at the Guangzhou-Fiat joint venture will start sometime in 2015.

The Cherokee was available with the 2.5 liter four-cylinder and the 4.0 six-in-line, both petrol. The 2.5 came only RWD and was mated to a 5-speed manual. The 4.0 was 4WD and came with a 4-speed automatic. This particular car is powered by the 2.5.

The roof rack, stickers & striping, colored bumpers, colored window frames, sporty alloys, and mud flaps are all factory standard. The rear light covers however are a later addition, taken from the 2002-2006 Beijing Jeep 2500.

Super Space stickers. Very rare to see one in such a great condition!

The logo of the joint venture. Beijing Jeep Corporation.

The factory-standard sporty alloys, again with the complete logo.

A great looking example of a great car! Fog lights were standard on high-spec cars.

Today in China Car History the magnificent Nanjing NJ230 truck, seen at the Dalian Classic Car Museum in the great city of Dalian in Liaoning Province. This particular example is a military variant with a single cab cabin and large flatbed load bay. She was parked in an outside area of the museum, standing very close to a Jiefang CA10 fire truck.

Cabin in a surprisingly good condition. Dusty and dirty but nothing seemed broken or missing. Even the cloth on the seats looked original. Staff told me the good old truck is in working order, with the engine running all right, but smokey. The museum makes some extra money by renting out the to movie companies and even wedding companies (!), so they got to make sure it looks at least all right.

That door needs some work there and wheels are getting rusty. Dalian is near the sea with a lot of rain, so rust is a much more dangerous threat than in dry Beijing,

The Nanjing NJ230 was manufactured by the Nanjing Automobile Factory, later called Nanjing Auto, and today part of the Shanghai Auto Industry Corporation (SAIC). Production of the NJ230 started in 1965 and ended all the way up in 1980. The NJ230 was the successor of the Nanjing Yuejin NJ130.

The NJ230 was based on the Soviet-Russian GAZ-63, which was a reverse-engineered copy of the Dodge WF-32 cargo truck that was shipped in great numbers by the United States to the Soviet-Union during the Second World War under the Lend-Lease program. So here we have it: a Dodge went from America to Russia and ended up in China. The Chinese army kept using the NJ230 until the late 1990′s, and some are still around even today.

Nanjing Automobile Factory written in classic characters.

The NJ230 was powered by a 3.5 liter six-in-line diesel engine with about 120hp. The engine was based on Soviet design but manufactured in China. Transmission was a four-speed manual. Max load was a decent four ton, much better than the tiny 2.5 of the NJ130.

White-walled tires are original army. Load bay is made of wood that started to look rather bad. The plastic sheets are used to cover the truck when it rains, but they looked like they couldn’t stop a drop. Let us all hope this great Chinese truck will stay around in Dalian for a long time coming.  Great wedding car, any way…

A beautiful black Chrysler Sebring sedan, Spotted in China in the Fangzhuang Residential Area in Beijing. The fine vehicle looked very lean and very clean, the nearby towers mirroring in the long sculpted bonnet.

The Sebring was manufactured in China from 2007 until 2009 by the Beijing-Benz DaimlerChrysler Automotive Corporation (BBDC), a joint venture between the Beijing Auto Industry Corporation (BAIC) and DaimlerChrysler. The joint venture also made the Chrysler 300 and the Mercedes-Benz E-Class.

Note the Jeep Cherokee 2500 at the other side of the street. It was manufactured by Beijing-Jeep, which was at the time partly part of the Daimler-Chrysler empire too, but technically a different joint venture.

The China-made Chrysler Sebring was available with 2.0 and 2.4 liter four-cylinders, and with a 2.7 liter V6. The engines were imported from the U.S., which made the Sebring expensive in China, as most of the competition manufactured engines locally. The Sebring so, sadly never was a great success.

BeijingBenchi – Daike, BeijingBenz-DaimlerChrysler.

When Chrysler pulled out of the joint venture in 2009 due to the bankruptcy crises the factory and tooling to make the 300C and Sebring remained in China. BIAC considered continuing production on its own but they didn’t have any engines. BAIC worked for a while on an electric variant of the Sebring called Beijing Auto BE701, powered by a 60kw electric motor. Only one prototype was built before BAIC cancelled the project.

BAIC also made one prototype for the Beijing Auto T8, powered by an unknown patrol engine, based on the Chrysler 300C. This project was cancelled as well.

Borui, the Chinese translation of Sebring.

 
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A vaguely red Tianjin Huali TJ1010A mini pickup truck, Spotted in China in the Fangzhuang Residential Area in Beijing. Sadly, the good vehicle wasn’t in running order anymore, functioning instead as a platform for a fruit shop selling oranges that looked a tad or two too green. The poor car is being propped up by two piles of stones. What a way to treat a Huali…

The Huali TJ1010A was the pickup variant of the Huali TJ110 minivan. Both were manufactured by the by the Tianjin Huali Motor Company.  Production started in 1984 and ended in 1989 when the TJ110/1010A was succeeded by the slightly more modern TJ6320 minivan series.

The Huali TJ110/1010A was based on the 1981 (S65) Daihatsu Hijet microvan. In 1983  Tianjin Huali and Daihatsu Motor Company agreed to produce the Hijet in China under a license agreement. The venture was formally known as ‘Tianjin Daihatsu’.

It was a big sales success with zillions of minivans and mini pickup trucks finding buyers everywhere in China. The vehicles perfectly fitted in time when basic and cheap transportation was in great demand.

A sad end for a strong truck. Power came from a Daihatsu 843 cc three-cylinder CD engine with an output of 43hp and 59nm. That doesn’t sound like a lot but the Huali was very light. I have been in the van variant running up mountains like a goat on speed, or even faster.

Hiali badge on the grille, in orange.

Green oranges.

Period factory photo of the Huali TJ1010A. Seems the same kind of vague red as the car in Fangzhuang.

 
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A beautiful black Hongqi CA7180 A2EL1 stretched limousine, Spotted in China in the Sanlitun embassy area in Beijing. The vehicle was in very good shape with smooth looking paint, shiny chrome, and all parts accounted for. The tires however looked a bit old and in need of a replacement, especially in those rainy cold conditions.

The CA7180 A2EL1 was based on the base Hongqi CA7180 A2E sedan, which in turn was based on the Audi 100 sedan which was manufactured in China by the FAW-Volkswagen joint venture. FAW is also the owner of the Hongi (Red Flag) brand.

The A2EL1 was stretched in the middle by 23 centimeters for a true limousine feeling in the back. The CA 7180 A2EL1 was developed for the government. It was introduced in 2001 and lasted for only one year. Nowadays most are in private hands. This kind of short production runs was very normal in the Hongqi-Audi days, with the Chinese trying all sorts of body styles on the Audi 100 and Audi 200 platforms.

Sporty five spoke alloys are period-standard, looking kind of odd on this kind of car. Power came from an Audi 1.8 liter four-cylinder petrol engine with 93hp, good for a flying-limousine top speed of 170km/h. Weight was 1370 kilo, 70 kilo more that the standard CA 7180 A2E.

‘Hongqi’ in Mao’s handwriting for an extra touch of officialdom.

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A very long Citroen Elysee VIP, Spotted in China in the Dongba area in far east Beijing. The Elysee VIP is a stretched variant of the Citroen Elysee sedan, extended by 15 centimeter in the middle for more space in the back. The VIP is a rather rare car to see on the road today, and this particular car was in perfect condition.

Fifteen centimeters translates into a lot f extra legroom. Micky Mouse seat covers a later addition.

The Elysee was based on the Citroen Fukang which was based on the Citroen ZX. The Fukang/Elysee was made in China by the Dongfeng-PSA joint venture. The Elysee was basically a more luxurious version of the Fukang. Production of the Elysee started in 2003. The first major facelift came in 2010 when the name was changed to c-Clysee. The Elysee continued all the way until last year when it was finally replaced by the new Citroen c-Elysee. Production of the VIP started in 2005 and ended in 2010.

Black and gray were popular colors in the day. Interior looks all right but needs a good cleanup. The Elysee VIP was powered by a 1.6 liter four-cylinder petrol engine with 105hp and 142nm, mated to a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic. Top speed was a reasonable 175km/h.

Very clean body work. Chrome door handles unique for Elysee VIP. The Dongfeng-PSA joint venture was very creative with the good old ZX, next to the stretched VIP they also manufactured a crazy van-version.

Lettering in a very happy style.

The VIP badge, lettering in another style.

The stretch.

Not as famous as the Audi-based Hongqi limousines, but an icon of China’s motoring history nevertheless.

Going through the old archives can be a bitch, seeing stuff you rather don’t want to remember. There are some exceptions, such as this brilliant Jiefang CA10 water truck. I met this monster all the way back in the summer of 2003 when I just arrived in Beijing (still here!). The truck was in active service, used for spraying water on the overheated asphalt around the famous Beijing Workers Stadium, which was very close to my then home.

In 2003 the stadium was still a place for Party-sponsored sports. The only shops were a sports hospital and a gift shop. These days the area is a center of luxury, with very expensive bars, shops of Morgan and Lotus, and all kinds of fancy clothes and jewelery stores. Times, change.

Jiefang, meaning ‘Liberation’, is a commercial-vehicle brand of First Auto Works (FAW). The Jiefang CA10 was their very first truck, production started in 1956 and continued all the way until 1986, reaching a grand total of 1.281.502 examples built.

The First Auto Works Corporation.

A look at the dash with the giant steering wheel. This truck, was fully functional!

The Jiefang CA10 was developed with assistance of the Soviet Union. It was based on the Soviet ZIS-150 which again was based on the American International KR-11 which was supplied in great numbers to the Soviet Union during WOII under the Land-Lease agreements. The CA10 is powered by a 5.6 liter six-in-line diesel engine, in basic configuration good for 90hp. Transmission was a 5-speed manual. Top speed of the base flatbed version was 65km/h, but this heavy fire truck was likely a bit slower. Earlier on, but actually later, history always confuses, we met a CA10 fire truck in Dalian.

Main pump in the middle. Some of its work visible on the road under the main tank, looking very wet down there. The old road has since been replaced by super sleek and super black asphalt, all-weather stuff, so they don’t need help from a truck like this beauty CA10 anymore. Too bad, because she is a beauty! She was likely scrapped, or sold on to a water company in the endless Chinese interior. Either way, may she fare well.

Going through the old archives can be a bitch, seeing stuff you rather don’t want to remember. There are some exceptions, such as this brilliant Jinma QJM5022TYN6 two-door Wedding Car. I met this beauty, looking very abandoned at that time already, all the way back in the autumn of 2004 in the Longtan Hu Park in Beijing.

In those days there weren’t too many fancy cars in China but there was, as always, a great need to impress the guests on wedding parties. The happy couple could hire a so called ‘classic wedding car’, a China-made automobile that was supposed to look like a vintage Western limousine.  Some twenty Chinese companies manufactured these classic wedding cars, and Jinma was the largest of the lot.

The two-door variant is exceptionally rare, as most Jinma wedding cars were of the four-door variant, like the one we met earlier in the Dalian Classic Car Museum. We only met one other two-door before; an abandoned red in Chongqing.

Eagle on the bonnet here. Most Jinma cars came with a horse, as ‘Jinma’ means ‘Golden Horse’. Or Rolls-Royce. Super 4×4 headlights covers are a non-factory addition.

The Jinma Motor Company was a subsidiary of Qingdao Soar Automobile, based in the great city of Qingdao in Shandong Province. The company still exist today, making giant copies of the 1961 Rolls-Royce Phantom. Sadly, business isn’t as good as it was in the 1980′s as many Chinese can nowadays afford to rent the real thing.

Check those cheap grey wheel covers! No fit on such a super luxurious convertible!

The Jinma QJM5022TYN6 Wedding Car was based on the platform of a Great Wall Motors pickup truck, only slightly shortened for the two-door. The standard engine was a Great wall 2.4 liter four-cylinder, but for those who thought that too expensive a  Xiali-sourced 1.3 liter four-cylinder engine was available as well.

If that is not a mess it must be art.

The Great Automotive Explorer Erik van Ingen Schenou, founder of ChineseCars.net, has compiled a new Chinese automotive history masterpiece: “Made in China. Lost Small Cars of the 1990′s.” The brilliant book is about the wildest period there ever was in China as an auto land; the late 1990′s until the very early 2000′s when hundreds of small and very small car factories suddenly started building cars like crazy, mostly of their own design.

The period is almost forgotten today, in China and in the rest of the world. Erik van Ingen Schenou brings those good times back with a selection of  a hundred brands from all over China.  We have published many posts using original photos from the book, including articles about the Beifang QJC 7050 , the Yemingzhu YMZ 5010 X, and the Hualian Huali. Soon we will post an article about the beautiful Beifang QCJ7085, pictured above with Erik himself near the factory in Beijing in 1995.

A crazy time with crazy cars. Want more? Buy the Book!

Today in China Car History a very special car. This is the Tint Dragonfly Lucky Star C987 mini car concept, born in 1993. It was designed by a certain Mr. Tak Lee from Hong Kong, who studied at the Central School of Design and Art in the United Kingdom. The idea was to build a affordable car for the Chinese masses.

Mr. Tak had a company called Tint Hong Kong. To get his dream into production he went to Shenzhen in Guangdong Province, just over the border, where he agreed a deal with a state-owned company called Shenzhen Dragonfly Industrial Corporation, and so Tint Dragonfly was born.

The Lucky Star C987 concept was based on the platform of the second generation Suzuki Alto that was manufactured in China by the Changan-Suzuki joint venture. Mr. Tak Lee however moved the 0.8 three-cylinder engine to the back, making for a streamlined cab-forward MPV design that could seat four people.

Mr. Tak also envisioned a more conventional four-door hatchback and a four-door sedan, with the engine up front, and both based again on the Suzuki Alto.

In 1994 Tint Dragonfly took the Lucky Star C987 concept and all their ideas to the Wuxian Trade Exhibition in Shanghai. Their aim was to attract potential investors, dealers, and customers. And attention they got, from none other than Norinco, also known as China North Industries, the largest weapon manufacturer in China.

At the time Norinco was diversifying into other businesses, including trucks and passenger cars. Sales however were not very impressive. Norinco considered the Lucky Star as a fresh design and idea, perfect for kick starting their passenger car plans.

Tint Dragonfly and Norinco agreed to a new joint venture to get the Lucky Star into production. Norinco thought the 3-d00r hatch a bit too modern and parties decided to go for the four-door hatchback with the engine up front. Development started in earnest and a first prototype, this very blue car, debuted on the 1996 Beijing Auto Show. Platform was again Suzuki Alto and engine the 0.8 Suzuki three-cylinder.

Teardrop shape with a very small rear window.

The vehicle was renamed Beifang QJC7085 Lucky Star. Beifang is the Chinese name of Norinco. In English marketing material they used the name ‘Peifan’. The Norinco name was never used, likely to prevent unhappy associations with the murky Chinese weapon business. This white car was the second prototype, seen here with military license plates.

The two prototypes at the Shenzhen Continental Hotel.

It proved harder than expected to get the Beifan QJC7085 Lucky Star in production. The original idea was to make the Lucky Star somewhere down south in the Shenzhen area where labor was cheapest and Mr Tak Lee could keep an eye on things from nearby Hong Kong.

Norinco had other plans. The weapon maker already had its own car factory, the Qinchuan Machinery Works Automobile Sub-Factory in the great city of Xi’an in Shaanxi Province. The factory had manufactured the Beifang QJC7050 minicar in a very small production run in 1986 and 1987.

As luck would have it, in 1997 the factory was producing a licensed variant of none other than the… second generation Suzuki Alto. Suzuki licensed the Alto to several small Chinese automakers, earning money in addition to what they got from their official Chinese joint venture. On pic a batch of Qinchuan Alto taxi’s.

Work started on the development of the production car, which debuted in 1998 as the Qinchuan QJC7080 Lucky Star. It was basically the same as the prototypes, except for a slightly different bumper, different side indicators, different doorhandles and different mirrors. It was also slightly longer than the prototype, but wheelbase was the same. The final specs:

Size: 3630/1480/1430, wheelbase was 2335, weight 710kg. Engine was a 0.8 liter Suzuki three-cylinder with an output of 35hp, mated to a four-speed manual. Top speed was a claimed 120km/h. Price was set at 6800 yuan, which would have made the Lucky Star one of the cheapest passenger cars on sale at the time.

Sadly, the Qinchuan QJC7080 Lucky Star never made it to the market. Details are murky, but it appears that the vehicle did not receive approval for production from the central Chinese government. This is remarkable because Norinco is a mighty state owned company. But so it was, and mass production never started. How many pre-production cars were made is unsure, but surely no more than a hand full.

A tragic end for a great idea.

Norinco eventually got out of the car business altogether to focus on killing machines, the Qinchuan Machinery Works Automobile Sub-Factory was sold to BYD, Mr. Tak Lee continued his career as a successful independent designer, and the Tint Dragonfly joint venture was disbanded in 1999. So far all fine but the adventure ended rather badly for Shenzhen Dragonfly Industrial Corporation. The company was declared bankrupt in 1999 and its president Yu Junhai disappeared, he popped up ten years later in Shanghai and became a real-estate tycoon.

Photos from the great book “Made in China. Lost Small Cars of the 1990′s”. Additional information via Sina.com and CNfol.

A pristine Beijing BJ212 T75 -105, Spotted in China in the Beijing Classic Car Museum. The T75-105 was a military vehicle based on the Beijing BJ212. The BJ212 T75-105 was manufactured by Beijing Auto Works, a subsidiary of the Beijing Auto Industry Corporation (BAIC).

The T75-105 was fitted with a type T75 105 mm  recoilless gun, hence the name of the vehicle. The gun could be operated by a team of three, one for aiming and firing and two for loading and reloading. The system was primarily designed to destroy tanks and other armored vehicles, but was also considered effective against field fortifications. The gun could fire directly at a target or via the sky, mortar style. Max range for a direct attack was 580 meters, max range for a mortar attack was 1020 meters.

Split screen rood for direct firing. The T75-105 was widely used in the Chinese army until the late 1990′s. Today they all have been retired but some examples are still going strong in other countries.

The BJ212 T75-105 was powered by a water cooled 2.5 liter 4-cylinder petrol engine with 75hp. Not that much horses but the engine was so simple even the simplest soldier could fix it in the middle of nowhere, and that indeed is worth much more in army terms than sheer speed. Fire!

A huge Jinma QJM5022TYN6 Wedding Car, Spotted in China in the Beijing Classic Car Museum. This particular example is by far the most impressive Jinma I have ever seen. Fitted with a full-size soft top and a giant golden grille with matching headlights, bumper, and mirrors.

White spare wheel cover appears to be an after-market addition that doesn’t really go with the rest of the car. Door handles are in gold as well and the rear lights are of a unique design with four bulbs on each side. The rear lights basically differ on each Jinma we see. What a variation!

The Jinma QJM5022TYN6 Wedding Car was manufactured by the Jinma Motor Company from the early 1980′s to the late 1990′s.

In those days there weren’t many fancy cars in China but there was, as always, a great need to impress the guests on wedding parties. The happy couple could then hire a so called ‘classic wedding car’, a China-made automobile that was supposed to look like a vintage Western limousine.  Some 20 small Chinese companies manufactured the classic wedding cars and Jinma was the largest of the lot.

The Jinma Motor Company was a subsidiary of Qingdao Soar Automobile based in the great city of Qingdao in Shandong Province. The company still exist today, making giant copies of the 1961 Rolls-Royce Phantom. Sadly, business isn’t as good as it was in the 1980′s as many Chinese can nowadays afford to get the real thing.

Much of the main body work was made of wood. The rounded stuff like the wheel arches is made of plastic. The bumper is made of tin and not of a very solid kind. The white spare wheel cover started to annoy me, I really wanted to take it off the car. But I didn’t.

The Jinma QJM5022TYN6 Wedding Car is a big car. Size: 5350/1750/1780, wheelbase is 3380. Overhang at the front is 780, and at the back a manic 1190! (specs via).

The Jinma QJM5022TYN6 Wedding Car was based on the platform of a Great Wall Motors pickup truck, and the 2.4 liter petrol engine was sourced at Great Wall as well. The engine was originally developed by Mitsubishi and had an output of 100hp, which was enough to propel the QJM5022TYN6 to a top speed of 90km/h.

A battery of lights and a split front window.

Buyers could specify which hood ornament they wanted. Most went for Rolls-Royce, but not here. This seems to be a sword of sorts.

The Jinma, once designed to look like a classic car, is fast becoming a classic itself.

The museum has separate closed hall where they park the rest of the collection that doesn’t fit in the main building. I couldn’t enter but found an open window for a few shots and there I met this extremely strange Jinma limousine. It stands on the same platform as the QJM5022TYN6 but has a much more modern body, which appeared to be completely plastic. I will try to find out more…

This is a very rare Beijing Dongfeng BM021A tricycle, Spotted in China in the Beijing Classic Car Museum. The vehicle was sadly in a rather sad shape with a lot of cracks and rust. Happily, it was still in working order and staff told me they regularly use it to ferry heavy stuff around.

A true tricycle has a motorcycle steer and a single-seat.

The Beijing Dongfeng BM021A (no connection with today’s Dongfeng Motor) was manufactured by the Beijing Motorcycle Factory, part of Beijing Auto Works, in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The factory was located in the Dongzhimen area in Beijing.

The BM021A was designed for distribution of small goods inside big cities but it was also used as a taxi. In those days there were almost no cars in China, only buses and old trucks, so even today many of the old can still vividly remember the sturdy tricycle.

Power came from a one-cylinder air-cooled two-stroke 250cc engine rated at 12hp. Empty weight was 400kg and max load was 270kg. There was no electric starter and no reverse gear, power went by chain to the rear wheels.

Cabin cover is made of artificial leather, and was the only protection against the cold in northern China’s hard winters. In the hot summers the open cabin was the only relieve from the heath, the tricycle is not equipped with a fan or even an air vent.

This fine blue example, 99% of all units produced was blue, has two benches installed in the pickup bed, so it likely once served as a taxi on the endless roads of the capital. This tricycle is a monument of a different time, let’s hope she fares well, in that strange museum where all vehicles seem to be in decay instead of under protection.

An extremely beautiful Audi 100 sedan with its original period license plates, Spotted in China on the Beijing Asian Games Village car market in Beijing. The vehicle was in perfect shape. Fresh looking paint, shiny chrome, original fog lights, original badges, original wheel covers, and not a spat of rust or rot in sight.

The third generation ‘C3′ Audi 100 was manufactured in China from 1988 until 1999 by the FAW-Volkswagen joint venture in Changchun in northeastern Jilin Province. This particular car is a 1996 example.

In the early years production numbers were low and almost all cars went straight to the government. From the mid 1990’s private buyers started to buy the big old Audi as well. In 1999 the 100 was finally replaced by the first generation Audi A6.

Most China-made Audi 100’s had the ‘winged 1′ logo on the grille. The ‘1’ stands for First Auto Works, or FAW. The Audi 100 also served as the base for various Hongqi-branded sedans and limousines. Hongqi, meaning Red Flag, is a brand under First Auto Works.

Original period wheel covers are extremely rare. Color is slowly fading.

In its early days the Audi 100 was the only upcale sedan available in China, and that is basically how the dominance of the Audi brand in China’s luxury car market started. They were there first, with a good and well-received car. Streamlined design still impressive today!

The famous plastic five-bar plastic ornament connecting the side and rear windows.

I then met the owner of the vehicle, an owner of a nearby second hand car shop. The Audi 100 was his personal car and he wouldn’t sell it for the world. He bought it 12 years ago and clocked a respectable 250.000 + kilometers without any serious problems. Note triple air vents and period radio-cassette player.

The owner was especially fond of the engine, always ready and always running. The China-made Audi 100 was available with a 2.0 four-cylinder or a 2.2 five-cylinder. This is is the five here, looking a bit dusty but otherwise picture perfect. When new the engine had an output of 127hp (95kw).

Audi 100 2.2 E. For five passengers. Curb weight of 1030 kilo. Number 83461. Date stamped on 17-04-1996.

The engine was made in Germany and shipped to China. The engine diagram is in German, which must have been a hard read for a Chinese mechanic. The 2.0 four-cylinder was manufactured locally in China, and thus a lot cheaper. Still, most Audi 100’s that I see have the 2.2 under the bonnet. Earlier on we met an abandoned 100, one from the army, and a fine standard example.

Audi logo stamped in engine block.

An important car in China’s automotive history, and a great car in any way. May this good FAW Audi 100 clock a many miles more!

An ultra badass Nanjing NJ230 Type 63 130mm Multiple Rocket Launcher (MRL), Spotted in China in the Beijing Classic Car Museum. The vehicle stands on a heightened chassis and is fitted with four-wheel drive and heavy off-road tires. The windows can be covered by armor plating to protect the cabin during launch. What launches?

This does. The Type 63 130mm MRL system, installed far at the back of the chassis. The system consist of 19 tubes capable of firing 130mm missiles over a maximum distance of 10.12 kilometer with a maximum speed of 437 meter per second.

The tubes have a length of 1.050 meter. Weight of a single missile was 35 kilo. A missile was filled with 1.916 fragments lethal out to a 24 meter radius. The system was operated by hand by a crew of six.

During transit the crew was seated in a compartment just in front of the MLR.

The  Type 63 130mm Multiple Rocket Launcher was designed primarily for operations against enemy infantry and light armored vehicles. It was widely in use in the Chinese army in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Export was successful too, with units sold to many second and third world countries during the heydays of the Cold War, including to Iraq which bought at least a dozen systems in the late 1970’s. One of those systems was captured by U.S. forces during the 1991 Desert Storm war, the system stands today in the U.S. Army Artillery Museum.

The Nanjing NJ230 truck was manufactured by the Nanjing Automobile Factory, later called Nanjing Auto, and today part of the Shanghai Auto Industry Corporation (SAIC). Production of the NJ230 started in 1965 and ended all the way up in the late 1980’s. Power came from a 3.5 liter six-in-line diesel engine with about 120hp. Earlier on we met a base flatbed variant in the Dalian Classic Car Museum in Dalian.

The NJ230 was based on the Soviet-Russian GAZ-63, which was a reverse-engineered copy of the Dodge WF-32 cargo truck that was shipped in great numbers by the United States to the Soviet-Union during the Second World War under the Lend-Lease program.

So a Dodge went to Russia, moved on to China, battled U.S. forces in Iraq,  and returned home in the end. A strange world indeed…