Hongqi CA7560: The last of the 770’s

The CA7560 series was the last hurrah for the CA77x series of Hongqi limousines. The CA770 was produced between 1966 and 1981 and was succeeded in 1985 by the CA770G which was a lightly modernised CA770 equipped with a 5.7 liter V8 engine from Ford. The CA770G lasted until 1988 with only 25 examples being produced in those 3 years. Between 1991 and 1992 a possible variant called the CA770E was produced (unconfirmed). Then in 1992 the final iteration of the CA77x series was released – the CA7560. In this article I will discuss the CA7560 and its stretched variant – the CA7560LH.

Production figures for the CA7560 vary wildly based on available sources. Some point to 336 examples being made whilst others point to just 20 being produced.

Initially two test vehicles were produced, both with test vehicle registration plates from Jilin Province. The first is seen in the previous picture with the registration 0016 and the second in the picture above with the registration 0024. Both cars have unique wheel designs.

The CA7560 appears to have also been available with a more vintage style of wheel too. The common exterior features amongst all these cars is the wing mirrors, all plastic and all borrowed from the Audi parts bin.

A view of the rear of a CA7560, really no different to an older CA77x.

The CA7560 prototype (0016) appeared on the cover of Automotive Technology, a Chinese automotive magazine in 1991.

However, there was one part of the CA7560 that was definitely not from Audi. Powering the CA7560 was the very same 5.65 liter Russian derived V8 of the original CA770.

The engine is based on the Russian ZIL-111 and Tschaika (GAZ) M13 engine, sitting in between those two engines in terms of displacement though all three share a common bore size. Transmission was likely the same two-speed automatic transmission as in older CA77x Hongqis.

There appear to have been two different interiors available in the CA7560. The first was very much similar to the older CA77x series of cars with a bench seat and column shift. There were some modernised features such as the tape player, instrument cluster and the steering wheel from the Peugeot 504.

The second interior was lifted from Audis of the day with the entire center console coming from the Audi 100/200. The instrument cluster was also new in this variant with conventional circular dials. This was also the first Hongqi CA77x based vehicle to have a center console mounted gear selector as opposed to the column shift.

The CA7560 came with three rows of seats with the middle row being jump seats. Other updated interior pieces included the doorhandles and armrests which all came from the Audi parts bin.

The instrument cluster of those fitted with the old style cluster features a small emblem outlining Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

CA7560’s in the wild

There aren’t many photos of CA7560’s in the wild which leads us to believe that the actual production number might be just 20 units. Besides the aforementioned prototypes we have photos of the following:

This one had the registration 吉A26569 from Changchun in Jilin Province.

This one had the registration 黑A86412 from Harbin in Heilongjiang Province.

This one has Shenzhen registration plates.

This one has unfortunately had its license plates blurred out in this photo.

This one was on display in Hangzhou airport a few years ago.

This one has the registration plates covered.

A very clean example with no registration plates.

This one was in terrible condition and had no registration plates.

CA7560LH

The CA7560LH was a stretched version of the CA7560. The stretch came in at around 20cm with a standard CA7560 being 5.98 meters long.

According to some sources only two prototypes were ever built, the first in 1994 and the second in 1995. However, the car pictured here, currently in the possession of the Taishan Classic Car Museum was built in 1998! So, is the date for one of the two prototypes wrong or is this a third prototype? Weirder still is that this LH is registered as a regular CA7560. This is likely because if it were registered as an LH it would have to have yellow commercial vehicle plates as it is more than 6 meters long. This would also mean that anyone driving it would need a commercial vehicle driver’s license.

The CA7560LH is a truly enormous vehicle at almost 6.2 meters in length. The location of the stretch is unusual for a CA77x vehicle as it is in the B pillar. Unlike the Audi based Hongqis that were stretched at the B pillar, the front and rear doors of the CA7560 actually extend into the B pillar so the edges of the doors still meet! It makes for an unusual and unique look.

The B pillar has a very nice Red Flag emblem on it.

One of the more eye-catching features of the CA7560LH is the rear end design.

The CA7560LH had a redesigned and modernised rear end with new taillights and red bar and chrome strip running across the entire rear end underneath the bootlid. Chrome tipped exhaust pipes are a nice touch.

There was another rear end design on an earlier prototype without the thick chrome strip.

There was ANOTHER (third) rear end design on another prototype with the license plate now housed above the rear bumper with two horizontal light units on either side and a thin chrome strip above.

The interior of this particular CA7560LH is a combination of the two interiors from the CA7560 I showed you earlier. It has the upper dashboard portion of the older style Hongqis and the center console of the more modern design. It also has the older style instrument cluster.

View of the open suicide doors

The rear seat was basically a couch with no jump seats present.

The flag emblem on the hood.

The three flags stand for: Socialist Construction, Great Leap Forward, and Peoples Commune. These were the three main government programs at the time.

Hongqi emblem on the back in Mao’s handwriting.

The wheels on this car are ones we have not seen on any other CA7560 or CA7650LH. They are five-spoke alloy wheels with…

A red flag, Hongqi in Chinese script and a FAW logo on the center cap.

The car at the Taishan museum used to live in Shanghai, here it is at a petrol station in Shanghai in 2008. It initally wore Shanghai D plates, then Shanghai N plates and finally Shanghai C plates that it has now.

Many thanks to Erik for his help in sourcing photos and information for this article!