The Changchun Automobile Research Institute developed a 0.8 ton 4×4 military truck from 1966-1970.
Jiefang (Liberation) CA220. Two door version, 1966.
The CA220 was ready in July 1970. The sizes were (LxWxH) 4550mm x 1900 mm x 2070mm, wheelbase 2800mm. Payload 13 persons or 1 ton. Curb weight 2300kg, engine 4 cylinder, 3.7-litre, output 90hp/ 3000 rpm. Max. speed 100km/h.
The differences between the CA220 and CA230 are unclear, and there is reason to believe that it was the same vehicle.
Though the vehicle was designed and developed for the First Auto Works in Changchun, FAW never produced it.
The reason was that there was a competitor:
Yuejin in Nanjing developed a similar vehicle.
At Christmas 1979 Oliver Barnham visited Nanjing Auto Works and he photographed two prototypes. The Nanjing management told him that they were working on a successor of the NJ130/NJ230 trucks. Prototypes were made and tooling was ready.
At that moment, Nanjing also developed a forward control 4×4, based on the Soviet UAZ 452, with Steyr Pinzgauer influences. And in the end it preferred to continue with that vehicle.
Nanjing cooperated with a another company in Jiangsu Province, the Zhenjiang Auto Works. And since 1973 it was Zhenjiang who continued the project, the development of a 1-ton military off-road.
But it is not totally clear how that happened. The above picture shows a car with a registration which is older than the ones of the two Nanjing prototypes. Barnham told us that this car was a Zhenjiang ZJ220.
So Nanjing developed the prototypes for Zhenjiang. And they were old when Nanjing showed them to Barnham, probably made in 1975, four years old.
In the December month of 1979, Barnham encountered another ZJ120.
And another one..
In April 1980, the next one.
Yes, to prove it: 39-20368 and 39-20369.
The single cab version was succeeded by a crew cab version.
Technical info: LxWxH 5060mm x 1950mm x 2120mm, wheelbase 2750mm. Engine Yuejin NJ70J, petrol, 66hp/ 3300rpm. Max. speed 85km/h.
Zhenjiang developed a complete series of 120/220 trucks: 4×2, 4×4; single cab, crew cab; two-door, four-door; petrol engine, diesel engine; flat and curved windshield.
Zhenjiang made some 4×4’s which were classified as NJ220B in stead of ZJ220B .
My friend Sam Faulkner has written in 2018 about the Zhenjiang production, see here.
And my friend Tycho in 2013 about Zhenjiang being bought by the Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation, see here.
Production figures of Zhenjiang were always very low, top year was 1994 (5880 units), but mostly production was around 300- 500 units per year.
