The first 4×4’s used in the People’s Republic China were of Russian origin. After the GAZ 67 followed the GAZ 69.
When it was time for a replacement, the Soviet Union and China worked together to design a successor; the Soviet Union got the UAZ 469, China the Beijing BJ212.
A sturdy, cheap 4×4 caught the attention of foreign entrepreneurs. Each tried to import the BJ212 in its own country. I can’t say with much success. We will cover them here one by one, alphabetic order by country.
It is important to note, that it was never the factory who tried to find local importers, it were the salesman who offered the import in their country.
France, 1977.
The Compagnie des Acheteurs Associés imported in 1977 one BJ212, for test purposes. The European motoring press had a chance to know the Chinese 4×4. The car was temporarily registered in Paris, France: 336W75. After this car, no follow up.
Germany, 1984.
I don’t know the name of the German company in Munich, they imported one BJ212 which got type-approved as M-PV 24. The project was not continued.
Great Britain, 1977.
The British company W. J. Riley Sports and Thoroughbred Cars (1977) Ltd. converted the BJ212 into a modern 4×4. William Riley had made three examples:
a general purpose version for export to the Middle East and Africa, licensed 516NP. Powered by a 2.3-litre Vauxhall engine.
an agriculture use version, car no. 265NP. Powered by a 3.0-litre Ford V6 engine.
a customised or sport version. Powered by a 3.0-litre Ford V6 engine or a 3.8-litre Chrysler engine. Car license 517NP.
Except for replacing the engines, Riley changed the gearboxes (ZF), the electrics (Lucas), the meters (Smith), the shock absorbers (Armstrong, Koni), front window and rims and tires (Dunlop).
Some years ago, Riley’s son wrote: “This would be from 1978….. Only 20 put on the road here.”
After this adventure, Riley came back in 2007 with the MG Sports and Racing Europe Limited, producing the MG X-Power prototypes. In 2010, the Nanjing Auto Group Corp. won a dispute about the use of the MG trademark. Riley’s company became the Sports and Racing Europe Limited in Eardiston, Worcestershire, England. Riley resigned in 2012.
Hong Kong, 1974.
A company named Reiss Bradley & Co. Ltd. imported a number of cars, they were converted to right hand drive. In one of the cars the engine was replaced by a Nissan Diesel SD220.
The Netherlands, 1979.
Bovena Import-Export B.V., established by C. van Boekel (a metal trade company) in Haarlem, imported the two Beijing cars, a BJ212 and BJ212A into the Netherlands. Garage H. Zwart prepared the cars for the Dutch regulations.
The Netherlands, 1987.
A Dutch Mercedes/Chrysler/Jeep car dealer, Peter J.E.M. de Koster, was so impressed during his trip in China, that he decided to import and sell BJ212s in Holland, Belgium and Germany.
Because I was the owner of three of these vehicles, I will write for you a separate article about this project.
United States, 1983.
The China Trade Associates in Portland, Oregon imported several versions of the BJ212 in the USA. They were named Beijing Tiger.
They made a nice brochure, using the original Chinese photos.
They offered four models: Beijing Tiger 212 4-door, Tiger 212A 2-door soft top, Tiger 212F 2-door hardtop and Tiger 121 pickup.
Other countries.
There were more initiatives, in Japan, Albania, Pakistan, Cuba and other countries.
The Albanian army had a lot of them.
Some of them are still in collectors hands.
The Pakistan army had them also in use, like Viet Nam and Cambodia.
Beijing BJ212 in Gilgit, Pakistan, 1987. Photo copyright Erik van Ingen Schenau. Note the warning sign ‘left hand drive’.
Somewhat related to it, Fuqi seemingly also tried its luck with exporting its version of BJ212. i have stumbled upon bunch of them on the internet being sold in USA…
in 1979, Fuzhou Auto Works started to produce bj212 with licensed blueprints, chassis, body, and components. SUV productions started in the 1980s. the bj212, Beijing 213 Beijing 121, Beijing 2022, and Beijing 214 production followed.
…but i dont know if they were imported there originally or it was units reimported from latin america. Info seems pretty scrarce and conflicting about when these were produced.
By the way, i would be interested to know if any of the imported units to europe from the 70s and 80s that were mentioned in this article have survived to today, given their rarity…
JFK, this article is about the 1970s-1980s. In the 1990s there were a lot of other initiatives.
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