The Jinggangshan (the two-door prototype) from Beijing and the Dongfeng CA71 from FAW (First Auto Works) were made in 1958. Both prototypes are still existing.
This is the car which is generally regarded as the first Dongfeng CA71, and by official sources, also the first Chinese car.
Before, the car was stored in the FAW Warehouse, later the car was exhibited in the FAW Cultural Pavilion. Now you can find the car at the Museum of the Communist Party.
To replace the Dongfeng in Changchun, FAW started in 2022 a joint research team of the FAW Group Corporation. The project was to make a Dongfeng replica. Here you see the result, finished in 2023:
There are rumors that the second surviving Dongfeng, exhibited by Luo Wenrou, is not an original car, as we always have thought, but a (Simca-based) replica.
Well, the CA71 from FAW (the original) has only one windshield wiper, the left one. Luo Wenyou’s Dongfeng has two wiper axles in stead of one, like a Simca. Who knows?
There are other rumors that more Dongfeng’s, made in 1959, were just rebadged Simca’s.
There exists one photo with 5 Dongfengs’s:
According FAW information, a number of 20-30 Dongfeng cars was made. I doubt it.
In 1956, 21 Simca Versailles were imported in China.
When I visited Luo Wenyou in June 2024, he showed me another Simca in restoration process. A new Dongfeng replica?
Making replica’s (copies) of earlier cars is not something happening only in China: in 2023 Mercedes Benz made 100 copies of their 1886 Motorwagen.
We know the existence of two more Dongfeng replica’s, the one in the Beijing Auto Museum and the one in the Taishan Classic Car Museum.
Besides of the official photos we have a seldom picture of a Dongfeng in the street, here it is, license plate 07-00022:
And now about the JINGGANGSHAN.
I visited the BAIC headquarters also in June, BAIC= Beijing Auto Industry Corporation, (be careful, the exhibition is only for party members, so you need an invitation or introduction), to meet the Jinggangshan replica.
Big surprise: the Jinggangshan which is exhibited at BAIC is the original prototype, not the replica.
I had already seen this vehicle in 1997. The car was then stored in the BAW factory facilities (Beijing Auto Works). Later it was sold to a private person.
And now, back to BAIC!
When I asked to see the replica, they told me that it was at the BAIC Design department, which is not open for visitors.
In 1997 I asked to see the engine, I wanted to know if it was a Volkswagen engine. They told me that they couldn’t open the rear, as the key was missing.
Now, 27 years later, I had a chance to ask again. This time the trunk lid was closed and stuck with adhesive tape. So I tried to see the engine from under.
No success. You can’t see the engine from below.
The production version of the Jinggangshan was a four-door.
They invited me to sit behind the steering wheel.
I think I am the only foreigner allowed behind the wheel of the first Dongfeng and of the first Jinggangshan!
