After the unveiling of the replica of the first Jinggangshan, there is even more to tell you now.
Let us go back to 1958.
More and more interesting photos have shown up of the 1958 Jinggangshan, showing the making of the first two-door prototype. In the picture above, you can notice that the body bears a license plate. Surprisingly this plate is different from the registration we know from all the other photos showing the first Jinggangshan. This car has 1*05234. The number we know is 1*05895.
Two license plates for the first car? Or two different prototypes? I don´t know.
Another thing, something of today.
In 2022 Beijing Auto Works opened, at the facility of a new BAW factory in Qingdao, a Beijing Auto Works museum.
This museum exhibits a lot of jeeps, but also two replicas of cars, one of the Dongfanghong BJ760 and one of the Jinggangshan.
Either this is the second replica of the Jinggangshan, next to the first replica shown at the celebrations of the 70th year of the existence of the People’s Republic, or it is that first replica.
The only difference in the pictures between the original car and the replicas is the colour of the wheels.
That is why I decided to find out if we can seperate all the versions just looking at the wheels.
- colour photos of 1958, the prototype. Nearly all the photos made in the 1950s are black-and-white. Photos in colour seem to be hand-coloured afterwards. But I’l show you them, so you can see for yourself:
red wheels.
2. brown wheels.
Probably the wheels were originally red and were discolored.
3. red wheels again, but a bit darker.
4. grey wheels with holes in the rims. Replica.
5. red wheels too. Replica 2.
And another photo of this Qingdao replica:
Yes, this is a replica.
And here the other replica in the BAW Museum in Qingdao, the Dongfanghong BJ760. Note that the front window, typically with the gutter above, is the same as the one of the Russian Volga.
At least we can be happy that the replicas are getting better and better, remember what I have written in 2018, about the fake copies.
Conclusion; Jinggangshan:
- prototype, sometimes with registration 1*05895, sometimes without. Present whereabouts: BAIC Head Office, Beijing.
Status of car with 1*05234 unknown. - replica 1, shown at the celebrations of the 70th year of the PRC. Present whereabouts BAIC Design Studios, Beijing.
- replica 2, BAW Qingdao Auto Museum (here above).
Conclusion; Dongfanghong BJ760:
- series model 1, Beijing Huairou Veteran Car Museum.
- series model 2, private collection mr. Bai Guang, Linqing.
- replica 1, Beijing Auto Museum, donor car is a Volga.
- replica 2, BAW Qingdao Auto Museum (here above).