About the History of Cars in China
A Hongqi CA7202 A9E3L2 Century Star parade car, painted in a beautiful shade of red. The parade car is based on the Hongqi CA7202 Century Star sedan, which in turn was based on the C3 Audi 100.
Continue reading “All The Audi 100-based Hongqi Parade Cars From China”
In 1980 the Englishman Oliver Barnham travelled through China and took pictures of every local made vehicle he could find. He took pictures of a BJ212-style jeep in Chonqging and Shanghai.
Both cars had military plates.
This black beauty is a 1958 Hongqi CA72 parade car prototype. It debuted a few months after the CA72 sedan prototype. Like the sedan, the open-top parade car was intended for the 1959 parade in Beijing, which was to celebrate the 10th birthday of Communist rule in China.
Today we take a good look at the beginning of the development of the Hongqi CA72 state limousine. The CA72 was the very first Hongqi-branded car, 198 examples were made from 1959 until 1965. The development of the CA72 started in early 1958, and Hongqi build five prototypes in about a year.
The prototypes were numbered 1E, 2E, 3E, 4E, and 5E. This post is about 1E, featuring a design that was so wild one could almost call it a concept car.
Today we share with you the Chinese made Austin Maestro. Not the Maestro van or the Frankenstein Montego/Maestro van, but the original hatchback on which they were all based. I found this car in Luoyang, Henan Province in April of this year.
Continue reading “Spotted in China: FAW Jiefang CA6400UA, the Chinese made Austin Maestro”
A wondrous white FAW Jiefang CA5020XJH ex-ambulance, seen on the streets of Wangjing District in northeast Beijing. Sadly and badly it didn’t run anymore, it was stripped of its ambulance lights and used for storage, the poor thing was loaded to the max with scrap carton and boxes.
Continue reading “Spotted In China: FAW Jiefang CA5020XJH ex-Ambulance”
Here we have the extremely rare Montego faced FAW CA6440UA. I found this particular car in Suzhou in late 2015. I’ve discussed technical details regarding the CA6440UA before in a previous article here, so please refer to it for more detailed information and sources. This article is more like a gallery.
Continue reading “The other FAW CA6440UA, a Chinese made Austin Montego Van.”
A Hongqi CA7220 EL1 stetched limousine, seen in Beijing in 2012. It is based on the Hongqi CA7220 sedan which in turn was based on the C3 Audi 100. The latter was made in China by the FAW-Volkswagen joint venture from 1988 to 1999, alongside the more luxurious Audi 200.
FAW, or First Auto Works, is also the owner of the Hongqi (Red Flag) brand. Under a deal with Volkswagen the Chinese manufactured various Hongqi-branded sedans based on the Audi 100 and 200. Production started in 1996 and ended all the way up in 2005.
Continue reading “All The Hongqi Stretched Limousine Variants Based On The Audi 100/200”
This is a First Auto Works (FAW) LuBao CA6440UA, also known as the Chinese made Austin Maestro van. A successor to the far rarer Etsong series of Maestro based cars, really just the same cars with different badging made between 2000 and 2003.
FAW took over operations in 2003 and this car appears to have been one of the first off the line under their ownership as the vin number reveals it is a 2003 built car! This particular car is in Wuxi.
Continue reading “The FAW CA6440UA is a Chinese Austin Maestro van”
A very beautiful Mazda 323, Spotted in China in the far east of Beijing. The good Maz’ was in great shape inside and out, and painted in a shiny kind of gold.
Continue reading “Spotted In China: The Hainan Mazda 323 CA7130 Sedan”