Tycho's Illustrated History Of Chinese Cars: The Perfect Hongqi CA770

by Tycho de Feyter

Published: December 20th, 2012

tycho s illustrated history of chinese cars the perfect hongqi ca770

I found this perfect Hongqi CA770 state limousine at the Shanghai Car Museum, and it is definitely one of the best looking examples I have seen in China so far. The Hongqi (Red Flag) CA770 was a giant sedan made exclusively for the Chinese government. Only 847 cars were produced in its long life from 1966 until 1981. Here is its story …

The Hongqi CA770 was based on the platform of the 1950′s Chrysler Imperial, the body work however was designed in China by First Auto Works, or FAW, to this day the owner of the Hongqi brand. The design sought to combine ‘modern’ elements with traditional Chinese characteristics.

For modernity, FAW looked to the United States. Loads of chrome up front, very square greenhouse, and small tail-fins at the back. The Chinese characteristics emerge in the grille which was shaped like a Chinese fan. The rear lamps were good for a Chinese lantern festival.

Power came from a big American 215hp 5.6 liter V8 made by Chrysler. That power it needed! The CA770 was gigantic: 5980x1990x1620, wheelbase is 3720. Curb weight was 2730kg. Claimed top speed 160km/h which is actually not that bad for a vehicle that catches more wind than a house.

Chrome is good, more chrome is better, but Hongqi-chrome is king! A Hongqi in super state will normally fetch up to 100.000 USD, this example in Shanghai is probably worth quite a bit more than that…

The two Chinese flags look cool in a museum or on an auto show, but in the real world it doesn’t work that way. When the Chinese dignitary is inside, the vehicle will fly one Chinese flag. When a foreign dignitary is inside, the vehicle will fly the Chinese flag on one side and the flag from the foreigner’s country on the other side.

This CA770 joins my own private Hongqi collection. Here it is: CA770G, second hand restored, second hand unrestored, abandoned 1, abandoned 2, CA772T bulletpr0of, perfect unrestored, with rubbish, two with lotta dust and one of those once again.

Comments

Join the conversation

3 of 14 comments

Infinitime on Dec 20, 2012

Here's another article by Tycho on an earlier variant, which more closely resembles the Chryslers of the same era.... http://www.carnewschina.com/2012/12/05/shanghai-car-museum-1959-hongqi-ca72/ If you scroll to the last picture, it shows the Chinese-lantern style taillights. Kind of Sino-Art Deco cool... if there is such a style.

Like Reply
- MeaCulpa on Dec 20, 2012
  
  And some people say that the Chinese only makes copies, those rear lights are clearly the inspiration for the horrible altezza/lexus lights.
  
  Like
MRF 95 T-Bird on Dec 20, 2012

Does that mean there was Chinese espionage in the 50's? Spy-"Yes, Chairman Mao we did get the Imperial chassis plans from Chrysler" Mao-"But I wanted 354 Hemi and gunsight taillight plans too" "Off to the reeducation camp for you"

Like Reply

Recent Comments

B-BodyBuick84 Not afraid of AV's as I highly doubt they will ever be %100 viable for our roads. Stop-and-go downtown city or rush hour highway traffic? I can see that, but otherwise there's simply too many variables. Bad weather conditions, faded road lines or markings, reflective surfaces with glare, etc. There's also the issue of cultural norms. About a decade ago there was actually an online test called 'The Morality Machine' one could do online where you were in control of an AV and choose what action to take when a crash was inevitable. I think something like 2.5 million people across the world participated? For example, do you hit and most likely kill the elderly couple strolling across the crosswalk or crash the vehicle into a cement barrier and almost certainly cause the death of the vehicle occupants? What if it's a parent and child? In N. America 98% of people choose to hit the elderly couple and save themselves while in Asia, the exact opposite happened where 98% choose to hit the parent and child. Why? Cultural differences. Asia puts a lot of emphasis on respecting their elderly while N. America has a culture of 'save/ protect the children'. Are these AV's going to respect that culture? Is a VW Jetta or Buick Envision AV going to have different programming depending on whether it's sold in Canada or Taiwan? how's that going to effect legislation and legal battles when a crash inevitibly does happen? These are the true barriers to mass AV adoption, and in the 10 years since that test came out, there has been zero answers or progress on this matter. So no, I'm not afraid of AV's simply because with the exception of a few specific situations, most avenues are going to prove to be a dead-end for automakers.
Mike Bradley Autonomous cars were developed in Silicon Valley. For new products there, the standard business plan is to put a barely-functioning product on the market right away and wait for the early-adopter customers to find the flaws. That's exactly what's happened. Detroit's plan is pretty much the opposite, but Detroit isn't developing this product. That's why dealers, for instance, haven't been trained in the cars.
Dartman https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-fighter-jets-air-force-6a1100c96a73ca9b7f41cbd6a2753fdaAutonomous/Ai is here now. The question is implementation and acceptance.
FreedMike If Dodge were smart - and I don't think they are - they'd spend their money refreshing and reworking the Durango (which I think is entering model year 3,221), versus going down the same "stuff 'em full of motor and give 'em cool new paint options" path. That's the approach they used with the Charger and Challenger, and both those models are dead. The Durango is still a strong product in a strong market; why not keep it fresher?
Bill Wade I was driving a new Subaru a few weeks ago on I-10 near Tucson and it suddenly decided to slam on the brakes from a tumbleweed blowing across the highway. I just about had a heart attack while it nearly threw my mom through the windshield and dumped our grocery bags all over the place. It seems like a bad idea to me, the tech isn't ready.