Here we have a very special vehicle. This pretty truck is a Beijing BJ130 fire truck, seen in the Sanlitun embassy area in Beijing in 2011. The truck is painted in fire-red with white-wall tires. To kill flames, it is fitted with a spray mechanism at the front, a water canon behind the cabin, and a large water tank.
It appears that this truck was originally deployed inside a factory area. The characters on the license plate say: 厂内消防, best translated as ‘inside factory fire fighting’. These were surely not used by the regular Beijing fire department. I suspect that, when I saw it, the fire truck was deployed by the construction area located on the other side of the fencing.
The BJ130 light truck was a light truck designed and manufactured by the Beijing Second Automobile Factory, which eventually became a part of Beijing Auto Works, which in turn eventually became a part of Beijing Auto Industry Corporation (BAIC). However, since 2020 BAW is on its own again.
Design of the Beijing BJ130 was heavily inspired by the third generation Toyota Dyna (K170). Mass production started in 1973 and ended in 1986, after a production run of about 500.000 units. The BJ130 was also made in other cities as well, under many different names, for example in Shanghai where it was called the Shanghai 130.
The BJ130 was made in many versions. There was a flatbed truck, a bus-like vehicle, various airport-trucks, and numerous army-trucks and a fire-trucks In truck-form it could carry a maximum weight of two tons.
The BJ130 was powered by the famous 4-cylinder ‘North 492 gasoline engine’ that was used in many many trucks, cars and other vehicles made in the ’70’s and ’80’s. The engine was mated with a four-speed manual.
The doors where locked with this near DIY door lock. The brand of the padlock is 三环, literally three circle, as you can see in the lock’s logo. The official English brand name is Tri-Circle, and the company is still alive today.
Inside, we can see the original blue color of the BJ130. In the old days, the vast majority of Chinese trucks was painted in this shade of blue. The red fire-truck color was painted-on later. The interior seems in a good shape with the enormous steering wheel taking up a lot of space. Drivers got their cooling from a simple fan placed atop the dashboard.
‘Civilized Chaoyang’ was part of an image-building campaign by Chaoyang District in Beijing, Sanlitun is in Chaoyang. The leading role was for a cartoon-girl that loox kinda happy, she was called Luo Baobei. That specific campaign ended a year later but the entity behind it is still in play, today mainly concerned with preventing Covid-19.
Luo Baobei.
Construction of the water canon assembly was rather rudimentary, with a simple platform behind the cabin. On the platform a broom, a plastic chair for the operator, and the actual canon.
The canon looks all right, with a handle on the left side to start the water running. It may not extinguish giant fires but it sure is good enough for the occasional factory/construction site emergencies.
It has a spray mechanism at the back too. I think these were used to cool down overheated factory floors for example. Or perhaps these firetrucks doubled as cleaning vehicles. If anybody knows more, please let me know in the comments below.
A solid ladder to climb atop the tank.
The search lights atop the cabin are much newer than the car. They are pointed in every direction. I remember that the truck stood there for a while, and I also saw it on a few other locations in the area. Then one day, it was gone. Hopefully it resides in a museum today!
Behind the Beijing BJ130 stood this Shuanghuan Noble, a Chinese take on the first Smart. It was red too, but as far as I could see didn’t have anything to do with fighting fires.