About China's Coolest Cars
A beautiful black Hongqi HQ300 sedan, seen in the Dongzhimen area in Beijing in 2013. The good old Red Flag was is superb shape, with smooth paint and shiny chrome, completely original, nothing missing or broken, and not a spat of rust in sight. Note the factory standard red-flag hood ornament.
Continue reading “Hongqi HQ300 Is A Prettier Toyota In China”
We all love a good Bentley, even more so when the numbers add up. That day, back in the great year of 2013, I met this fine Bentley Continental GT in central Beijing, not far from the east section of the Second Ring Road.
There are a lot of Bentley’s in Beijing but this fine example was especially notable because of its triple 7 license plate. That is a very rare sight. In Chinese numerology, seven is a good number for relationships, but it also sounds like “to deceive”, and as a slang word for penis in Cantonese. Take your pick! The Q indicates this Bentley is registered as a company-car.
Back in the 2010’s Bentley was everywhere in China. It is a bit less obvious now, de to the changing political winds. In 2013, price of the Continental GT started just above 4 million yuan, which translated to some $660.000.
A wondrous white Beijing Auto Senova D320 sedan, seen on the streets in Beijing in 2013. The Shenbao D-Series was based on the first-generation Saab 9-5. Beijing Auto bought the rights to the first generation Saab 9-3 and 9-5 in 2009 from General Motors, then the owner of Saab. The deal included the Saab-developed 2.0 turbo and 2.3 turbo engines.
Continue reading “Beijing Auto Senova D320 Is A Sort Of Saab In China”
When still in China, I loved to go to police equipment shows to check out new police cars. But whereas I was there just for fun, there were also real coppers shopping for new wheels for their department, and those coppers came by police cars.
So today we have a flock of real police cars on the police car show, with white police car license plates. This was in 2013. We start with this very pretty Beijing-Jeep Grand Cherokee police car, with the characters Jingcha (police) on the bonnet and the characters Sifa (judicature, for the Ministry of Justice) on the rear doors.
Continue reading “Real Police Cars On The Police Car Show In China”
Here we have a special car. This is a Nanjing MG TF roadster, seen in Beijing back in 2014. The poor car stood abandoned under trees, dirty and without license plates, with non-matching alloys and tires.
Here we have a Nissan 350Z sporty car, seen at a parking lot of an apartment complex in east Beijing in January 2013. I remember i as a cold cold day! Did the Nissan give me any warmth? Sure she did!
Continue reading “A Lime Green Lowered Nissan 350Z In China”
Check this red beauty out! Here we have another Skoda Forman LX station wagon, seen on a car market in the far east of Beijing in 2007. The Skoo’d was in a pretty good shape but the body panels has lost some of their color.
A messy and very dusty Lada 2105 sedan, seen in Beijing in 2007. The area where I took the pictures was in 2007 still a sort of wasteland, all the way east of the 4th Ring Road. Much later, in 2014, I came to live in the area, then developed with loads of super new compounds.
A very beautifull Hongqi CA7221 L long-wheelbase limousine, seen in front of the building that housed the best hot pot restaurant in the world, in 2005.
Earlier on, this restaurant was located just outside the back gate of my apartment building. Later on, when popular, they moved 200 meter, to a new location on the second floor of a new office building, which was where I saw the Hongqi.
I remember feeling very annoyed about the restaurant moving that far away. Really, I came there like twice a week, always taking friends, ordering shiploads of beer. It was my place. And then they moved 200 meters away from me…? In the end, I continued going there until they were suddenly gone in 2014.
Back to the car. The CA7221 L was based on the standard Hongqi CA7220. The CA7220-series in turn was based on the Audi 100 that was made in China by the FAW-Volkswagen joint-venture. FAW (First Auto Works) is also the owner of the Hongqi (Red Flag) brand.
On the picture, you can see the car’s driver reading a newspaper, waiting for his boss to finish his meal. The entrance to the building is guarded by a Chinese lion-dragon creature. Red band around its neck indicates a festivity, like the opening of a new restaurant, or other such fun.
