About China's Coolest Cars
Three super fresh trees, seen on a classic-blue diesel-powered truck on a highway south of the Chinese capital in April 2011. Trucks carrying trees are a returning occurrence in spring in Beijing, when trees from plantations in the suburbs are brought into town for planting. Green city!
A black Hyundai Tucson, seen on a highway south of Beijing in April 2006. The Hyundai has a very interesting sticker on the back, saying, in English and Japanese: “Japan apalogize to NanKing!” with the date 1937.12.13. Continue reading “Hyundai Tucson Urges To Apologize In China”
A taxi car-washing place, seen in the not-so far east of the Chinese capital Beijing in 2011. In those days, the mandatory color was yellow, with taxi companies allowed to choose a second color.
The yellow shirt for taxi drivers was, and still is, mandatory as well. This famous shirt-rule came into effect in 2007 in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Beijing’s famous dust makes classy cars even classier. Case in point: this majestic Bentley Azure Mulliner, seen in 2014 at the Beijing Tuning Tribe. The car was at SCC for maintenance and stood uncovered on a parking lot.
Continue reading “Bentley Azure Mulliner Is Dusty In Beijing”
A dark blue Volkswagen Santana Variant, seen near Ikea in Beijing in 2009. The license plate reads 京E·04444. In Chinese culture and tradition, 4 is a very unlucky number, comparable with 13 in the West.
Most people therefore prefer to avoid a 4 on their license plate, fearing bad luck. The driver of this car is not so superstitious, he got himself four fours! That’s bad luck².
The Volkswagen Santana Variant station wagon was made by Shanghai-Volkswagen from 1987 until 2013, yes you read that right. It was a very popular carrier and today it has achieved somewhat of a cult status. Deservedly so!
Also note the Sinopec 2008 Olympics sticker on the left side of the window, this was for a nation-wide sponsored competition in 2007, just before the start of the Beijing Olympics. Whoever had the sticker on their car could win huge prizes. There was a TV show about it and what not.
Also, in the background, a Beijing subway train.
A fully loaded Beijing-Jeep Cherokee XJ in China, seen in a residential area in north Beijing sometime in 2008. At the time it was a very popular vehicle in the Chinese capital and there were loads of shops that sold all sorts of accessories.
Continue reading “Beijing-Jeep Cherokee XJ In White In China”
A gigantic Cadillac Fleetwood stretched limousine, seen on a car market on the South Fourth Ring Road in Beijing in 2007. It was in perfect shape, with flag poles on the bumpers, just missing the hub caps.
The second generation Fleetwood was made from 1993 until 1996, powered by a fat 5.7 liter V8, good for a very decent 260hp and 450nm.
These limousines were actually officially offered by General Motors China in period. Most were sold to high-end hotels and some to the Chinese government. This particular car is a bit more special because of its pretty gray color scheme. All the others were black.
Most of these great American cars eventually ended up at wedding-car companies and such. Today, just a few survive.
A brown donkey pulling a two-wheel carriage, seen in 2011 in the far east of Beijing. The carriage carries a load of bricks, a gentleman with a reins, and a little lady fast asleep.
Here we have a first generation Ford Ka with black license plates, painted in purple with gray bumpers, sporty five-spoke wheels, a red grille, and with 京A license plates. I saw it on a dreary morning on the road right across the building where I lived at the time, in the Chinese capital Beijing in 2005.
The first generation Ford Ka was made from 1996 until 2008. It was never officially sold in China.
Black license plates were issued to foreign owned companies from the 1980’s to the early 00’s. These companies could buy a car locally, and they were also allowed to import their own cars. When they sold these cars, the license plate would go with it. This only changed in 2016, when a new rule ruled out any continuation of the old 京A license plates.
The 京A Ford Ka became somewhat of a famous car in Beijing later on. I remember seeing it on all sorts of local car websites and such, and it took me a while before I realized I had met it first. Great Ford, and a good Ka.
A super cool Volkswagen Citi Golf CLX, seen on a snowy winter’s day in 2009 in the faraway Tongzhou District in east Beijing, capital of China. The good Volkswagen stood parked on a corner near a public gym, complete with two table-tennis tables! That day, nobody was playing.
Continue reading “Volkswagen Citi Golf CLX Is White In China”