Dongfanghong BJ760

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Dongfanghong
Dongfanghong replica in Beijing Auto Museum
Dongfanghong replica in Beijing Auto Museum
BJ760
Production period: 1960-1969
Class : Middle class
Body versions : limousine
Engines: Otto engine :
2.4 liters (55 kW)
Length:
Width:
Height:
Wheelbase :
Empty weight :

The Dongfanghong BJ760 (Chinese abbreviation : 東方 紅 / 东方 红) is a four-door mid-range sedan from the Chinese automobile manufacturer Beijing Automobile Works , which was produced in small numbers from 1960 to 1969. It was the only model from the Dongfanghong brand . It was based on a Soviet design and was at times an alternative to the successful Shanghai SH760 .

History of origin

The Beijing- based company Beijing Automobile Works (BAW) was founded in 1953 with Soviet support. At first he manufactured parts for Chinese vehicles, mainly carburetors, fuel pumps, headlights and smaller sheet metal parts.

In 1958, the Great Leap Forward campaign began in China , one of the goals of which was to catch up with China's lagging behind the western industrialized countries. The effects of this initiative could also be felt in the automotive industry: from 1958 onwards, several Chinese plants began to design passenger cars for civil use. There were several independent approaches, especially for the middle class. The first car to be manufactured entirely in China is the Dongfeng CA71 , designed by the China FAW Group , to which a little later the Feng Huang (later: Shanghai SH760 ) built by Shanghai Auto Works was added. Finally, in 1958 BAW produced a sedan with a 1.2 liter air-cooled rear engine, which was technically based on the VW Beetle and was sold under the brand name Jinggangshan until 1960 . In 1960, BAW presented the four-door Dongfanghong BJ760 limousine as the successor to the Jinggangshan, which had no formal or technical connections to its predecessor.

The Dongfanghong BJ760 was not a success. From 1964, BAW concentrated primarily on the production of the Beijing BJ212 off-road vehicle . A further developed version called Dongfanghong BJ761 was only created in one copy. Five years after the BJ760 was discontinued, BAW presented the Beijing BJ750 in 1974, a contemporary successor, of which only a few were produced.

The model name Dongfanghong translates as “The East is red.” It was used again in the 1990s for a Chinese copy of the Polish FSO Polonez .

Model description

Base of the Dongfanghong BJ760: the Soviet GAZ M-21 Volga

The Dongfanghong BJ760 was not a Chinese in-house design. Rather, it was based on the Soviet GAZ M-21 Volga , which it largely resembled technically and stylistically. its external shape largely followed the Soviet model. However, BAW made some detailed changes to the design. In particular, the contoured rear fenders were omitted in the Chinese version. Instead, the fenders of the BJ760 were smooth. The shape of the bonnet was changed, as was the rear end. BAW was based on the French Simca Vedette . The BJ760 retained the distinctive doors, however.

The in-line four-cylinder engine of the Volga, which had a displacement of 2.4 liters and produced 55 kW, served as the drive. The engine was connected to a manual three-speed gearbox, completely identical to that of the Volga. The first gear was not synchronized.

production

The production volume was small. BAW produced between 106 and 238 units of the Dongfanghong BJ760 in 10 years; the information on this is not uniform. Only a few vehicles still exist.

The Dongfanghong could not prevail against the roughly equally large Shanghai SH760. The build quality of the BJ760 was sloppy from the start, and after Sino-Soviet relations deteriorated in the early 1960s, China received little technical support from the USSR. That affected the quality of the BJ760.

literature

Web links

Commons : Dongfanghong BJ760  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Maurice A. Kelly: Russian Motor Vehicles: Soviet Limousines 1930-2003 , Veloce Publishing Ltd, 2011, ISBN 9781845843007 , p. 75.
  2. ↑ George Nicholas Georgano (Ed.): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile . Volume 2: G-O . Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , pp. 795 (English).
  3. ↑ Tycho de Feijter: History Updated: were the Dongfanghong Yituo cars copies of the FSO Polonez? www.carnewschina.com, May 12, 2012, accessed June 8, 2016 .
  4. ↑ a b c Description and illustration of the Dongfanghong BJ760 on the website autocade.net (accessed on June 8, 2016).
  5. ↑ a b c Stanislav Alexeyev: CC Global: Dongfanghong BJ760 - The East Is Red, Thanks To Some Russian Help. www.curbsideclassic.com, September 25, 2014, accessed June 8, 2016 .
  6. ↑ George Nicholas Georgano (Ed.): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile . Volume 1: A-F . Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , pp. 452 (English).