FAW, the Shanghai based conglomerate of the fledgling Chinese car manufacturing industry, absorbed Hongqi (Red Flag), maker of luxury limousines for the party elite, in 1963. The only party member to not ride in these "CA' series limos was Chairman Mao himself. I guess to maintain the "man of the people" image. The first time he did use the limo was in 1973 when he took the CA770 to meet President Nixon. FAW's first Hongqi limo, like its predecessor, used a lot of American parts. The chassis was from a Chrysler Imperial, a MOPAR 340 V8 was linked to a 4 speed automatic. About 1600 of the CA770 and its many V8 variants were produced until 1980. Starting to like Ford/Lincoln better, production of the CA770G series, from '85-'88 Featured a Ford 351 Windsor V8 and Lincoln Town Car steering wheel and tachometer.
Thank-you Rich, for featuring this Century Dragon (I assume) Hong-Qi. You have a beautiful model - with lots of detail - of a very attractive car.
I find early Chinese auto manufacture fascinating and have been searching for Century Dragons's 1:43 Hong-Qi CA72 Limousine from late '50s (I believe) and their 1:43 Hong-Qi Convertible parade car CA72TJ from the turn of the '60s. As ever, if anybody knows of either available, I would love to hear. I include an image of an early prototype.
Thank-you Rich, for featuring this Century Dragon (I assume) Hong-Qi. You have a beautiful model - with lots of detail - of a very attractive car.
I find early Chinese auto manufacture fascinating and have been searching for Century Dragons's 1:43 Hong-Qi CA72 Limousine from late '50s (I believe) and their 1:43 Hong-Qi Convertible parade car CA72TJ from the turn of the '60s. As ever, if anybody knows of either available, I would love to hear. I include an image of an early prototype.
thats a really interesting quest Charles, sorry I cant help with a source. Love the front end design of the prototype. Heres a 1/24 Dong Feng Golden Dragon CA71 sedan that I'm watching,
and a later year version of the parade car Rich features from the same seller
I have the model in Richs pics. Bought on the old site auction, must be 20 years ago. I've always kept it on its wooden base.
As always great post Rich, thanks.
This post was modified 3 years ago 2 times by Geoff Jowett
@carsman1958Here's the Century Dragon Parade Car in 1/43. The 1/24 CA770 was commissioned by FAW and I found no vendor's ID on it. The rest of my vintage Chinese cars are in larger scales (1/20 and 1/18).
@geoff-jowett Very nice models, again. And thanks for posting. Century Dragon do do your red Feng Dong in 1/43 which I should not delay over, so it is good to see it in full 1/24 scale with moving parts!
