This is one of my favorite cars ever: the massive Hongqi Qijian CA7460 sedan, seen here at the Poly Theater in central Beijing. The Hongqi was in super shape, totally clean and largely original.

Hongqi is China’s oldest and most famous car brand. It was founded in 1956, and it is owned by First Auto Works (FAW). Hongqi means Red Flag. Qijian means Flagship.

Flag poles on each side of the bonnet indicate this is a government car. The red ornament on the hood depicts the Red Flag, and the grille is made to look like a traditional Chinese fan.

The CA7460 Qijian series was made from 1998 until 2005. It was based on the third generation Lincoln Town Car.

Under a deal between FAW and Ford, Lincoln would provide near-finished Town Cars to Hongqi. The Chinese would add a new grille, new badges, and of course the hood ornament. They didn’t even bother to change the Ford-branded windows!

Hongqi also developed three limousine versions of the CA7460 Qijian. See this article for a full history of the Lincoln-based Hongqi’s.

The ‘handwritten’ characters write Hongqi. V8 badge on the right. That is the same engine that powered the Town Car: a 4.6 liter V8 with 210hp (158kw) and 392nm. Top speed was 185km/h.

When new in 1998 the CA7460 was priced at 690.000 yuan. That was a lot of money in those days, and sales to the private market were very slow. Most of the CA7460’s were sold to the government.

Today most are gone. The CA7460 isn’t seen as a collectible car because of its too-obvious Lincoln genes, so collectors stay away from them. And that, sadly, means that most of these great cars have been scrapped.

This particular car has red flag ornaments of top of the rear fenders. That is definitely not original, but they look kinda cool.

Yes, it is basically a Lincoln with other badges. But it also is a real Hongqi, and it looks iconic-y cool. So if I were a collector, I would get one before it is too late…

FILE CARD Brand Hongqi Manufacturer FAW Type Qijian CA6470 Year 1998-2005 Engine 4.6 V8 Price 690.000 Cool-o-Meter. Rate It! 4.4 / 5 ( 17 votes )