2012 Beijing Auto Show: Capture The Real Red Flag

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt
2012 beijing auto show capture the real red flag

So today The Tycho, proprietor of Carnewschina and expert on Mao-era-revival cars, intercepts me at the show and says: “You did it all wrong! You talked about the H7, but showed the L7!”

“I beg your pardon?”

It turns out he was right as usual. In my piece on the Red Flag car, the wrong pictures were added to the wrong text. Corrected. As a make-good, here the ultimate L7/H7 pictorial.

This is the L7. Based on a Landcruiser chassis. And with the full frontal perspective, as demanded by Comrade Karesh.

For people who are more into bootie.

Rims with Mao-era inset.

This is the H7. This one truly based on a Toyota Crown.

From the side.

Even this car will save the planet – if a large enough battery is ever found. And a substation to go with it.

Revolutionary hood ornament.

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  • Psarhjinian Psarhjinian on Apr 24, 2012

    I can't read "Hongqi" phonetically and not giggle. Yes, I'm immature.

  • Daveainchina Daveainchina on Apr 24, 2012

    About the hood ornament. I'm very happy that China doesn't have Ralph Nader removing those design elements from vehicles here. you can still find vehicles with hood ornaments here, although not many as vehicles are basically global in nature now. Making our world soft bland and colorless for the god of safety makes too many things uninteresting, I'm not sure that we are in the end doing ourselves a favor. Time will tell, but I think we are losing something that maybe shouldn't be lost.

  • Art Vandelay Best? PCH from Ventura to somewhere near Lompoc. Most Famous? Route Irish
  • GT Ross The black wheel fad cannot die soon enough for me.
  • Brett Woods My 4-Runner had a manual with the 4-cylinder. It was acceptable but not really fun. I have thought before that auto with a six cylinder would have been smoother, more comfortable, and need less maintenance. Ditto my 4 banger manual Japanese pick-up. Nowhere near as nice as a GM with auto and six cylinders that I tried a bit later. Drove with a U.S. buddy who got one of the first C8s. He said he didn't even consider a manual. There was an article about how fewer than ten percent of buyers optioned a manual in the U.S. when they were available. Visited my English cousin who lived in a hilly suburb and she had a manual Range Rover and said she never even considered an automatic. That's culture for you.  Miata, Boxster, Mustang, Corvette and Camaro; I only want manual but I can see both sides of the argument for a Mustang, Camaro or Challenger. Once you get past a certain size and weight, cruising with automatic is a better dynamic. A dual clutch automatic is smoother, faster, probably more reliable, and still allows you to select and hold a gear. When you get these vehicles with a high performance envelope, dual-clutch automatic is what brings home the numbers. 
  • ToolGuy 2019 had better comments than 2023 😉
  • Inside Looking Out In June 1973, Leonid Brezhnev arrived in Washington for his second summit meeting with President Richard Nixon. Knowing of the Soviet leader’s fondness for luxury automobiles, Nixon gave him a shiny Lincoln Continental. Brezhnev was delighted with the present and insisted on taking a spin around Camp David, speeding through turns while the president nervously asked him to slow down. https://academic.oup.com/dh/article-abstract/42/4/548/5063004
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