A white Ford Tempo sedan, seen in the far east of the Chinese capital Beijing. The poor Ford looked very dusty and it had some damage here and there, but nothing too serious.
The second generation Tempo was manufactured from 1988 until 1994, with a facelift in 1991. Our white car is a facelifted example. The Tempo was available with a 2.3 liter four-cylinder petrol engine or with a 3.0 liter V6 petrol. The GL was a mid level model that usually came with the 2.3.
The Ford Tempo was never officially sold in China by Ford, but in 1992 the Chinese government bulk-ordered 3010 units under a murky trade deal with the United States government. The cars arrived in China with U.S. specifications and without any support from a dealer network.
Different wheels. This is how they look on the left.
And this is the right.
Comfortable cloth seats are still in good shape. Manual gearbox in this car.
This seat belt window sticker sat on every U.S.-made Ford from this period.
A cool Chinese decal with the ‘Transformers Armada’.
License plate area is too small for wider Chinese plates. All the Pinto’s in China have this. Ford didn’t bother to change it.
With a bit of work it is good to go. But with the latest anti-air pollution rules in Beijing, it becomes ever harder to keep older cars on the road. I am afraid this great Pinto won’t last very long.
[table id=201 /]
One thing about the too small license plate area: back then China was using the Type 86 or the so called “Japanese style” license plate, and it fitted the space perfectly.
https://kknews.cc/zh-hk/history/z6xn423.html
The current Type 92 license plate came into effect in 1994.