And that day I went to the Beijing Tap Water Museum in east Beijing. Besides a lot of water pipes and other water supply equipment, I also found a triplet of very pretty Beijing-Jeep Cherokee XJ’s. These are two early examples, with fog lights on the bumper, and factory mud flaps, wheels, and roof rack. The colors are original too. The car on the left has a very old blue 京A license plate, indicating it was one of the very first privately registered cars in the capital.
Base models didn’t get a rear window wiper standard, like the purple red car. Green car has a wiper.
The Cherokee XJ was made by Beijing-Jeep from 1984 until 2009 in trillions of different variants. Power came from a 2.5 four or a 4.0 six, but the 2.5 was way more common. Back in the early 2000’s, the Cherokee was everywhere. I had one too (without wiper). From 2010 or so, these great vehicles slowly started to disappear from the streets, due to age and stricter environmental regulations.
The third Cherokee XJ of out triplet stood a little further away. This is a high-mid end Sports model, with a raised roof and cool factory decals on the sides. The badge on the bonnet says 北京Jeep. The bull bar was a popular factory option. Problem was, when the bull bar was fitted, the fog lights sat behind the lower bar, making them useless. That happened with my car too. The solution was moving the fog lights from bumper to the bull bar itself.
This really is a nice example. The decal with the skier was very famous then, because it was a bit odd, to have a factory decal like that on a motor car. I always thought it was interesting. Alloys look as shiny as new!
A nearby artwork with a go-around sign in front of it. The compound in the background housed employees of the Beijing tap water system. Their office was nearby as well. More Cherokee soon later!