I love Chinese police cars. In the summer of 2018, I was riding around the far east of Beijing with my red Luyuan electric scooter. At one moment, I crossed a railway and found a yard filled with decommissioned police cars from the 1990s, including many classic Beijing Jeep Cherokees.
That made my day. Two elderly police men guarded the place; they were playing cards in the gray building in the background. They didn’t show much surprise about me showing up, and didn’t mind me walking around and taking photos. So, here we go:
The yard was about 100 meters deep and 20 meters wide. It was packed with police vehicles of all sizes and kinds: sedans, SUVs, buses, and minivans. Most cars were covered with leaves and twigs.
Beijing-Jeep Cherokee XJ
One of my favorite joint-venture police cars is the Beijing-Jeep Cherokee XJ. I had one myself. In the 1990s, the police in Beijing and Hebei Province deployed thousands of Cherokees, mainly in base spec. The car in the photo has a large police light bar and mismatched fog lights.
Character time: on the hood: 警察, jǐngchá, police. It has a white licence plate, reserved for government and police. The character on the left is 京, jīng, short for 北京, Běijīng. On the left is 警, for 警察.
Beijing Jeep manufactured the Cherokee XJ from 1984 until 2009, in numerous versions and variants. Early examples had a 北京 Jeep (Běijīng Jeep) badge on the hood. Later on, they changed to just ‘Jeep’.
Typical 1990s seat covers! Hard to find those today. The interior looked worn and dusty; the car had clearly done a lot of miles. All the Cherokees in the parking lot had the five-speed manual gearbox. Note the super cool police radio on the left side under the dashboard.
Under the rear-side windos is the car’s number, in this case 4765, which matches the plate number. This is a Super Space model, with a higher roof. This model was widely popular at the time because it added a lot of space to the cabin.
The 2.5E engine badge refers to engine size. It had a 136-hp output.
The BJC badge refers to the full name of the joint venture: Beijing Jeep Corporation.
Another Cherokee XJ
A similar XJ police car with a modern set of fog lights. The characters on the rear door are 公安 (gōng’ān). It means Public Security. This is the formal term used for China’s police system (the Public Security Bureau). The cars in the photos are of the Beijing Public Security Bureau.
This is a Chinese police emblem, commonly seen on older police vehicles. This particular style was widely used from the 1990s through the early 2010s. The emblem shows the five stars of China’s flag, the Great Wall, and laurel branches.
Toyota Land Cruiser
Wah! This was a fantastic find. The Land Cruiser J80 was a rare beast in the Beijing Police in the 1990s. Police often used the Land Cruiser for convoy duty; it would drive ahead of the pack at high speed with a loud siren, making sure normal traffic got out of the way. The enormous Toyota seems in fine shape, with huge bumpers, wide wheel arches, and running boards.
It has police-themed seat covers, which are just brilliant. It is a manual version, and the police radio is on the center tunnel.
Character time: most cars had official police sealing tape over the hood and over the doors. It reads: “Sealed by the Hebei Provincial Public Security Department.” Hebei Province surrounds Beijing, and the yard’s location was not far from the border. The police seal the doors to show that the vehicle is no longer operational and that no one is authorized to use it.
The Land Cruiser J80 has a complicated history in China. There was official import, gray import, local joint venture production, local licensed production, illegal CKD production, and loads of Chinese copies. As far as I could see, the police car in the yard was an import.
The GX model had a 4.0-liter inline-6 under the hood, delivering about 155 hp.
Volkswagen Santana Variant x 2
The Volkswagen Santana Variant was one of the most popular police cars, not just in Beijing, but all over China. The wagon body made it perfectly usable for police work.
SAIC-VW produced the B2 Volkswagen Santana Variant from 1992 until 2013! However, from 2008 onwards, the wagon was only sold in batches to government agencies and the like; it was no longer available on the general consumer car market. SAIC-VW also produces the B2 Santana sedan.
The Santana Variant came with a 1.8-liter engine with 94 hp. The car in front is slightly younger than the other one; note the updated bumpers and wheel covers.
Iveco Turbo Daily
The Iveco Turbo Daily was—and still is—a widely used police vehicle. Police forces deployed these minibuses to transport officers around town. The vehicles shown in the photos are equipped with the optional raised roof, which provides additional cabin space for police equipment. The joint venture also made anti-riot variants, with a bull bar and a tear-gas cannon on the roof.
According to the number on the door, it has space for 24 passengers, including the driver. The Nanjing-Iveco joint venture produces the Iveco Turbo Daily for the Chinese market. It is also massively popular for short-distance public transportation.
This generation Iveco Turbo Daily had a 2.8-liter inline-four diesel engine under the hood, delivering around 105 hp.
Beijing-Jeep Cherokee XJ x4
At the back of the yard stood four more Cherokee police cars. The two cars in the foreground have the high-end gold-colored alloy wheels. These wheels were standard on the luxury versions of the XJ and optional on the base models.
The five-spoke wheels are quite rare; they were only sold for a few years.
Every one of them had the raised roof. Note the spare wheel behind the rear window. Every 1990s Beijing-Jeep Cherokee had the spare wheel stored there.
The interior of this one was in great shape and fitted with the optional real-leather seats.
The original radio cassette player! Look closely. On the frame, you can see 北京 Jeep. But the radio itself was made by Philips, then a Dutch electronics company. See the Philips logo on the left side, just under the volume knob. This unit was standard on the base model. My Jeep had the same system. At one moment, it broke down, and I replaced it with a modern CD player. But I still have the Philips owner’s manual!
The Rest
This is a Buick Regal, manufactured by SAIC-GM. The police used these classy sedans to accompany convoys carrying foreign guests. I worked at the Dutch embassy for a long time. Often, when we had a cabinet member visiting China, the lead car in the convoy would be a Buick just like this one. The engine of this generation Regal is a 2.5-liter V6 with 130 hp.
Here we have a very tired Changhe-Suzuki Carry minivan, an extremely common police car. The standard bull bar looks cool; many vans had such bars at the time. Note the tiny fog lights in the bumper! Minivans like this could seat up to six people and carry a lot of stuff. Power came from a 1.3-liter engine with 65 hp.
A Jinbei Haise minivan, in pretty bad shape. The Jinbei Haise is a Chinese-built version of the Toyota HiAce (H100 generation), produced under license by Brilliance Jinbei Automotive in Shenyang. The car in the photo is the long-wheelbase, low-roof model with 11 seats. 11-seat model. The police version is absolutely base-spec, with steel wheels and a simple interior. It has a 2.0-liter gasoline motor with an 85-hp output.
Well, it had been an interesting visit, but it was time to go. I said my goodbyes to the police officers, who were still playing cads, got on my scooter, and moved on to the next parking lot. I am not sure if these are still around, but I sure hope so.