Tycho's Illustrated History Of Chinese Cars: The Beijing Dongfeng BM021 Tricycle, A Special Story

While on holiday in the great city of Nandaihe in Hebei province, I took a few pictures of a tired, old tricycle. Back home in Beijing, I completely forgot about it until I went through my holiday pictures a few days ago, actually looking for a car completely different. The old tricycle caught my attention again, and this time I decided to research the damn thing. Well, I found this oldie was an old neighbor …

An incredibly beautiful logo up front. This tricycle is the Beijing Dongfeng BM021. It was made by the Beijing Motorcycle Factory, part of Beijing Auto Works, in the 1960′s and 1970′s. The factory was located in the Dongzhimen area in Beijing, by that time on the outskirts of the city, mostly farmland and a few factories.

Today, Dongzhimen is considered to be part of the center of the city with huge shopping malls, high rise apartment buildings and the biggest bus and subway hub in Beijing. I know all that because I live there now, right in the center of Dongzhimen, close to the Second Ring Road. This proud old tricycle and me have a connection.

The Beijing Dongfeng BM021 Tricycle (no connection with today’s Dongfeng Motor) was made for distribution of small goods inside big cities. It was used as a cheap taxi as well. Max load was 270kg. The machine on the pictures was made in the 1970′s.

For tech specs, I found where the power came from: a single-cylinder air-cooled two-stroke 250cc engine rated at 12hp. There was no electric starter and no reverse gear, power went by chain to the rear wheels.

Door art. Door-handle very nicely crafted as well.

Now, old pictures:

Beijing in the 1960′s. Around here, that’s a few centuries ago. The cop gives way to an early example of the BM021, with a round head-light.

Early BM021 again. Fitted with a hard-top with windows, likely the taxi-version.

BM021 from the 1960′s, note head light, mirrors are also different. This one seems factory fresh; tires, paint and cabin-cover are all brand-new. Probably a real factory-photo.

This Beijing Dongfeng BM021 is a true part of China’s automotive history. I don’t think many are still around. I therefore consider myself a very lucky man finding this blue example in Nandaihe.

Dutchman Tycho de Feyter runs Carnewschina.com, a blog about cars in China, from Beijing, China. He also collects die-cast models of Chinese cars.