The real history of the Chinese CJ 750 sidecar combinations.
By: Li Yan
Photos Sylvia: Scholder
The name of the company where it all started in China? That was the Staatsigen Hong Du Machine factory. That company was founded by the cooperation in 1951 of the 'Eastern China Military Area Air Force Factory Number 22' and the 'Southern Midland Military Area Nam Chang Aviation Station' on the premises of the original Kuomintang Aeroplane Manufacture Factory with the factory number 320. the whole was later renamed 'Hongdu Aviation Industry Group'. But the basis of it was the military economic aid plan that the then powerful CCCP lovingly awarded to its fellow communists.
That support came on time. In 1950 the 'Automobile Units Factory No.6 of the Beijing People's Liberation Army' had already tried tricycles
to build for the army by pulling apart a Zündapp KS 500 to start a serious series production under its own flag with the borrowed German example. In 1951 the plans were ready for production and 4.248 copies were made.
But in terms of reliability, the Chinese clone was not yet at Germanic level. Before the development was fully crystallized, the entire production of sidecar engines for the army on the orders of higher authorities, including the recently acquired Russian aid, was transferred to the factories in Hong Du and the machine factory in Xingjiang. For the adoption of a completely developed product including the entire factory to make that was too good an offer to continue the development of the copied Zündapp.
So all that happened in Nan Chang City, Xin Xi Qiao Province. The newly formed company was one of the first Chinese companies to commission the design and production of aircraft, rockets and - of course - motorcycles. From 1951 - 1952 they are busy in Factory 320 with the repair work on planes. Thanks to the Soviet utility, Factory no. 320 upgraded to a fully-fledged aircraft factory in 1953.
In January 1957, the management of Factory 320 - the Guo Ying gan jiang ji xi chang - was formally commissioned to experience the production of the Russian heavy boxer combinations that were once born as BMW R71 and evolved into M72 on Chinese soil. At first, that was more of an assembly process from the huge Russian residual stocks. But that changed quickly: The Chinese analyzed the ins and outs of their supplied M72s and started making them themselves. The production was to be run at Zhu Zhou in the province of Hu Nan. 331. The differences between the first CJ 750 and their examples were minimal. Apparently there are even complete M72s 'reverse' to CJ 750. Connoisseurs see a difference in the first series of carters. At the CJ's they were coarser from outside the house. Small differences also quickly occurred in the frames and the sidecar frames. The front fenders were riveted on the M72 and screwed on the CJs. The Chinese blocks and transmissions from the 1957-1966 period were of the Type1 and in fact identical to those of the BMW R71 and the M72.
With the M1 ,, the Type II it stayed that way for a while. Just like the Russians, the chionists had produced huge stocks of parts. They first have to put up. In the meantime, the production of the TypeII engine blocks and gearboxes had already started in 1966. But only in 1972 did the old stocks run out. The distinction between the blocks can be seen most clearly at the location of the oil dipstick. With the Type I engines, it is low in the block. All engine blocks with a serial number higher than 661802 are of TypeII
The Russian designation M72 was just as proseish as the company name "Factory 320" The "M" stood by the Russians for "Motocycletny", motorcycle. The number 72 made it clear that this is a motorcycle with the sequence number 72 in the row of type designations
concerned. That immediately makes it clear that these M72s could come from different factories without reservation. And that was true. They were made by the State-owned companies IMZ (Irbitsky Motocycletny Zavod) and KMZ (Kievski Mototsikletnyi Zavod), the bears that after that time would gain some fame with the production of 'Urals' and 'Dneprs'
From May to June 1957 the men and women of Fabriek Nr. 320 completely analyzed the Russian veterans and put them on drawing. The factory was already there. Production could begin. On November 30 1957, the first Chang Jiang (CJ) 750 sidecar combination proudly rolled the gates of Factory Nr. 230 out. Mass production began in December 1957. The first series of 407 combinations was delivered directly to the Chinese People's Army after production.
From 1957 to 2007, the CJ 750 was the standard workhorse for the army, police and inspectors of the Chinese tax authorities and many other Chinese government departments. But then those sidecar combinations, although in the meantime equipped with 12 V installations and starter motors, were already very dated. And more and more services began to consider purchasing cars. That trend was reversed when JiaLing proudly introduced the modern JiaLing JH600B combination with fuel injection and a steered sidecar wheel. From 2006, the modern, now developed in China, successors to the BMW R1938, once built between 1941-71, were delivered to the Chinese People's Army. And in the meantime, export versions of those modern machines have also been developed. On three, but also on two wheels. But the CJ 750 are still being made. For the Chinese citizens and merchants who have no money for such a modern JiaLing. And there are millions of them!
But the Chinese army and other government departments are driving, or will be riding, Jialing JH 600 B combinations. Those Chinese three-wheelers have a 600 cc single-cylinder injection block, a driven sidecar with a steering wheel and a hand brake….