This is not a Jeep: 1997 BJ2020: Hemmings classified features Chinese knock-off-roader

Hemmings classified features Chinese knock-off-roader

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"Ceci n'est pas une Jeep"

What you are looking at is not a Jeep, despite what the seller claims in his Hemmings classified. It?s actually something far stranger, at least in this hemisphere: a 1997 BJ2020. A fine product of the Beijing Automotive Group (not the apparently nonexistent Beijing Motor Company referenced in the ad), it was born way before the popular four-door Wrangler Unlimited rolled off the Toledo assembly line and into suburban strip malls.

One could make the case that this inspired Jeep to add two extra doors to its evergreen SUV, but then, one could make the case for any number of silly things. It?s more likely that its designers simply looked at more established off-road vehicle manufactures for inspiration, isolated styling cues that spoke to them of trailblazing ruggedness, then mashed them all together to create this graceless whole.

Let?s see how many of those cues we can identify, all the while remembering that the mighty Land Rover Series started out as a Jeep-based Frankenstein creation:

-- In profile, it?s pure Land Rover Defender 110 -- as is the swing-away rear-mounted spare.

-- The horizontally slotted grille positioned between two round headlamps is very UAZ. More recent BJ models get vertically slotted grilles, just like the Wrangler.

-- The sad canvas rag top looks like it could be right off a really decrepit International Harvester Scout.

-- That 4X4 emblem is pure Jeep, as are the five-spoke wheels (which may be aftermarket).

-- We think we?ve seen those kinda cool non-rectilinear doors on something before, but we can?t place it. Any suggestions?

Anyway this masterpiece of Chinese, er, creative borrowing looks to be powered by an inline-four mated to a four-speed manual transmission, and it can be yours for just $9,000.

We have no idea how or if it can be legally registered here in the States, but it?s here and someone managed to put 10,500 miles on the clock so maybe it?d be best not to ask too many questions.

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Source: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20130711/CARNEWS01/130719960?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=

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