First Ever Collector Car Exchanged with the United States and China

The label “Made in China” is not to new to the United States, unless it’s on a car. Although China is one of the world’s oldest civilizations, they’ve only been making cars for fifty years, starting with the production of their Red Flag.

The Red Flag sedan was initially produced in 1958 for Chairman Mao Zedong. It was handmade and produced in small numbers for use by high ranking Chinese officials and foreign dignitaries; approximately 1,500 Red Flag were built until the late 1970’s.

A Red Flag has never entered the United States...until now!

Don Williams, avid car collector and Museum President/Owner of the prominent Blackhawk Collection discovered the Red Flag in his travels to China over the past three years. “I wanted the car from the moment I laid eyes on it, who wouldn’t want one of China’s very first cars”, reflects Williams in a press release. After a great deal of patience and relationship building, Williams became the owner of a Red Flag and obtained permission from the Chinese government to bring the car to America.

The first Chinese collector car to be exchanged in the United States with China will be unveiled in a special ceremony Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at the Blackhawk Auto Museum in California. In his forty years of collector car industry experience, Don Williams knows that the car has far more than monetary value as it represented China’s cultural history. He states, “This exchange represents cultural and automotive history as a collector car has never left China before, nor has China been able to purchase collector cars from outside the country.”

Williams will be joined by several Chinese dignitaries and the media when the historic exchange will take place. After the ceremony, the Red Flag will be on display to the general public at the Blackhawk Museum.

You can find out more information about Don William’s Blackhawk Museum on their website.