Start with what the Dongfeng CA71 is: a 4-door sedan with 1.9 L M121 I4, built from 1958 to 1961, at the height of the post-war boom. What it meant takes a little longer.
Where it came from
The Dongfeng CA71 (simplified Chinese: 东风CA71; traditional Chinese: 東風CA71) is a medium-size luxury car made by the Chinese automobile manufacturer First Automotive Works (FAW) and produced in small numbers in 1958. It was the first passenger car to be produced entirely in China.
Under the skin
The engine is 1.9 L M121 I4. On the scales it comes to 1230 kg. Drive goes through a 3-speed manual. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 2700 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
In the Dongfeng line-up the Dongfeng CA71 has a clear place: it handed the line to the Hongqi CA7200; the factory was Changchun, China. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Mini Mini, the Nissan Skyline, the Fiat 500. Nearby in the Dongfeng catalogue sit the Dongfeng Fengshen L7 and the Front Drive Motor.
Owning one today
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Dongfeng CA71 has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.