Jeepney

[Pol]

Ian may remember me talking about this Jeepney a while ago. It was brought over from the Philippines to be used as a feature in the Philippine Village Craft Centre in Kent. Yobs vandalised it before the owner had a chance to get it running fully and it would have been too expensive to repair, MOT and insure for passengers so it was left on a rough patch near the entrance to the Craft Centre.

Sad to report it's now gone from the site so I'm glad I still have a few old photos, both digital files and album prints.




Pol

[Ian]

Re: Jeepney

Thanks Pol! They still exist in the wild Here is one I snapped last year when I was fortunate enough to have a brief visit to see my Mum's family in June last year. This was out in the provinces and the day was a bit gloomy:



Jeepneys used to be adapted ex-Vietnam US Army jeeps, but for a long time now they have been manufactured locally. They are still being made today, but I sensed that they are beginning to decline in numbers and most are not as colourfully decorated as they used to be (like the one you snapped).

Ian

[Pops]

Re: Jeepney

I could take to one of those if ... i was a few months younger

[Pol]

Re: Jeepney

Thanks Pol! They still exist in the wild Here is one I snapped last year when I was fortunate enough to have a brief visit to see my Mum's family in June last year. This was out in the provinces and the day was a bit gloomy:

Jeepneys used to be adapted ex-Vietnam US Army jeeps, but for a long time now they have been manufactured locally. They are still being made today, but I sensed that they are beginning to decline in numbers and most are not as colourfully decorated as they used to be (like the one you snapped).

Ian

Thanks for that. Its lovely to see one in service - a nice one too!

We hadn't been to the Craft Centre for a year or two so we went recently to see what was happeneing there and that's when we discovered it had gone. the entire site seems to have been cleared, just one or two small warehouses now as far as I could tell.

I was as sick as a parrot it had gone because I'd been hoping the owner would decide to go ahead and repair it. The engine was still ok at the time I took the pictures but the owner wasn't allowed to carry passengers in it until it was insured - and he couldn't insure it unless the yob damage was repaired and it had passed an MOT.

I also managed to get a few snaps of the ornaments on the bonnet, though I'd have to dig deep to find them.

If you go back do please grab more shots of any you see - maybe even ride on one again and snap as you go.

Pol

[Ian]

Re: Jeepney

Thanks for that. Its lovely to see one in service - a nice one too!

We hadn't been to the Craft Centre for a year or two so we went recently to see what was happeneing there and that's when we discovered it had gone. the entire site seems to have been cleared, just one or two small warehouses now as far as I could tell.

I was as sick as a parrot it had gone because I'd been hoping the owner would decide to go ahead and repair it. The engine was still ok at the time I took the pictures but the owner wasn't allowed to carry passengers in it until it was insured - and he couldn't insure it unless the yob damage was repaired and it had passed an MOT.

I also managed to get a few snaps of the ornaments on the bonnet, though I'd have to dig deep to find them.

If you go back do please grab more shots of any you see - maybe even ride on one again and snap as you go.

Pol

Jeepneys are quite good fun to ride in for a short period, but they are actually cramped (especially for my 5'11" frame), noisy, and they have rock hard suspension, so bumpy too - and you have to see the roads!

I'll see if I can dig out any more shots.

As you may know I'm in the middle of cataloguing all my digital images using Lightroom as a DAM. I have reached 32,000 images over the last 12 years! I think I am half way through... it's a real revelation, a journey through time!

It was the ability to key word search my archive that I was able to find the Jeepney shot I posedt

Ian

[Pol]

Re: Jeepney

Jeepneys are quite good fun to ride in for a short period, but they are actually cramped (especially for my 5'11" frame), noisy, and they have rock hard suspension, so bumpy too - and you have to see the roads!

I'll see if I can dig out any more shots.

As you may know I'm in the middle of cataloguing all my digital images using Lightroom as a DAM. I have reached 32,000 images over the last 12 years! I think I am half way through... it's a real revelation, a journey through time!

It was the ability to key word search my archive that I was able to find the Jeepney shot I posedt

Ian

Yeah, the Jeepney at the Craft Centre didn't look too comfortable inside. Bench seats and probably meant for no more than about 6 passengers in the back - though I imagine more would squash inside along with their bags.

I have some snapshots of the interior too. They're on a CD somewhere as I stored them before I got external drives. I'm not as organised as you with the files but my old CDs are neatly stored in a CD wallet gizmo. I came across the one I posted only last week when one of our sons asked for the file after coming across my 12 x 8 print of it.

I'll see if I can find any others that might be worthy of processing and posting. I'd also be interested to see yours. They look like fun - as were all those brightly painted VW beetles and Minis during the 60s.

Pol

[rogleale]

Re: Jeepney

I lived in the Philippines for a couple of years in the 80s and the smaller versions of the jeepney were very popular, especially among the US servicemen based there. The original models were, of course, revamped US military jeeps left over from the war, but they had been developed into a whole range of private vehicles. You could order one to be specially built and it could be built in ordinary steel, galvanised steel, or stainless steel, usually based on a Toyota engine and transmission. The stainless version was especially popular among the US military for taking back to the US.
I expect that they are still being built to order in some back streets.

Roger

[Pol]

Re: Jeepney

I lived in the Philippines for a couple of years in the 80s and the smaller versions of the jeepney were very popular, especially among the US servicemen based there. The original models were, of course, revamped US military jeeps left over from the war, but they had been developed into a whole range of private vehicles. You could order one to be specially built and it could be built in ordinary steel, galvanised steel, or stainless steel, usually based on a Toyota engine and transmission. The stainless version was especially popular among the US military for taking back to the US.
I expect that they are still being built to order in some back streets.

Roger

It gets even more interesting. I wish the one that was brought over here hadn't been vandalised by mindless yobs!

It would've been a good tourist attraction for the Philippine Village Craft Centre, which is why they had gone to the trouble and expense of bringing it over.

Here are more pictures I've dug out from my archives. All of them shot back in 2006. Not especially good ones but they're all I have and all I'm likely to get now.

The nearside as it lay in the rough area near the entrance to the craft centre.



View of the highly decorated bonnet



A closer shot of one of the horse ornaments



... and a picture of the interior as seen from the platform at the back.



Pol

[rogleale]

Re: Jeepney

The things that I remember most about them, and the best reasons for avoiding travelling in them, were the venetian blinds or fringes inside the windscreens that the driver tried to peer through, the large piles of music cassettes piled up inside the windscreen, and the deafening music that was always playing. Of course you often had to share the inside with a goat or two as well!

Roger