History Of Jeeps

2 Pages 506 Words

It would be tempting to say that the history of the jeep in the Philippines started with the return of the conquering American forces led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur during the closing days of 1944. This is not true, however. The history of the jeep in this country began much earlier than that.

It began during the closing months of 1941, when the threat of war loomed large in the Philippines and in fact in South East Asia. Just before December 7 of that year, a shipment must have arrived of early jeeps, as well as other cars and trucks. These of course were not the standardized WWII Willys MB or Ford GPW. The earliest Willys MBs were delivered only during November 1941: too late to get to the Philippines before Dec. 7. In all probability, these jeeps delivered before the start of WWII were Willys MAs, Ford GPs, and quite possibly Bantam BRCs.

There are numerous photos of Ford GPs in US Army use during training exercises with the Philippine Army in Fort McKinley, now called Fort Bonifacio, the writer having photos that were published in a contemporary issue of Life Magazine. Further, right after the war, this writer can attest to a Ford GP driving around in Manila, painted light green, with its characteristic axles offset to the left, blue louvered taillights, and script Ford embossed on the tail panel. Noted restorer Danon Dizon from Angeles, Pampanga and now Baltimore, Maryland has photo evidence of an MA in service in the Philippines prior to December 7, 1941. Then again, there are the persistent rumors of a BRC somewhere in Northern Luzon, and there are reports that the Japanese forces captured a Bantam BRC in the Philippines, brought it back to Japan, where it was used as a model for the first Toyota Land Cruiser whose grille and headlamps located on the fenders are reminiscent of the BRC and the MA.

There appears to be no doubt that the three pre-production prototypes (BRC, MA and GP) were in the Philippines even before t...