RICARDO Miguel is among the top assemblers of military jeeps in Bulacan. CARMELA REYES-ESTROPE
FOR A GROUP of vehicle enthusiasts in Central Luzon, owning a piece of history gives them an unusual thrill and pride.
Roberto Bautista, 47, says he and some 50 other collectors of vintage American military jeeps in San Isidro, Nueva Ecija, are bound by their love for the sturdy war-time vehicles that they have resurrected from junkyards and farms.
His group, Bautista says, maintains military jeeps and displays them in car shows, Independence Day parades, fiesta celebrations and other town events.
These collectors, called “Jeepers,” often draw curious onlookers as they drive the vehicles while wearing war-time military uniforms and carrying toy guns.
Florante Casayuran, president of the 100-member Military Vehicle Collectors Club of the Philippines (MVCCP), says the jeeps, called Willys, have long been in the country even before World War II in the 1940s.
He says farmers use them to negotiate muddy farm roads and to transport people and produce. Many are still found in rural areas in Nueva Ecija, Pampanga and Bulacan.
Casayuran says the vehicles were part of the Military Utility Tactical Truck (MUTT) line, also composed of Kennedy and Hummer type jeeps, used by American soldiers during the last war.
Recently, the village of Bulihan in Plaridel, Bulacan, hosted the collectors who gathered at the shop of Ricardo Miguel, a military jeep assembler.
Bautista, a former car mechanic who worked in the Middle East, says he used to assemble jeepneys and his passion for vintage military jeeps even drives his wife to fits of jealousy.
“We often drive these vehicles as a group and take them through mountain roads … We might get sick if we fail to drive them. We take care of them and ensure that they are always clean and flashy,” he says.
Jerome Lumawag, 49, a seed analyst at the Philippine Rice Research Institute in Nueva Ecija, says driving his jeep perks him up. His 1942 Ford GPW (General Purpose Willys) bagged awards for best restored jeep, best engine display and best military jeep recognition during a recent vehicle show competition in Gapan City.
Romulo Lastimosa, 70, a retired US Navy employee, says maintaining vintag
COLLECTORS of vintage military jeeps are proud owners of pieces of history. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
e military jeeps is an expensive past time, but he does not regret doing it.
Lastimosa, who worked as part of the maintenance crew of the US Navy, maintains eight vintage jeeps and ensures that their engine parts are replaced only by genuine ones.
“It has to be, in all sense, natural. The old genuine parts are gold to us. As much as possible, we wanted them to have the 1940s-era parts,” he says.
MD Juan Enterprises based in Novaliches, Quezon City, serves the needs for spare parts of military jeep collectors in the country and abroad.
Pacita Juan, vice president for finance of MD Juan Enterprises, says her father, Dr. Maximino Juan, a dentist by profession, started dealing in Ford and Willys replacement parts in 1946 when he saw the need for repair and maintenance of military jeeps abandoned after the war.
About 100,000 military jeeps were released by the US government during World War II and many of these were used in the Philippines.