The jeep and the Fort, the hip name used by developers to what was Fort Bonifacio, go a long way back.

In the 1940s, when Fort Bonifacio was named Fort McKinley, the US Army held training exercises with the Philippine Army for World War II preparations, used the jeep.

The jeep was an important part of the world’s history, and of course, Manila shared an equally important role in history, too, during that time of war.

The original jeep was the father of the four-wheel drive vehicle. The us Army commissioned there US car manufacturers, namely Ford, Willys-overdrive and Bantam to produce jeeps for the coming war. Although most found its design to be ugly, performance-wise, detractors’ jaws fell in the ground when the capacity of the jeep was demonstrated to them. Of course, at that time, whoever saw a vehicle that can be driven through rough dirt terrain or snow, can endure harsh weather and effectively transport goods, weapons and men? During that time, only the jeep did the job.

The history of the jeep in this country began during the closing months of 1941.

The three pre-production prototypes of jeeps – the Ford GP, Bantam BRC and Willys MA models – were in the Philippines even before the outbreak of the Second World War.

There are even reports that during the last few days of 1941, when the arrival of the Japanese forces were imminent, the US Army threw open its warehouses in the Port Area and invited Filipinos to take out what they wanted: foodstuff, clothing, and vehicles, including jeeps.

In October 20, 1944, when Gen. MacArthur returned to the country and landed in Leyte, the first of the standardized (and popular) Willys MB an Ford GPW model jeeps touched Philippine soil, and that was the beginning of the Filipino’s love for the jeep.

Perhaps a small number of jeeps were “released” to the public via the black market by US soldiers.

Apart form the US army, a large operator of jeeps was the Philippine government, both the administrative and civilian agencies as well as the Philippine army, which by this time had been given large numbers of almost new jeeps and trucks.

The first Filipino jeepney was the autocalesa, the remaking of the military jeep.

Soon, the jeepney was extended at the rear to accommodate three seated passengers on each side, which made a total of nine paying passengers : this was termed the IPU, the forerunner of today’s jeepneys or PUJ’s.

Naturally, all of these jeeps required spare parts for repair and replacement purposes. Because of this, there grew an equally thriving business of importing spare parts from various surplus disposal yards of the US army into the country. Of interest was Champion Auto Supply, which specialized in military vehicle parts. But the jeep part that suffered the most in our tropical high humidity environment was the body, and the body was quite rare and difficult to obtain. Thus, several companies began to manufacture body parts and panels via stamping, which was the way the original supplier of Willys and Ford did it.

Foremost among these entrepreneurs were the MD Juan group (descendant of the aforementioned Champion Auto Supply), Vice Automotive and much later, Genmarc. Of the three, only the Juan group remains, and the quality of the machine stamped bodies it produces are well-respected by military jeep restorers all over the world.

In fact, the country is already known on the map of historical jeep restoration worldwide, thanks to the pioneering efforts of Mr. Maximino “Minong” Dionisio Juan or MD Juan, founder of MD Juan Enterprises Inc., which was able to create a global niche by being the only source in South East Asia for historically accurate, hard to find jeeps and jeep replacement parts.

Now run by the second and third generation, MD Juan maintains the largest network in the international market. Right now, the Philippines remains one of the most fertile grounds for jeep surplus buyers in Australia, Europe and the US.

Philippine Jeep Preservation Foundation in US Show

Representatives of the Philippine Jeep Preservation Foundation (PJPF) recently participated in the largest nonmilitary gathering of vintage military vehicles in the past 17 years – the 30th annual East Coast Rally in the US state of Maryland.

The PJPF is an NGO dedicated to restoring and preserving one of the great links in military history between the US and the Philippines, which is the original jeep. The Annual East Coast Military Vehicle Rally is sponsored by the Washington area collectors and the Military Vehicle Preservation Association of America.