As Seen by TV

The Philippine Military Academy, located just south of Baguio City, is where future officers of the Philippine Armed Forces are trained. Don’t have much more info on this I’m afraid… and as you can tell by my pics, I was a little infatuated by the modified [civilian] jeeps.

Well, it’s been a while… I was away on holiday throughout the northern Philippines for the better part of the past 3 weeks, getting away from the Chinese [festivities].
1300+ images captured, and 200+ concentrated on the infamous Philippine jeepney.

So, seems only fitting that my first post should be the various jeepneys I came across during my trip…
The word “jeepney” itself is derived from the words ‘jeep’ (off-road vehicle) and ‘jitney’ (shared taxi). The original generation of jeepneys were made from military jeeps left over by American soldiers, but as you can see in the images below, they were somewhat modified, as to accommodate roughly 22 people. They run like buses without bus stops, and what also struck me as odd, is that not only can you ride on the roof (outside the cities), but that payment is made via the honor system (which sure as hell would not work in China). Most also now run on Isuzu engines, which is somewhat ironic considering the circumstances (FYI: the Americans were fighting the Japanese when they transported the jeeps over in the first place).

The painting is done almost entirely by hand, and it was so incredibly refreshing to see some color (that didn’t involved blinking lights) and more importantly: artistic creativity, which is severely lacking in China, to say the very least.

Think your commute is bad?  Check out a video I took of mine: People’s Square @ Rush Hour (alternate link).

I wish I could travel in some sort of style, like in this BAW (Beijing Automobile Works) BJ2022 Brave Warrior MkII, a Chinese-style Hummer (“Han Ma“, or Bold Horse in Chinese), even though a Chinese company currently owns Hummer (view American reactions here).

Sure, one could say it is a copy of the American HMMWV (“Humvee/Hummer”), but we would also have to mention the Hummer was copied off the Lamborghini Cheetah (built in California by Lambo for the US military) which, in turn was copied off the XR311.
Fun fact: the US Army crashed and destroyed the only prototype Cheetah and never returned it to Lambo, 3 years later the Hummer emerged.

Lamborghini eventually scrapped the Cheetah (most likely in part due to it’s nutty 3-gear 5.9L V8 Chrysler engine), then built the LM001, and in 1986 unveiled the LM002 (aka the “Rambo Lambo“) production model at the Brussels Auto Show, one of the coolest and most sought after cars of the 1980′s with it’s 42 valve 5.2L V12 engine taken out of the Countach (also undoubtedly one of the coolest cars of the 80′s).   The LM002 subsequently held the record for most horsepower in a SUV (455HP) for over 20 years until Porsche manufactured it’s most powerful engine ever and produced the Cayenne Turbo S (550HP).
Only 301 LM002′s were ever built in it’s 7 year lifespan and I have been lucky enough to see one in the flesh on the mean streets of Overschie, Holland back in the mid 90′s.  I still remember it like it were yesterday, with those custom Scorpion tires… what a beast.
Fun fact #2: Hunter S. Thompson (a hero of mine) owned one.
Fun fact #3: Iraq, 2004; not knowing it’s value or rarity, the US military (irony?) found a LM002 that had belonged to Uday Hussein and used it to “simulate the effects of a car bomb”.  Boom.  Only the engine “survived”… talk about war crimes.

Read more about the Lamborghini LM002 here.

[überholprestige- German term for the ability of a car to intimidate drivers into moving out out the way]