A MANGLED MASS OF METAL
An Accordion-on-wheels

With no stringent regulations on safety and licensing, backyard production is not uncommon. A license for automotive repair covers for unlicensed build-one-sell-one jeepney production.

With a small investment of welding machines, rivets and drills, acetylene cutters, buffers, and grinders and piecemealing out of work for bending, hoodworks, fenders, center-grilles and sticker-art. A four- to six-week effort can come up with a rectangular hunk of metal-on-wheels, with engine and chassis reincarnate from heaps of Japanese surplus and a motley of scavenged and salvaged worn-out and rusting substandard junkyard parts. To an exterior of galvanized and gleaming stainless steel, borloloy it up with accessories as much as deep pockets can shell out and. . Voila! A rolling symbol of the Filipino's ingenuity, innovativeness and creativity.

Some back-yard production jeepneys are done really on-the-cheap, requiring frequent make-do repairs and maintenance. It is sorely lacking in safety features, poorly maneuverable. The underbelly may be severely wanting of anti-collision reinforcements. It is not uncommon to see one weaving in-and-out of lanes, aggressively overtaking on thread-poor Kojak-tires. . . Alas, a deathtrap-on-wheels.






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