My Grandfather And His Jeep

By Gregory Paul

My elementary years were spent in a rustic barrio in the highlands of a mountainous province in the Philippines. It wasn't that far away but due to road conditions back then, a trip to the nearest city would take about 6 hours and my hometown was 8 hours away.

My grandfather was a former city boy who later in his life opted and has grown to love rural living. About once a month he would take us back to our city hometown to visit our relatives. Back in the city during those days, I would envy those who were in cars with rolled up windows and air conditioning. I would often dream of one day traveling and arriving in my hometown in a brand new automobile enclosed and protected from dust and heat.

It is astonishing to me then when i see people approach my grandpa and rave to him about our awesome ride; how easy and quick is it for us to get to our hometown from where we came from. I would hear them say they would trade anything that they own just to have a jeep like my grandpa's. Are they for real? They have brand new cars and ours was a pre-owned piece of metal.

That old jeep was purchased second hand by my grandfather. Firstly, he had it repainted a deep brown shade for a new look. Originally, the jeep didn't have comfortable front seats so grandpa found some seats of an old car and had it reupholstered.

The trips we had with that jeep were really long ones. Grandpa always got gasoline rations from his company, and sometimes would receive gifts in the form of gasoline rations from some uncles. He had that kind of effect on people. A lot of guys always wanted to please him and make him happy. The original gasoline tank that didn't hold so much just wouldn't do so he installed this tank from an old truck. It ate up all of the front row area under the seats.

Grandpa had leather roofings installed on the jeep. He had a little electric fan connected to the ride, and installed his portable miniature television set to it. Despite me wanting a new car so much back then, I have to admit we did have an awesome ride.

The jeep served me from the third grade, and I remembered my grandpa took me to the airport when I was leaving to attend college in the capital. It served me then for more than a decade already. When I came home after graduation, sadly he was too old to make the trip. The jeep was still serving him though.

The jeep might have been owned by somebody else before we had it, but it gave to us service that no other vehicle of ours to this day ever did. It has exceeded all expectations and the amount of memories we had in that jeep is by far more precious than any other rig we ever had.

Truly, used cars if loved and cared for can prove to be of greater value than new ones. Ours was by far the most precious ride of all. - 29952

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