Willys Jeeps.
It would be quite incorrect to discuss transport in Colombia without discussing the Willys Jeep.
In 1952 Willys, having lost the military market with the end of WW2 were casting about for new markets and struck on Colombia. It was a perfect choice as the inland parts of Colombia where the Coffee grows is all very steep ground and normal vehicles could make no ground there. Willys arrived with some jeeps and a team of really experienced drivers who did some clever stuff like driving up and down Town Hall steps fully loaded and the local boys were sold. The whole Coffee area is still dependent on the Willys, many of them the original ones, for transport and taxis and the local word, Yipao, has become part of the language meaning ‘the load carried by a Willys’ and is still used to indicate any bulk load like Fertiliser, Coffee or Bananas. There is a fiesta each year in the State of Quindío in which the game is to drive a Willys fully loaded with whatever you can get aboard including the kids around a pretty demanding route.
Wonderful day!
As those who know me will know I am a big fan of the Spanish Pegaso having driven one for a living whilst I lived in Spain and having restored a Comet of my own.
I had heard that there were some still working in Colombia and was delighted to find this one, just by chance, with a heavy looking load of live Chickens, A friend managed to get a picture as we overtook.
Its the model that was informally called a Square Cab (Cabina Cuadrada) and will be from the early or mid 70s.
Made my day!
Well that’s the lot from this trip. Hope you found them interesting.
David Miller:
Wonderful day!
As those who know me will know I am a big fan of the Spanish Pegaso having driven one for a living whilst I lived in Spain and having restored a Comet of my own.
I had heard that there were some still working in Colombia and was delighted to find this one, just by chance, with a heavy looking load of live Chickens, A friend managed to get a picture as we overtook.
Its the model that was informally called a Square Cab (Cabina Cuadrada) and will be from the early or mid 70s.
Made my day!
1
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Well that’s the lot from this trip. Hope you found them interesting.
David
Hi David,
Great set of photo’s thanks for sharing them, was the Pegaso you drove the same style as the one above or the later Enasa Daf/Sed Ak version?
Hello Pete.
I was lucky enough to drive the upgrade of this model - just a small cab front panel design change really - which was the last of the ‘real’ Pegasos before the big foreign money arrived. A six wheeler with a Hiab it had the Pegaso 6 cylinder - a Leyland built on licence - with the Leyland 6 speed box and a two speed axle.
The new models, Troner and Trakker, we’re a big improvement in every respect but we’re actually 95% Iveco who quickly dropped the whole pretence and marketed their own product though with a small Pegaso badge. A sad end to a great marque.
There’s a reason it looks like a Merc - the heavier end of Foton’s range are licence-built M-B vehicles based on older Axor/ Actros.
David Miller:
2
Hino FF - a mainstay of many a SE Asian country’s haulage, my first introduction to doing interstate removals in Oz many years ago, and still trundling around here 30 years later.
David Miller:
Hello Pete.
I was lucky enough to drive the upgrade of this model - just a small cab front panel design change really - which was the last of the ‘real’ Pegasos before the big foreign money arrived. A six wheeler with a Hiab it had the Pegaso 6 cylinder - a Leyland built on licence - with the Leyland 6 speed box and a two speed axle.
The new models, Troner and Trakker, we’re a big improvement in every respect but we’re actually 95% Iveco who quickly dropped the whole pretence and marketed their own product though with a small Pegaso badge. A sad end to a great marque.
is this anything like your Spanish steed.
