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An index of affluence for Filipino in the days of the American rule was the possession of an automobile. To this day, having a car—next to owning a house—continues to top the list of goals of every working Pinoy. After all, a car was more than just a functional transportation invention; it was a status symbol, a statement of success to be driven and flaunted on the road.
Image 2: HORSELESS CARRIAGES. Automobiles along the
shopping district, Calle Escolta. 1920s.
This obsession with cars is reflected in the current number of vehicles that were registered in the Philippines in 2017, reaching an all-time high of over 10.4 million units. It is inconceivable to think that less than century ago, in 1928, there were only 19,791 automobiles in our islands, mostly concentrated in our cities and major town centers where majority of the good roads and thoroughfares were.
For all the years that Spain ruled the Philippines, it had very little to show when it came to its public works records. The task of road and bridge-building was often undertaken by their missionaries. When the Americans took over, they were aghast at what the natives had to undergo to travel from one town to another. For example, a man living in a sitio some 100 miles from the city had to equip himself with 3 horses to reach Manila, and—due to extreme road conditions-- he could not always be sure that he could reach the city on a living horse!
Eventually, the Americans, through the Bureau of Public Works, embarked on an extensive, national road-building that saw dramatic increase in kilometrage of all classes of roads. By the end of the 1920s, over 12 thousand kilometers of new roads had been added, speeding up the transport of goods and products to key markets, and spurring livelier economic activities. Rich Filipinos began discovering too, that these new highways were also the perfect avenues on which to display himself and his grand equipage—the automobile.
Image 4: A FORD YOU CAN AFFORD. Ford Model T, 1914
model. The people’s car was so affordable, prices started at $400. Photo:
Wikimedia commons.
Nothing impacted the nation’s mobility , so much as the automobile—the rickety, sputtering, still-imperfect machine that arrived in the final years of the 20th century. German engineer Karl Benz is credited with developing the first motorcar in his workshop in 1885, which, in a test run, covered a distance of 1 kilometer at a speed of 15 kph.
The building of a single car, however, took many months; it was left to American Henry Ford to find a way to shorten the process. This, he did, by introducing a conveyor-belt moving assembly line in 1913, that could put together an automobile in just 90 minutes, making the production of cars commercially viable. The result of Ford’s breakthrough efforts was the introduction of the affordably-priced Ford’s Model T—“ a car for the multitude”—launching the era of popular motoring around the world.
Image 5: BEFORE THE CAR, WAS THE CARROMATA. Mode of
public transport before the advent of cars were horse-drawn carriages of all
shapes and sizes called carromatas, calesas, caruajes and quiles.
As an American-ruled territory, the introduction of the automobile to our islands was assured. For their modes of transport, Filipinos were used to riding animal-pulled vehicles—like the caruajes ( also known as “rokabays”, must-haves for prominent Filipinos), quiles, caretons, calesas and, in the rural areas, the wheel-less, sled-like paragos.
Now, the prospect of owning this modern
motorized wonder was becoming a reality.
The first automobile in the country was brought in by the famous “La Estrella del Norte”, a department store founded by the Levy Brothers that started as a watch and jewelry shop in Iloilo. In the early 1900s, the flourishing ‘La Estrella” opened a large branch along Escolta, and diversified its inventory of stocks to include bicycles, phonographs, moving picture machines—the first of their kind to be seen in the country.
Image 6: LA ESTRELLA AUTO PALACE, Dealer of Essex,
Hudson, and spectacular Dodge cars. 1929.
The La Estrella car was acquired by a medical doctor of note, Dr. Juan Miciano, a UST physician. The automobile was a French-made Richard-Brasier, that came all the way from the Paris car manufacturing plant founded by Charles-Henri Brasier and partner r. On an average, it took a little over 3 months to ship an automobile from Europe or the U.S., to Manila.
Though extremely expensive (over Three Thousand Pesos, roughly $1,540) in the first decade of the 20th century, automobiles found ready buyers, mostly from Manila’s elite set, like Don Benito Legarda who bought a Renault in 1904.
Image 7: CHEVY RUNS DEEP. Lucy Martin, a popular vaudeville
dancer who performed in Manila, drove a Chevrolet during her stay in the
islands. Late 1920s.
Efficiency in car manufacturing brought prices down significantly, and cars were soon being snapped up through easy installment plans. Vaudeville star dancer Lucy Martin even bought a Chevrolet while performing here in Manila in the late 1920s. Other favorite cars included the Blackhawk, a lower-priced companion car to the Safety Stutz, the speedy Hupmobile, and Chrysler’s De Soto.
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Image 9: BACHRACH AND ROLL. The first commercial
automobile imports company was the Bachrach Motor Co., founded by Emil
Bachrach. 1940 ad.
1907 marked another milestone with the establishment of the first commercial automobile imports in the Philippines by Russian-born American, Emil Bachrach, who had come to the Philippines in 1901 to look for his fortune. His early enterprises included a watch shop, a credit company, and a furniture business that proved to be very successful.
Image 10: 1929
BACHRACH MOTOR CO. AD for DURANT TRUCKS AND NASH CARS.
The visionary, in anticipation of the growth of the automotive industry, opened a new company, Bachrach Motors, and snagged the lucrative Ford Motor franchise, Thus, that same year, the very popular Model T was launched in the Philippines. It would later add Nash, Packard, Chalmers, Cadillac and Willys Overland in its roster of vehicle brands. Bachrach Motors remained in business for long, fruitful years---supplemented with a Garage and Taxicab Co. and the Rapid Transit Co., the first bus line of Manila. After Bachrach died in 1937, the operations was continued by his family, ceasing only in the mid 1960s.
Image 11: CONVERGENCE POINT. Plaza Goiti (now Plaza
Lacson) was a busy meeting point of vehicles—from calesas, streetcars and
automobiles. 1920s.
The advent of the automobile—that noisy, but irresistible symbol of 20th century progress—did not banish the horse overnight. But many Filipinos began transforming their livery stables into spacious garages for their modern vehicles. The plazas of Manila became the convergence points of caruajes, calesas and now, the automobiles. But in bustling Escolta, touted as Manila’s Fifth Avenue, the spanking new automobile reigned supreme. Daily, Iberian señoritas, well-heeled families and their uniformed chauffeurs, all church-bound to Tondo, Sampaloc and Sta. Cruz would pass by the busy, cosmopolitan street.
IMAGE 12: MACONDRAY & CO. dealer of De Soto cars;
FRENCH MOTOR CO., sole agent for the Graham Sedan 1928.
The demand for cars spurred the growth of the automotive industry, and revolutionized commercial transportation in the country. As a result, entrepreneurs cashed in on the auto boom by going into car dealerships in Manila and beyond. The 1920s and 1930s ushered in the golden age of Philippine motoring, with international car models appearing on our new city avenues and boulevards.
Image 13: BLACKHAWK, named after an Indian chief, was
one of the most promoted cars in the Philippines in 1929. It was manufactured
by the Stutz Motor Car Company in Indianapolis from 1929 to 1930.
Levy Hermanos, for example, spun off the Estrella Auto Palace from its main “La Estrella” store in Escolta. The car dealership on Gandara St. offered the spectacular Dodge Super 6, Essex and Hudson models in 1929. At its peak, it carried 21 different car and truck brands, operating fully until the 1950s.
Image 14: LUNETA MOTOR CO. One of the biggest and most
popular car dealers in the country, with a big showroom in Escolta. It was
known for its posh Chrysler-Plymouth automobiles. 1938.
Luneta Motor Co., in Plaza San Luis, was another famous go-to place for prestige brands like Chrysler-Plymouth, which came on sale in the mid 1920s. In 1937, the company mounted car shows that demonstrated the strength and durability of the car. In 1955, Luneta Motor Co. also undertook distributorship of jeepney bodies made by Francisco Body Builders (soon to become Francisco Motors Corp.), which was then appointed to assemble Ford Consul and Thames trucks for the premiere auto dealer, that was in business until the 1960s.
Image 15: FORD
CARS by MANTRADE. Manila Trading and
Supply Co. was into office equipment and rubber products before selling cars.
It is now called Nissan-Mantrade. HUPMOBILE, a very popular car model, as
advertised by PARSONS HARDWARE CO. 1929 ads.
Along Malecon Drive is located the Manila Trading and Supply Co. (the future Mantrade), which began as a dealer of various branded products---office machines (Remington typewriter), rubber materials (United States Rubber), and later, automobiles by Ford. In 1920, it focused exclusively on being a Ford dealer, and pre-war branches were put up all over the country, including a showroom in Escolta.
It reorganized after the war and put up an assembly plant in 1955. The American-owned company would go on to sell Ford brands, like Cortina, Thames, Transit and Taunus. In the 1960s, ownership was transferred to a group of Filipino businessmen, and continued to lead the way in car dealership. Today, after over 100 years, it is still in operation, known by its new name, Nissan Mantrade.
Image 17: FILLER’UP.
Print ad for Shell Fuels and Motor Oil, from the Asiatic Petroleum Co. (P.I.)
Ltd., and Associated Gasolineand Cycol Motor Oil, from Associated Oil co. 1930s
ad.
With the arrival of automobiles came the rise of gas and service stations. Fuel companies like Shell (through the Asiatic Fuel Co.) and Associated Oil Co. were already around by then, and expanded their product line to include motorcar fuels and oils. Standard Oil. Co, of New York was also supplying filling stations with Socony oil and lubricants.
Image 18: SERVICE WITH A SMILE. A 1920s ad of the Motor Service Co., supplier of car accessories and genuine replacement parts.
Maintenance and auto supplies shop, like the Motor Service Co., Inc, offered tires, tubes, replacement parts and accessories through its Central Auto Supply branch along Avenida, cor Azcarraga St.
Image 19: THREE MEN AND A CAR. Three Filipino dandies
take their large car of unknown make to Baguio. 1936.
Image 20: MERCURY
RISING. A student shows off his new Mercury, a premium car produced by Ford
Motor Co. Late 1940s photo
A maximum speed limit of 8 miles per hour was set within Manila in 1920, which was oftentimes violated by reckless drivers. By then, there were already 8,000 automobiles plying the city roads at all hours.
Image 21: THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST. The consequence of
driving too fast. The driver punctured a tire, swerved in to a ditch and lost
control of his car. 1938 photo.
The number of accidents continued to mount however. The most common traffic violation was overspeeding. A 1933 newspaper account observed: “Our motorists have developed a mania for speed, resulting in the inevitable consequence of suffering from accidents and the tragedy of either death or injury of the passengers of the car”. Other reasons include not having the right of way, wrong passing and not making signals when turning.
Image 22: TALLERES DE AUTOMOBILES, or Manila Motor
Works, an early auto repair and service shop founded by former mechanic Pedro
Reyes in 1928. Photo from Progress Magazine, 1958.
But one man’s car crashes can be another man’s livelihood. Motor shop repairs were soon being set up, and enjoyed good business, as in the case of the Manila Motor Works. In 1928, Pedro Reyes, a former mechanic of Pacific Commercial Co., and a shop superintendent of Teal Motor Co., founded his Talleres de Automobiles along Avenida, and grew it to become the nation’s most progressive and reliable auto body repair shop and truck body builder until the 1950s.
Image 23: AVENIDA MADNESS. Bumper-to-bumper traffic
along Avenida Rizal, with calesas and automobiles jockeyng for positions on the
4-lane avenue
Image 24: IT’S WORTH THE TRIP. Members of a family
makes a stopover at Kennon Road in their spacious late 40s model Oldsmobile.
The postwar years saw more Filipinos owning cars, and making more trips to
other parts of the country, boosting domestic tourism. Photo from 1957.
Still, it could not be denied that the automobile allowed a man his physical freedom never thought possible. Where before, an islander’s only world was his water-locked town, or that rural folks could only visualize the sights and sounds of a city, the car has given him the power to travel like the wind, to extend the boundaries of his experience, to feel the emotions of many regions and many cultures, in effect, to explore his Filipino-ness.
Various 1929 Graphic Magazine issues:
“A Bit of Transportation History”. 30
Oct. 1929, p. 8
“Traveling Like the Wind”. 25 Sep. 1929,
p. 14
“Evolution of the Automobile”,30 Oct.
1929, p. 10
“Lure of the Highway”, 6 Nov. 1929, p.
44.
