In the early 1970’s, the Philippine Armed Forces, under Ferdinand Marcos’ newly established dictatorship, felt that it was in the position to have an indigenous light utility vehicle of its own. A few ideas ultimately came up, with only one of them being put into mass service by the Army and Constabulary.
In late 1976, Quezon stepped up to this requirement on recommendation by a few politicians, confident with its experience in manufacturing thus gained so far from its UAMC partnership. The requirements of the Armed Forces were nothing difficult; it needed to be cheap to manufacture, easy to repair, rugged, and dependable.
For this, Quezon took the pre-existing M715 1 1⁄4-ton 4×4 US Military truck as a base, then shrunk and stripped the vehicle down to its most basic tenets. The frame was redesigned by using an enlarged and reinforced version of a jeepney chassis built with 100% galvanized steel. The American 6-cylinder was replaced with Quezon’s own SOHC Straight Six; A marvel of Philippine engineering, it took the UAMC Straight Six engine, eliminated the pushrods, and put the camshaft on top of the valves above the pistons. amazing. It was simple to manufacture, had little parts that needed precise machining, and was almost unkillable.
The resulting vehicle would be designated the M1776. In theory, it seemed like the ideal vehicle; it was reliable, rugged, and modular, allowing it to fill numerous patches in the Army’s inventory. A single frame could be reconfigured as an ambulance, troop carrier, artillery hauler, or any variant needed due to the simplicity of the vehicle’s frame. On top of that, its truck body could also be changed to that of a van, or other enclosed vehicles if need be.
Its durability was also notable. Due to its rather archaic chassis design (leaf sprung suspension all around), spares could readily be made in-situ from spare scraps of metal. The engine, made up of not many moving parts, also made respectable torque and power numbers allowing it to be both dependable and easy to repair on the field. The engine bay was also large enough to fit larger power units such as a V8 if needed.
In practice, however, it was rather expensive compared to simply buying more surplus vehicles from allied countries, and wasn’t entirely proven, as despite being based off of the US Military’s M715, the entire vehicle was almost entirely redesigned for the needs of the Philippines. Manufacturing the vehicle, while initially thought to be easy due to the reusing of old tooling systems from UAMC to produce the body panels, still proved to be difficult due to the overloading of Quezon’s factory in the mid-70’s when foreign and domestic sales were reaching its peak.
Politics was also said to be another factor in the reason for the M1776’s limited service, as it was said that Felipe Quezon — son of Ricardo Quezon, who took over as company chairman following Ricardo’s declining health in 1974 — was reportedly having an affair with another defense-related politician’s wife.
Ultimately, just a little over two hundred M1776 frames would be delivered to the Army, and a few more dozens delivered to the Constabulary from 1976 to 1978, a far cry from the initially envisioned fleet of light support utility vehicles for the Army. Ultimately, other vehicles designed by foreign countries served the needs of the Armed Forces much better than the Quezon.
Even still, the M1776’s that served with the Constabulary and Army performed very well. The Constabulary’s M1776’s were often reserved for use by officers, as they were delivered in a wagon body style exclusive to the agency. The Army typically used the vehicle as a troop carrier in and around their bases.
That was not the end of its story, however. Upon review by a couple of close advisers of President Marcos, they found the M1776 to have more potential as a civilian vehicle, advice that was taken by Quezon and ultimately resulted in the development of the M1776’s non-military counterpart; the Special Built.
Quezon took most of the existing parts of the M1776, and gathered it into a package that could see more mass-market appeal. The overall vehicle was styled much like how a jeepney would be styled, with a large vertical front grille, round headlights, and ostentatious amounts of chrome for higher-trim variants. The vehicle was marketed in three choices of a wagon body style — as the term “sport utility vehicle” had not existed yet — based off the Constabulary M1776’s, a 3-door “jeepney” configuration with internal-facing bench seats, or even as a 2-door pick up with a 6-foot bed.
The Special Built began sales in early 1979 internationally and domestically, arriving in the midst of the 1979 Oil Crisis to more or less become Quezon’s savior during a major economic downturn in the Philippines. A majority of the vehicle’s underpinnings were the exact same as the M1776. The same 100% galvanized steel chassis was retained, and so was the leaf-sprung live-axle suspension and drum brakes. Power steering was offered as an option, but the entire steering system was still an older recirculating-ball style as in older Quezon models.
A variety of engines were offered in the Special Built. One of them was Quezon’s SOHC Straight Six engine, displacing 3.5 litres. It was available with either a triple Hitachi carburetor setup, or a 2-barrel Rochester carburetor. For the lower end, UAMC’s latest and most efficient 2.5-litre Steel Slug inline four was also available and gave fuel economy ratings of up to 10.9 km/L (25.6 mpg-US/30.7 mpg-UK) when equipped with a 4-speed manual transmission. UAMC’s 3-speed Turbo-Hydramatic torque converter automatic transmission was also available as an option on both the four cylinder and six cylinder models. Four-wheel-drive with locking differentials and hi/low gears were also available across all engines, but were rather uncommon especially in the four cylinder equipped models.
Interiors were usually simplistic, with two bench seats in the first and second rows covered in a layer of vinyl. The dashboard was simple, but functional, very much lifted off of the M1776. Third row seating was optional, and came in the form of inside-facing foldable bench seats with optional seatbelts, for a total passenger count of up to 10 people. Doorcards were simply covered in basic cloth, and the windows were manual. The Steel Slug equipped models were powerful enough to have air conditioning available as an option, but still remained relatively rare. Most Special Builts not equipped with the Steel Slug had air conditioning.
It wasn’t all barebones utility, however. For customers with that extra ability to pay (typically politicians within Ferdinand Marcos’ crony ring), Quezon also made more luxurious variants of the Special Built, equipped with a 5.7-litre UAMC Small Block V8 and a 3-speed automatic, and sometimes four-wheel-drive. The V8 Special Builts were the pinnacle of Quezon ostentatiousness during the gilded Martial Law era.
The interiors of V8-equipped Special Builts were done by the bests in the business. Most were custom upholstery jobs that padded the whole interior in soft leather, velour, or wool, eliminating the bench seats for individual captains chairs with power adjustments. Custom sculpted door panels with padded arm rest cushions and additional sound deadening was also typical of the luxury modifications done to the V8 Special Builts. Power-assisted steering, power windows, air conditioning, and alloy wheels were also common features that the V8 Special Builts had.
Export models were also usually just as well equipped interior wise compared to domestic models, especially those sold in North America, which were made to be more appealing to local tastes. Special Builts equipped with the Straight Six engines found themselves with slightly more sculpted leather, velour, or cloth seats and doorcards, with some models eliminating the middle front seat or making it optional. The dashboard was also padded with either soft plastic, vinyl, or cloth. Wood grain trimmings were an available interior option on export models as well.
Luxury aside, their utilitarian design, military-grade ruggedness, ease to work on, and extreme reliability made the Special Built Quezon’s most popular model in the Philippines, with inline-four powered models making up the bulk of sales for these vehicles especially after the oil crisis, while other Quezon models such as the Laguna suffered in sales. The variants equipped with Straight Sixes were the ones typically exported to foreign countries. V8 Special builts were only ever exported to the United States, usually as semi-knocked-down kits and given their stateside-manufactured UAMC V8 engines at small-scale Quezon assembly facilities in California. European, American, and select Asian exports also had HVAC as standard equipment, with second row air conditioning available as an option.
In 1984, Quezon added two diesel engines to the line-up; a 3.9 litre naturally aspirated Izumi 4BD1, which was being introduced in newer jeepneys of the time, as well as a smaller but older 2.4-litre Izumi C240. The engines were imported brand new from Izumi in Japan. The 4BD1 would eventually take over the Steel Slug as the most popular engine choice for domestic Special Built sales due to the low price of diesel in the country during the period.
The vehicle also received a facelift that gave it four rectangular sealed beam headlamps instead of the twin 7-inch circular sealed beams. In addition, UAMC’s new four-speed overdrive 700R4 transmission (regular production option code MD8) would replace the 3-speed automatic. A cassette player and a driver’s airbag were made available options this year, too.
Quezon’s Straight Six also received a redesigned cylinder head that increased compression to 9.25:1. Power increased on models equipped with a 2-barrel carburetor to 104 from 98, and Hitachi carburetor models went from 90 horsepower to 95. The mating surface between the head and the block was also improved to allow better intake and exhaust flow, and to solve the issue of head gasket oil seepage prevalent on the earlier variants of the Straight Six. The newly revised engine received the RPO codes K94 and K96 for the 2-barrel and Hitachi carburetor equipped variants respectively.
1984 would be the last update Quezon would give to the Special Built until 1989 due to the economic nosedive as a result of the spending and stealing of the Marcos government finally catching up to the country, as well as the assasination of exiled former senator Ninoy Aquino a year prior.
In the wake of the economic nosedive, hundreds of workers at the Quezon plant were laid off, sales domestically dropped. The company would cut back on many of its international exports mainly to European countries, shut down its motorsports division, as well as sell its Formula One team to Suisei Heavy Industries. Development on Quezon’s new V6, the potential successor to the Quezon Straight Six, was also halted.
The company also discontinued the slow-selling Princesa luxury sedan, which were typically only ever bought by wealthy corrupt politicians and their corporate partners and rarely exported outside of the country. The V8 Special Builts were discontinued as well. By late 1985, Quezon would only sell vehicles in nearby South East Asian countries, a few major European nations, and the United States.
The country was on the verge of a revolution against the tyrannical Marcos administration, after over a decade of political violence, corruption and cronyism plaguing the country. Felipe Quezon, then chairman of the company, was suspected to be a part of this ring of cronyism and patronism, with a supposedly good majority of the company’s growth being related to its association with the administration and its debt-related spendings and infrastructure projects.
In December of 1985, alleged ties between Quezon and the Marcos government would be revealed in various leaked documents that were found, this led to intense backlash against the company and its stock price going down by 40%. A workers strike and subsequent boycott of Marcos-affiliated companies led by Corazon Aquino in February of 1986 that coincided with the People Power Revolution further led to the company’s health declining.
With the departure of Marcos following the revolution, Quezon was put under investigation by the administration of Cory Aquino. Felipe Quezon stepped down as chairman of Quezon in March 1986 and reportedly fled to Japan with his immediate family naming no successor, leading to an internal power vacuum within the company.
The market liberalization in the Philippines following the revolution and the removal of various government decrees that helped Quezon’s growth further led to it losing more market share within a year. Domestic sales of all Quezon models severely plummeted in the subsequent months and never returned to their previous peaks as a result of Cory Aquino’s investigation into the company, where their true involvement with the previous administration would be found. The company would begin to liquidate certain assets by November 1986 to continue international sales in its essential markets, which — in contrast to domestic sales — were still doing relatively well.
For the most part, by 1987 Quezon would remain standing somehow, but was ultimately on the verge of bankruptcy. Its jeepney building business shut down two years earlier, and after the revolution, UAMC terminated its partnership with Quezon, leaving the Philippine market entirely and leaving Quezon the sole manager of the Quezon City automobile plant. Sales continued in the United States — despite new Quezons no longer being sold through UAMC dealerships — and other South East Asian countries, but exports to Europe had ceased entirely, with sales being limited to whatever leftover stock the dealerships had.
Even still, the Special Built, as tough as ever, remained firm in Quezon’s line up and continued to slowly sell.
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