What's the Most Jalop Public Transit Vehicle?

"Mike Villa" (mikethevilla)
11/11/2014 at 20:51 • Filed to: Public Transit, Transportation, Bus, Mexico, Mexico City, Philippines, Manilla

Hello fellow Jalopies!

As this is my first blog-ish type post here, I'll start with a brief introduction of my Jalop-cards:

I'm Mike. Photographer located in the lovely Orange County. Former Motor Trend video producer (may do a post on that). Running a 1972 BMW 2002 with a half-intact interior as my daily (may do a post on that as well). I may not have the assuredly solid advice-giving abilities of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , nor the elegant prose of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , but I have Orloved a Mini Cooper (and then some), and my computer has spell check (somewhere), so those must count for something.

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So. To the topic at hand. Having just returned from Mexico, I was struck by how wonderfully awesome these little green buses running around are. They're the ultimate Jalop buses.

They look old and janky but mildly interesting. Like a hole-in-the-wall Sushi restaurant, they're either harbingers of death, or pleasant surprises disguised in humble trappings.

The looks are one thing, but the reason I bring them to your attention is because of the wonderfully rambunctious tremble they send through your earholes.

You see, the first time I heard one of these (you hear them before you see them), I whipped around right quick-like trying to see what form of '60s American iron was hustling its way through traffic. I was uber disappointed when this muscular beast drove by me without being able to catch the slightest glimpse of it. The janky green/grey bus blocked my view of whatever was creating this magical rhinoceros bellow of an exhaust note! It wasn't until the second janky bus drove by that I realized these things were the cars creating the chaos.

I knew I had to capture a video of one to share this with the good people of Jalopnik and so using my extensive skills learned in gaining my degree in visual journalism, I set out to do so. And failed. I have no audio/video clips to share with you. But hopefully when I mention the words "lumpy small block", "excessive off-throttle overrun", "straight pipe exhaust", and "shotgun-like backfires", your imagination starts to churn.

It was magical.

As a runner up, I'll also mention the Jeepneys that run around Manila, Philippines. Loud, fun, overworked, and always custom. I'm a fan.

Now, I've been a good number of places in the world, and this is by far the most Jalopish form of public transit I've seen. But I haven't been everywhere, so I'm sure other Jalops could throw in some strong contenders as well.

So what's the most Jalop public transit vehicle? Buses, planes, trains, etc... You name it. Anything that carries large numbers of people and is open for public use. In the interest of moderately controlled chaos, let's leave out taxis and other forms of transportation that is for hire (otherwise we'd all be rolling like !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ).

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DISCUSSION (7)

jkm7680 > Mike Villa
11/11/2014 at 20:55

Chevy Express, with a V8 methinks. I know for a fact that Arlington Va. Uses a few of them.

Kinja'd!!!

Vicente Esteve > Mike Villa
11/11/2014 at 20:57

I see a "Micro" and feel happy of being Mexican. Welcome!

Kinja'd!!!

Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius > Mike Villa
11/11/2014 at 21:03

I was in a Hyundai 12 person van in Barbados with out 17-18 people. Fun.

Also, in Greece, they sell bus tickets at the newspaper stands. Each stand only get a certain number of tickets so if they sell all the 'B bus' tickets, you're SOL. Well, guess what, we were in Vouliagmeni and needed to get back to Glifada, sold out tickets or not. So we did what all non-speaking tourists do. We jump the bus through the back doors and play dumb. Thankfully, control never came around.