Army Truck

[m606paz]

Army truck.
Location: US
Date taken: 1941
Photographer: George Strock

[dongaston70]

Ford

[m606paz]

What??

[dongaston70]

¿No es un prototipo Ford que no llegó a la producción? Muy parecido a los WC de Dodge.

Saludos desde La Pampa

[cesarpo]

En el capot dice Dodge

[dongaston70]

Pequeño detalle!!! Ford fabricó uno muy parecido a estos. Que le veo yo entonces de particular???

Un abrazo

[m606paz]

El el libro US Wheeled Vehicles no encuentro mencion a este vehiculo Dodge.

Subi las fotos en G503...veremos que responden!!

[m606paz]

Luis:

Thank you for posting this very early (1941!) photo of a pilot model Dodge WC ¾ ton 4X4 truck.

This is the earliest try at designing the WC ¾ ton hood that I've ever seen. The hood has one long hood side panel front louver and two stacked long rear louvers, most unusual. The name “DODGE” is stamped into the curved edge of the hood top partially above the front louver. The forward hood hold down apparently is not yet functional and has been supplemented by a spring-loaded vertical hood catch as used on the ¼ ton jeep.

The radiator guard, hood and cowl all appear to sit lower (closer to the frame) than on the WC 3/4 ton production model trucks, which seems to have a slightly higher profile. Note how high the headlights are compared to the radiator guard. The top of the headlight buckets is slightly above both the brush guard and the horizontal seam for the radiator top guard. The arc along the bottom of the hood side panel is asymmetrical, dropping much deeper at the rear than at the front. That is because the curve of the front fender gets shallower as it progresses toward the front.

This quickly was revised in subsequent WC ¾ ton pilot models by tightening the forward curve of the front fender and by creating a lower flat area at the very front of the front fenders and mounting the headlight (and blackout marker lights) there, while flattening then dropping the rear of the front fender. [See Boniface & Jeudy, Cinq Generations de Tous Terrains at page 60]. This effectively “raised” the relative height of the radiator guard, hood and cowl with respect to the headlights. The production model ¾ ton changed the front fender profile again, using a near symmetrical arc mirrored along the bottom of the hood side panel and making room at the rear of the passenger side front fender for a fuel can bracket. [See Boniface & Jeudy at pages 58 and 35].

The driver side running board has not yet been designed; two crude (wood?) extensions help support the spare tire. The engineers probably were still playing with the location for the spare tire. The gas tank filler neck is visible just to the rear of the driver seat, indicating the fuel tank was either underneath the driver seat or, more likely, located to the outside of the driver seat. The partially visible box under the filler neck might be the fuel tank itself.

The rear body is simply a sketch in metal. There are no indentations for the cast rope hooks, so they stick out from the body sides ready to snag branches. The corners of the rear body are slightly rounded, not square as on the production models. There is no fuel filler inset to the body. The rear axle still has the longer WC ½ ton wheel studs for dualing-up the rear tires. Slightly later WC ¾ ton pilot models also had these longer wheel studs.

The 16 X 6.5 wheels for the 900-16 tires are two piece civilian wheels with a shallower dish than the WC ½ ton wheels, so cannot be placed face-to-face and dualed-up on the rear axle as could the WC 1/2 ton wheels. A few of these civilian truck wheels are seen on other WC 3/4 ton 4X4 pilot model trucks.

Luis, this is a wonderfully interesting Dodge truck photo. Thanks again for posting it!

[m606paz]

Fred Coldwell, where does this truck fit into the puzzle?

Hi gerrykan:

Another great photo, thanks! This is one of the next Dodge WC ¾ ton pilot model trucks. I imagine Dodge built 5 or so of these WC ¾ ton pilot models in different body styles. I've seen photos of a pilot model command car, weapon carrier and (WC-55) 37 mm. M6 light tank destroyer.

Key pilot model identifiers from this front view are (1) the flat tops across the inner part of the identical (symmetrical) headlight brush guards and (2) the harder-to-see flat area at the front of the front fenders where the headlights mount, the flat sloping area near the rear of the front fender, and the vertical drop of the last few inches of the front fender where it meets the running board. There is no room at the front of the running board for a fuel can bracket. (The curve on the production model ¾ ton truck front fenders was tightened to leave more room at the front of the running board for a fuel can bracket)

The dark “M 60 2” license plate might read “MICH MANUFACTURER 42” across its bottom, as seen on other WC ¾ ton pilot model trucks. Or it might just read “MANUFACTURER”, in which case it would not be a 1942 Michigan Manufacturers’ plate. Wish we had a clearer photo. The name DODGE should be stamped into the hood top immediately above the middle set of side panel louvers (but isn’t visible in your photo).

The rear pick-up truck body with motorcycle fenders over the rear wheels is very unusual. The lengthwise round top rail is visible underneath the side canvas. I’ve only seen one other photo of this type rear body on a WC ¾ ton pilot model truck. I think it was a revised continuation of the pick-up style rear body used on the WC ½ ton weapon carrier. But it never made it into production on the WC ¾ ton Dodges. Instead, it was replaced by a full width body that had seats and racks lengthwise down each side, making practical use of space above the rear fender and rear running boards that is wasted here.

The exhaust extension pipe is also very unusual. There is no matching air intake extension pipe for the air filter, so I doubt this truck was set up for deep water fording (as if the test driver cared). I think the exhaust pipe extension was added simply to keep water out of the muffler and lower exhaust system.

I really love the look of these pilot model headlight guards. Their partially flat tops “square up” the truck’s face and are much more in keeping with its overall design. The ¾ ton production model headlight guards that immediately start curving downward might have saved some precious metal but they lost style points big time. These “baby” WC ½ ton headlights guards are simply too cool.

Thanks again for posting this great photo.