Tougher Than Tough There Is Only One Thing Jim Hetrick’S ’46 Dodge Power Wagon Can’T Do

TOUGHER THAN TOUGH There is only one thing Jim Hetrick’s ’46 Dodge Power Wagon Can’t Do. BY BRAD BOWLING/PHOTOS BY RICH TRUESDELL ■ OUR COUNTRY WAS READY TO GROW WHEN WoRLD WAR II ENDED. WiTH THE PROMISE OF UNLIMITED CHEAP GASOLINE AND FRESHLY MINTED TIRES, WE WANTED TO PUT DOWN A MILLioN MILES OF PAVEMENT SO OUR CARS COULD TRAVEL FROM ONE NEW TRACT HOUSING DEVELOPMENT TO THE OTHER AT HIGH SPEEDS. The post-war expansion of America’s Dodge, whose factories churned out infrastructure and population was a more than 400,000 unbreakable military boon to contractors, surveyors, welders, trucks during the conflict, was in a good The Power Wagon was never meant to electricians, and loggers, all of whom position to meet those needs. Its ¾-ton replace the family car. Its interior was only sought reliable transportation to job sites T214 4x4 had served in every theater of one small step above what Dodge installed in a vehicle that could double as a the war, where it won the respect of Allied during World War II. traveling workshop. soldiers with its go-anywhere, never- 2 CARS & PARTS LEFT: This truck is wearing 20-inch unit that came from the factory. The job sites that required greater ground wheels from one of Dodge’s 2½-ton large fenders gave owners plenty of clearance. MIDDLE: The underside of vehicles, but the spare is the 16-inch room to increase wheel diameter for the Power Wagon reveals a chassis convert its Detroit truck plant to civilian stacks in back. Standard wheels were bed measured 96 inches in length, 54 vehicle production. It also had an all-new 16x5.50 inches wearing 7.50x16-inch inches in width, and it was 22 inches product ready to offer the public in the eight-ply tires or 16x6.50 inches wearing deep, for a total of 58 cubic feet before form of a modified T214 truck – the one- 9x16-inch eight ply rubber. any stakes were added to increase ton WDX Power Wagon. The truck’s cab, fenders, and hood were capacity. Dodge initially advertised the Had Dodge not amortized much of the unapologetically carried over from their Power Wagon as having a three-man truck’s development and die costs during 1939 design, and the front bumper was cab, but the various operating levers and the war, it is unlikely the company would military spec with room for an optional controls that fell readily to the driver’s have invested the necessary time and Braden winch. The top of the hood and hand made the man in the middle wish money to make the Power Wagon a reality. radiator surround were borrowed from one he had pursued a desk job. The claim of The T214’s reinforced frame was changed of Dodge’s three-ton cargo trucks, and “room for three” was later dropped. to accommodate a 126-inch wheelbase, the grille’s angry grimace was made up of Olive drab and camouflage were which was a near halfway point between solid steel bars protecting the radiator. no longer the truck’s mandatory paint the 120- and 133-inch wheelbases found Power Wagons could be ordered in schemes. Front and rear fenders and on Dodge’s one-ton, two-wheel-drive several configurations, including pickup running board were models for ’46. Axles “floated” on 11-leaf and chassis cab. In keeping with the semi-elliptic springs in front and 14-leaf truck’s giant proportions, the pickup 4 CARS & PARTS and irrigation spraying equipment. A sales manual listed 75 business types that would benefit from the Power Wagon’s versatility; Dodge could have saved a bundle in printing costs by simply stating “there’s nothing this truck can’t do.” It could not have been more suited to the market, and Dodge proudly made very few changes to its war surplus workhorse over the next 22 years, although an engine upgrade eventually boosted horsepower to a rousing 125 and the transmission gained synchronizers. The Power Wagon name came to be used on lesser Dodge better suited to a tank or tractor than this ’46 has the optional 7,500-pound trucks starting in the 1950s. In 1968, passenger vehicle. RIGHT: The Power capacity winch. the company stopped selling the Power Wagon’s bumper was military spec, and Wagon in the United States rather than update it to meet mandatory federal black, and the body could be ordered The powertrain was also responsible safety regulations. Because the truck had during its first year in Seawolf Submarine for making the WDX the most versatile been included in the Foreign Assistance Green, Red, Dark Blue, or Dark Green. work truck on the planet, because it Act of 1961, Dodge discovered a lucrative The WDX engine was a 230ci L-head could be made to run a vast array export market that continued through the six-cylinder with an iron block and of industrial and farming equipment. end of Power Wagon production in 1978. aluminum alloy pistons that produced Dodge advertised a power take-off Dodge produced 95,145 Power Wagons 94 brake horsepower at 3,200 rpm. The (PTO), 7,500-pound capacity winch, from 1946-68 – an average of 4,137 per four-speed manual transmission and tubular drive tail shaft, and pulley drive year for the U.S. market – but reason two-speed transfer case (1:1 in high that could run circular saws, silo fillers, suggests most of these super-tough trucks range, 1.96:1 in low) effectively created pumps, generators, and sawmills. An were driven into the ground over a period an eight-speed gearbox with two reverse optional belt-driven mechanical governor of decades and left in the woods to rot. gears. With a 5.83:1 final-drive gear, the was recommended, to keep the engine’s Mopar enthusiast Jim Hetrick, of Lake effective final-drive ratio ran from 4.89:1 speed consistent for precision work. Forest, California, knew chances were to 73.12:1, making the new truck as It was this practicality as a mobile slim that he could find a restorable Power unstoppable as an M4 Sherman tank. generator that suggested the vehicle’s Wagon. His plan was to find two or more Dodge claimed the truck could make 65 name. The term “power wagon” came such trucks in salvageable condition miles an hour in high-range top gear. from the early days of motoring, when the and blend them together to make one distinction between a horse-drawn truck vehicle. While searching for the needed and one powered by steam, electricity, or basket cases, he stumbled across the gasoline was necessary. Dodge engineers ’46 model you see here, only two years were calling it the “Farm Utility” before it out of an immaculate restoration. He hit the market. (It doesn’t conjure the credits Marty McKenzie, of Vancouver, same image, does it?) British Columbia, with restoring life to With a driver in place and a full the blue Power Wagon. 18-gallon tank of gas, the Power Wagon Hetrick’s truck does not have the pickup crossed the 5,000-pound mark – power take-off equipment, but does not bad for a truck rated at 8,700 pounds have the optional front-mounted winch. gross vehicle weight (with optional It also is wearing a set of 20-inch wheels wheels and tires). Although it sounds like originally specified for a 2½-ton Dodge a real bargain by today’s standards, the truck of the same era. Back in the day, $1,627 price tag was $600 higher than this change would have made sense for Dodge’s cheapest one-ton. muddy, swampy job sites that required Dodge’s advertising was effective in extra ground clearance, and Hetrick was getting across the point that the Power won over by the idea of owning a World Wagon was not going to replace the family War II-era “monster truck.” car. It was touted as “the truck that needs In spite of Dodge’s claim that the no roads” and capable of going “where Power Wagon can go where other trucks other trucks can’t go.” Brochures showed can’t go, Hetrick admits there is one men in coveralls and hard hats using the place he won’t take it. sturdy pickup to erect phone poles, run “I drive it a couple of times a week,” In pictures, it is difficult to realize power lines, clear fields, lay concrete he said, “but with a top speed of 50, a just how big this ’46 Dodge Power pipe, and drill for oil. The Power Wagon non-synchromesh transmission, and no Wagon really is. The tops of those was depicted carrying explosives, water power brakes or steering, we don’t do tires reach 40 inches. tanks, oil derricks, seismic instruments, freeways.” ■ CARS & PARTS 5.

Load more