Posted by Brian in Oregon on August 22, 1999 at 16:52:33:
In Reply to: Re: WC Gauges / WC Closed Cab evolution posted by Paul Cook on August 22, 1999 at 15:04:05:
Look no further than page 2 of T/M 10-1153 "Maintenance Manual 1/2 Ton 4x4 Chassis Dodge Trucks built for Unit States Army".
It clearly shows two views of a closed cab with the round gauges and the military backlighting setup (the round "knobs" that protrude from the instrument cluster).
I believe that this dash was used on post WC-12 closed cab trucks from very late 1941 until sometime in 1942 when the 3/4 ton trucks displaced the 1/2 tonners. The WC-12 may have been the actual change point, or it may have been transitional during WC-12 construction. I've seen WC-12's both ways but cannot say if the 'transitional' vehicle was completely original. Regardless, post WC-12's have round gauges; pre-WC-12's have rectangular guages.
The earlier dash had rectangular gauges just like the civilian models. In reality it is an unaltered civilian dash.
Also, photos of open and closed cab 1/2 ton interiors showing the round gauges can be found in Brookland Books "Dodge Military Vehicles 1940-1945 Collection No. 1" on pages 58 & 59. (Book is long out of print.)
On pages 56 & 57 of the same book a comparison is made of the rectangular gauge dash and the round gauge dash. The rectangular gauge dash shows a 3-speed transmission with no transfer case control. It is either a 1 1/2 ton (T-118) or a 1/2 ton (T-112) 4x2 vehicle circa 1939 to 1941. The rectangular dashes have the windshield regulator handle in the upper center of the dash itself, while the round gauge trucks have a windshield lock on the lower end of the windshield centerpost itself. This means the early trucks had a crank that opened the windshield, the later trucks were manually operated by pushing on the windshield. The later ones would naturally have lock mechanisms on each side of the cab and the windshield opens all the way up. the earlier ones would only crack open just so far before they stopped.