Posted by Jeff in Santa Rosa on Friday, September 28, 2007 at 23:10:49 :
I spoke with Bruce Thomas yesterday at the Chrysler Historical Collection in hopes that he could answer a number of Power Wagon questions and provide some insight into the history of a new WDX I purchased. For those of you unfamiliar with Bruce he joined Chrysler as an engineer in 1946, worked (among other key roles) in their Experimental Garage on all kinds of nifty projects, and is currently the Curator at the Chrysler Historical Collection overseeing our beloved trucks.
I asked him about this WDX and he told me it was a special factory ordered "Expedition” truck. He mentioned that the driving lights were factory installed on a separate fuse panel in case the headlights failed during the expedition. This truck looks remarkably similar to those ordered and picked up from the direct from Dodge in the image collection shared by George in the last forum.
http://imageevent.com/farrier/mypowerwagons;jsessionid=qdgpcmy8vf.zebra_s
I also asked Bruce about factory paint options for Power Wagons. I mentioned to him that there still seems to be some debate about whether or not you could get a civilian Power Wagon with the wheels, fenders, and body all painted one color. He answered that the Detroit and Los Angeles plants were set up to handle fleet orders and would do special paint for any businesses that requested it. Thus you could get Power Wagons direct from Dodge with the cab, bed, fenders, wheels, etc all painted the same color. Bruce said that the vast majority of civilian trucks produced, however, had black fenders & wheels.
This discussion with Bruce kicked off my research efforts on a new WDX I purchased that, at first glance, seems to have done work for the 129th Air Rescue out of Moffett Air Force base here in Northern California (see link below). Bruce said that military ordered Power Wagons were all evaluated and picked up at the plant by the army, air force, etc -- not distributed to dealerships (like mine). He said that he has no records of civilian power wagons (1 ton) ever being ordered by the U.S. military. They were ordered, however, by our government for export and shipped to places like Greece, Turkey, Norway . . . but these trucks all had open cabs. Bruce did say that he wouldn’t be surprised if some civilian Power Wagons did find there way into the military after the fact but that DaimlerChrysler couldn’t verify that.
It was really incredible to talk to Bruce. He is quite a resource for those of us who value these trucks so highly.
To order a build card for your own truck you must send a letter including your VIN or serial number, proof of ownership (photocopy of title or bill of sale) and $25 to:
DaimlerChrysler
Corporate Historical Collection
12501 Chrysler Freeway
CIMS 410-11-21
Detroit, MI 48288
Attn: Historical Information
E-mail: archives@chryslerheritage.com
Unfortunately Bruce said that the punch card machines and associated data from back then are long gone . . . so we will never really know what those mysterious holes punched in our Detroit build cards actually mean.
Jeff
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