Posted by Clint Dixon [172.70.178.23] on Sunday, February 05, 2023 at 10:47:17 :
In Reply to: folie a deux? posted by Todd [172.70.210.181] on Sunday, February 05, 2023 at 00:18:22 :
The first civilian model WDX 4x4 Dodges started rolling off the assembly line in October of 1945, although they were yet to be officially named "Power-Wagon." Earlier in July of that year the prototypes were assigned the name "Farm Utility Truck." I am not sure how long this particular title lasted, but by December 17, 1945, in the Advance List of Parts sent out to dealerships, the truck was referred to as the "Dodge General Purpose Truck - Model WDX." For the next few months, other pieces of corporate literature applied variations upon this initial description with titles such as: "Model WDX General Purpose Truck", or "General Purpose One-Ton Truck."
The March 1946, volume 76, number 491, issue of the magazine titled: "Power Wagon, The Motor Truck Journal", was the first independent publication to announce the name that Dodge had recently settled upon for the truck: Power-Wagon. It appears that Dodge intentionally hyphenated the name to distance the new truck from the established name of the magazine which Chrysler had no connections to. This hyphenated version of the name would appear MoPar Parts Lists and sales brochures for several years.
So it is possible that some Power-Wagons were titled as 1945 models, but I have not personally come across one.
So back to the truck in question. Which is it, restored or original? Kind of hard to be both. I feel that terms such as: original, restoration, resto-mod, patina, survivor, updated, etc. are not necessarily descriptive of a trucks condition in the same sense that they may have been at one time. They each seem to have become more of a catch-phrase to gets one's attention.
I assume if that truck were truly original, and looked like that (without the modern upgrades) it would be worth more than $100,000 to someone.
I like them all. I have seen them in person with all of the descriptions tagged to them that you can imagine. I would like to take them all home. Would I change anything if I were the one who had found, owned, or built them and now had them for sale? Of course I would.
I can't answer the refreshed paint question. I don't think I have ever refreshed paint unless you consider the time I removed years of oxidation from my '51 with three different grits of rubbing compound and a lot of elbow grease. However, I do refresh the coat of wax once a year whether it needs it or not.
Junior
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