History of Power Wagons

by Clint Dixon

What is it about a Dodge Power-Wagon that draws people’s attention? This is a variation of the basic question Power-Wagon enthusiasts have been asking themselves for years, “Why do I like these trucks, and why do I find I have so much in common with other Power-Wagon owners?”

Probably the single most reason why people become interested in Power-Wagons the first time they see one is because, at first glance, it becomes apparent that the truck is not just simply another old truck. It looks different. It is different. The truck defines the classic “form follows function” look. This could not be more natural considering how the Power-Wagon came to be.

1945. Young GI’s were returning from World War II and the nation was experiencing an explosion in manufacturing and agricultural capacity ignited by the beginning of the war 4 years earlier. The country was finally pulling itself up and dusting itself off from the effects of the 1930’s and the Great Depression of not so many years before. The country was growing more modern, more mobile, and more capable. There were roads to build, rural regions to electrify, timber to harvest, and mouths to feed. The timing was perfect for a new vehicle that would haul the heavy loads where there were no roads, plow the fields, and complete the various tasks to come.

Chrysler Corporation saw this need and answered the call with the introduction of the new 4-wheel-drive Dodge Power-Wagon in 1946. The truck truly embodied form follows function design. This, in part based on its intent as “a truck, a tractor, and a portable power plant, all in one,” and also due in part to its military ancestry.

Dodge had built tens of thousands of 4-wheel-drive trucks for the military during WWII. Before the war, most people had never seen a 4-wheel-drive truck or imagined what one could do. It did not take long for the Dodge brass, the GIs, and the general public to imagine how a commercially available truck like that could make their peacetime lives easier. Dodge took what it had learned building trucks to win the war and combined this basic mechanical technology with a new conventional body tailored to the hard day-to-day work of civilian use. The result was, naturally by form follows function, the Power-Wagon.

The original Power-Wagon was successful in completing so many jobs, it continued in production, basically unchanged from 1946 through 1968 (and even later for export to foreign countries). Throughout this time, it never saw direct competition from other U.S. auto manufacturers. The Power-Wagon was truly in a class of its own. When the other manufacturers adapted 4-wheel-drive capability to their trucks, Dodge, not to be outdone, upped the ante and added 4-wheel-drive to its own conventional lineup. To these siblings, it also gave the legendary name of “Power-Wagon.”

Like all true legends, the Power-Wagon naturally draws people in.