Posted by Clint Dixon on Friday, July 18, 2003 at 8:58AM :
Phil, I have been loosely following your posts pertaining to your quest to determine exactly what year of Power-Wagon you have. I am not familiar enough with the 1955-56 era to give a definative answer, but the same problem is shared with WDX owner's. There is no good record of the exact serial number when 1946 models stopped and 1947 models began. When I got my '47 WDX, I really wanted it to be a '46. (It has a fairly early serial number - 3787.) But I ran across 3 things that definately rulled out the chances of it being a late '46 model. I do not recall anyone else mentioning these things to you. Maybe these will help in your quest:
The wheels should be date coded. This would be just a two digit number, in your case "55" or "56". The numbers should be found on each wheel on the flat outside surface between two lug nuts. The numbers will be about 3/16" tall. I have seen many exhaust manifilds with a date cast into the underside. I do not know the exact terminology for the process, but it involves a removable plate in the mold that can be changed at times. Some of these, I have seen as: month/day/year, some are just month/day. My '47 has the entire month/day/year. Also I found on the backside of the speedometer in my '47 a date stamped in ink. All three of these rulled out any chance of my truck being a '46.
As an additional thought, I have seen trucks with wheels having a date one year older than the truck. Surpluss parts were used untill they ran out. But if you can find enough '55 date codes, and your box is a second series, then that would be good enough for me to call it a '55 if it were mine.
Clint
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