Posted by Fred Coldwell [172.68.34.43] on Sunday, May 14, 2017 at 01:33:44 :
In Reply to: Hey Fred posted by Clint Dixon [108.162.216.103] on Saturday, May 13, 2017 at 18:45:18 :
Hi Clint:
My two late WW II experimental Dodge WC 3/4 ton military trucks did not have any chassis serial numbers. Instead, they were identified only by their engine serial numbers. The early one was completed in July 1944 and has engine s/n T233-336. It was one of only two prototypes made in 1944 for in-house testing by Chrysler.
My later truck was made in Fall 1945 and is one of 8 made for the U.S. Army Air Forces. It has engine s/n T233-434 while its sister truck without a winch had engine serial number T233-433.
Because two known 1945 experimental trucks had engine serial numbers roughly 100 numerals higher than the mid-1944 experimental trucks, I think it is possible that Chrysler identified in-house and contract experimental (not yet in production) trucks only by their consecutive experimental engine serial numbers with a prefix consisting of their truck model code. For my theory to work, I assume that all engines used in experimental vehicles were consecutively numbered perhaps before, but definitely during, WW II.
So, under my tentative theory, if the first prototype "Farm Utility Truck" was built in the summer of 1945, it should have had an experimental engine serial number slightly lower than the Fall produced engines 433 and 434, say perhaps 405. So under my theory the prototype Farm Utility Truck(s) might have been identified only by their engine serial number, such as T137-405 for example and, if more than one, T137-406, etc., etc.
But I imagine that once the WDX truck went into production it was given chassis serial numbers for identification. So the production model WDX "Dodge General Purpose" trucks (before they were named "Power-Wagons") should have began with in Detroit with chassis serial number 83900001.
I have heard from a reliable source of one very early WDX with a chassis serial number that had only a single non-zero numeral at its end, such as "0000X". I have not yet seen proof of it, such as a photo of its data plate with its serial number stamping. But assuming it is real, then that would very strongly suggest the Detroit WDX chassis serial numbers began at the lowest single digit number, 83900001.