Dually Pickup

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1946 Dodge 1 ton

This tired old pickup is the remains of the first new pickup the family could get its hands on after World War II as civilian production resumed in 1946. It was a 1 ton dually with 6:50 x 16 tires. The engine was a standard flathead 6 used in prewar Chrysler products and also various military products made in WWII. It was followed by a 4 speed transmission with straight cut gears---no Syncromesh.

We complained about its reliability all 20 years we used it. It so frequently died along the road that we always carried 'walking shoes', but it is what we had so what we used. IT was also fairly annoying to start as we live in a wet climate and it had a flat head engine which collected moisture around the spark plugs, particularly since the hinge in the hood was right over the spark plugs. On soggy mornings you usually remembered to wipe off the plugs before you ran the battery down.

It did come from the days when service was fairly easy. For example it only took a few minutes and a couple of wrenchs to remove the transmission. You simply needed to disconnect the drive line. then you could take up the rubber floormat covering a wooden floor board, lift the plywood floor board off the gear shifter and the emergency brake lever, undo 4 half inch bolts and grab the transmission by the shifter lever and set it out. Indeed the transmission lives on. IT's now a gear box for the speed reduction in our London Machine Tool lathe found in the shop section. You can see a picture of it there.

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