In early 1946, Dodge announced an addition to its lineup as “the truck that needs no roads.“The truck in question was the 1946-1968 Dodge Power Wagon, model WDX, a new multipurpose vehicle born from Dodge’s experience building four-wheel-drive trucks for American and allied military forces in World War II. No doubt Dodge executives of the 1940s couldn’t have imagined the huge market for personal-use four-wheel-drive trucks that exists today. When the Power Wagon was introduced in January 1946, the division described it as a one-ton general-purpose truck designed for off-highway operations on unimproved roads. Neither, it’s safe to assume, could they have foreseen the Power Wagon’s staying power. Despite “war surplus” looks and L-head powerplants, it would remain on the domestic scene until 1968, then last another decade for export under a U.S. Four-wheel-drive trucks were hardly a new thing when the Power Wagon came out. They had been around since the time of World War I. However, these were heavy-duty vehicles strictly for commercial or military use.

Beginning in the 1930s, it was possible for the owners of light trucks to have conversions to four-wheel drive performed by firms like Marmon-Herrington, but these special-order vehicles tended to be bought by businesses or agencies with very specific needs. World War II impressed the capability of multiaxle drive upon many a soldier who was served by -- or even fought with -- four- and six-wheel-drive vehicles. Willys’ little ¼-ton scout car became a battlefield legend and spurred the company to place the Jeep CJ on the postwar consumer market. Dodge, meanwhile, [www.PrimeBoosts.com](https://poipet.club/index.php?action=profile