Dodge

1942 Dodge WC54 U. S. Army field ambulance. real WW2 survivor. spent 70 years in Europe but is now finally home on U. S. soil. Purchased in Cambridge. England in 2014 from a BBC documentary producer and used by my wife and I for the 70th Anniversary of D-Day commemorations in June. 2014 and a trip to the 24 Hours of Le Mans before being shipped to Los Angeles. still with sand in it from Utah Beach! The military ancestor to the later civilian Power Wagon. If you want a vehicle that was actually there. this WC is for you.  
230-cubic-inch flathead six. four-speed non-syncro crashbox transmission. four-wheel-drive modified with modern aftermarket lock-out hubs. Working odometer shows 7243 miles. impossible to know if this is correct but. given a 45-mph top speed and the lack of creature comforts. it's probably accurate.  
Includes: two medical litters (stretchers) plus associated straps to hang them from the ceiling; slide-out medical table in the passenger seat for mixing up the medicines. NOS fire-wall mounted fuel filter new in box to replace the temporary modern plastic one currently being used. period correct fire bottle and oil can. one original copy of the field manual in so-so condition. a complete bound repro copy of the Ordinance Supply Catalog for the 3/4-ton Dodge trucks.  
Driven 750 miles in England and France with absolutely no problems. Read more about our adventures here and here.  
 The good: Engine runs flawlessly and holds a temperature. transmission shifts as well as a crashbox can. four-wheel-drive works. steering is tight and it drives well. removed the intake/exhaust manifolds and planed them flat and resealed them. so no leaks there. just had the fuel tank blasted inside and out. sealed and painted. with new steel fuel line to the firewall. so the fuel filter is now clean as driven snow. Has working headlights and convoy lights. plus front turn signals installed by a previous owner. Does not have a siren because NO WC54 WAS EVER BUILT WITH A SIREN. At the front. light and noise are your enemies. Replaced the door latch mechanism on the driver's door. windows. cowl vent. and heater all work great. and if you get really warm. you can push out the windshield because it's hinged. Use 20/50 Valvoline Racing for its zinc content and flat-tappet protection.  The bad: I haven't washed it since I bought it in 2014 because it still has mud on it from Omaha Beach. Also: lately the first start in the morning requires a shot of starter fluid. After that it will start fine for the rest of the day. but the next morning it wants another shot of starter fluid. Possibly the accelerator pump going bad. but it drives fine. The pneumatic wipers are non functional (one wiper motor is fine. the other is seized--in Europe we rigged up a vacuum hose that ran up through the cabin that I could attach and detach as needed if it rained). Underneath. the floor aft of the cab has a strong patina but is solid. The driver's footwell has an old hole that was covered previously by diamond plate. The front fenders have a rust spot just forward of the door--this is very common for the WC and there are patch panels available from Vintage Power Wagons. The crown of the roof above the pinch-weld was somewhat rusted when I bought it and I did a quick rust eradication and filler job in England before departing for France. just to prevent further corrosion and leaking. It's not pretty but it worked. The roof is double layer with insulating paper in between--they were designed to keep the soldiers in back warm--and thus is tricky to weld without setting the whole thing on fire. I would recommend stripping and redoing the filler job to a higher standard. then sealing with paint. Unless you leave it in the rain a lot. it'll last a very long time.  
Our Dodge's known history: While Willys-Overland and Ford built the 1/4-ton G503 "jeep" and GMC and Studebaker built the big deuce-and-a-halfs. Dodge had the wartime contract to build all of the medium-duty trucks for the U. S. Army. The WC-series started as 1/2-ton trucks. but by 1942. Army planners wanted a heavier duty truck and Dodge produced the 3/4-ton WC series in a variety of body styles. including 26. 00 WC54 ambulances.  
Our ambulance left Dodge's Warren Truck Assembly plant probably in late '42 and shipped out for Europe. You can tell it's an early 3/4-ton because the sheetmetal is flat behind the driver's side rear wheel where the fuel filler neck pokes out. After more than a few drivers of early 3/4-tons bent the fuel filler neck backing into things. Dodge modified the design for later 3/4-tons to hide the filler in a cavity in the body side.  From there. it's believed that our ambulance entered duty with 1st Division. 1st Medical in Europe. Unlike the British Army. the U. S. Army did not track individual vehicles and their unit assignments. so there is no way to know for sure. but a previous owner of the ambulance who did some restoration work on it said he found 1st Division markings when he stripped the paint. which would have put our ambulance in the battle for northwest Europe following the D-Day landings in June. '44. Thus it is marked 1-1M for 1st Div. 1st Med. with a yellow and black semaphore on the doors to help the beachmasters on Omaha and Utah quickly identify unit trucks and send them up the hill into the battle.
Then the picture goes dark for a bit. but like many surplus vehicles after the end of hostilities. it probably sat with thousands of other vehicles in holding yards awaiting reassignment to a government in eastern or southern Europe as part of the Marshall Plan. The story picks up again on March 9. 1954. when our ambulance received a new surplus engine. still a 230-cubic-inch flathead six but with a newer Zenith carburetor. and then it entered duty with the Greek Army. Included with the ambulance is the Greek Army logbook (it is VERY RARE to have this documentation with a WW2 military vehicle). which details all service done to our ambulance between 1959 and when it mustered out in March. 1981.  
After that. it likely went to a large clearing auction in England. and from there into private hands as a collector's item. A succession of long-term owners in the UK did some restoration work but kept the ambulance largely intact. the benign climate in Greece having preserved the truck much better than had it gone elsewhere in Europe. Most of the corrosion currently on the truck probably happened because the previous owner drove the ambulance several times to Bastogne. Belgium for the annual Battle of the Bulge reenactment in December. Also. have you been to England? It's damp as hell.
The Dodge now lives in sunny Torrance. California. but we're losing our storage space and it needs to go to a new owner who will appreciate its place in history and use it to introduce the younger generations to their heritage as Americans. This Dodge went to war in 1942 and it finally returned in 2014. one of the last soldiers to come home and carrying with it the ghosts of all those who rode aboard it. If only sheetmetal could talk!

Also published at eBay.com

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