Deep in 2020 lockdown here in UK, i had completed my latest project (for those that are interested, a 1972 Porsche 911 - my tastes are quite eclectic) and so was looking for something else to keep me occupied during what was likely to be a lengthy period of time with no prospect of travel etc.
As the restorer in previous times of a WC54, ex Norwegian then restored by me in the UK, veteran of several Normandy trips and now ensconced back in the US, I have always missed having a Dodge as part of the family. They look great and that distinctive burbling exhaust note is addictive.
As a long term Jeep custodian, i loved the big jeep looks of the Command and so decided that was the way i was going to go. Had a search around the various dark corners of the internet where i located this
A WC56, built in 1942, that had served up until 1965 with the French Army, then had been bought by a Garage just outside Paris where it had been used as a Breakdown Vehicle until 1977. At this point it was sold off to the gentleman i bought it from and had sat in his garage in Northern France for 40+ years in varying states of decomposition and deconstruction.
Over the period, he acquired various parts to replace some obviously missing bits and in October 2020, i bought it on the basis of some blurry photos from the internet.
Loaded with the extra parts, it was delivered to me in rainy UK - despite lockdown, cross channel deliveries were still permitted.
Note the fuel cap which is a cut down tin of anchovies.
Due to the rather garish garage paint job, the Dodge was quickly christened 'The Clown Car' by my friends......
After unloading and stripping out of the contents under the tarp, i realised i had:
1. An early chassis with axles, combats and a T214 that had been rebuilt in Brussels in 1965 according to the rebuild plate on the bell housing.
2. A body which had lost its front 1/3 of each side panel, designed to accommodate a cab for the breakdown vehicle and much of the rear floor and upper hood panel to accommodate the crane
3. A chassis with some modifications to allow the crane (long since gone) to be fitted
4. A chassis number that had been restamped by the French Army incorrectly - i presume they had misread the original stamping. You can see the 814 number stamped here on the French chassis plate - i am presuming it should be 815 or 816.
5. Many boxes of parts none of which were labelled and many of which i could see were effectively scrap
6. Some repair panels (trunk floor and rear hood rail panel, the original had been chopped out to allow the crane to sit where the rear seat had been, a rear and front seat frame, hoodsticks and much more). As i like originality, critically, all the DCPD marked bolts removed during the partial dismantling had been retained!
The axles were free turning so at this point, i was happy.
However, this turned fairly quickly to disappointment as i realised the axles and the engine were late war so the early chassis had been 'upgraded' but was not original to a 1942. Many of the parts seemed to have been stored in such a way as to maximise the corrosion process and the body, which i had hoped would be restorable, was in a much worse state than i had imagined with little of it remaining beyond the cowl and dashboard.
So around this time, John at MWM was advertising this
A Command Chassis and body (apparently matched, i.e. the body and chassis are as per originally built in the factory but i cannot prove this as i cannot get the build card as the vehicle was imported as parts - its is only chassis and running gear plus bodywork so i have no registration document....yet..
But, the running gear was early as befits a 1942 build, the chassis had no extraneous parts welded on it and was in great condition and the body is substantially more complete than the one i had.
So the new chassis/tub was bought and delivered to the UK.
Closer inspection of the body on arrival showed that the glove box chassis plate showed that at least the tub was originally a WC58 which for me was a result.
But corrosion rendered the chassis number unreadable.
On the downside, the new tub had a cowl which had lost its vent panel and had had some 'remedial work on the firewall' which had deleted the holes for the radio filter box and crucially, the Dodge firewall number stamping. Also, the wheels were post war.
But a plan had been outlined - i would strip everything i could from the WC56, sell that chassis/axles and rebuild the WC58 using the donor parts from the WC56.
Here is the WC56 chassis, combat wheels removed and replaced with the nasty ones from the WC58 about to be taken away with the remains of the rear bodywork. You can see the large vertical plates welded to the rear cross member to which the crane was bolted.
And here is the WC58 chassis on its way to be sandblasted....
More to come.....
