Dodge Command Car

 

This story was one of those that fill your email Inbox, and then when you open it, you are truly amazed with the skill of some people out there.

 

During a Club meeting, Ray told me the story of a Dodge Command Car that was getting a repo body. Like a lot of WW2 vehicles, Dodge Command Cars have often had a tough life both in the Miltary and later, on a farm or working in a commerical capacity. This vehicle was no different. the vehicle is owned by John M and John S, both are club members. They decided that the body on their project vehicle was just too far gone. Instead, they opted to repalce the body with a new one. First off, they looked for a good donor body, but like their orignal, there were none to be had. while jeep owners can go with a repro body from MD Juan, there was no commerical supplier of Dodge WW2 bodies.

 

Deciding to 'look outside the box' John and John decided to look at having a Master Craftsman build a complete body for their vehicle. Here comes the interesting part. The owners were aware that Simon Allan of Castlemaine was the guy when it comes to bending and bashing WW2 vehicles back into shape.

 

The dimensions and templates were provided by the owners. Some years ago, John M. contacted then visited Glen S. in East Gippsland, and took patterns from his restored Command Car (mint condition), which they understand has since been sold, John S. acquired further used body panels from the US, as templates. From the patterns, they prepared templates made out of three ply, and further detailed these templates with precise dimensions, that they were able to obtain over a number of visits to John Belfield's coollection, who allowed us to check the dimensions against his Command Cars.

 

 

 

 

Simon Allan (Mobile 0402 220367) is building each part of the vehicle body by hand, the only donor parts from the original vehicle is the Cowl and some small parts. To help Simon A with the build, Tim S is bringing his Dodge over to Castlemaine so that Simon can take measurements of a surviving body.

 

Simon has already received firm orders for another two vehicle bodies, and a couple of old WW2 gals will get to show their stuff again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can contact the owners via the Webmaster of VMVC.