Dodge T-, V-, W-Series

In 1939, Dodge presented a completely redesigned line of trucks. Formally the T series for 1939, V series for 1940, and the W series from 1941 through 1947, the trucks became mostly known as the Dodge Job-Rated trucks.

With streamlined, Art Deco–style front sheetmetal, and introducing the concept of "Job-Rated" truck configurations, Dodge tried to offer customers the truck that fit any job they were buying it for, literally comparing it to the process and user experience of buying shoes.

As a result, the 1939 to 1947 Dodge truck range was offered in a bewilderingly large number of available variants and model codes. Six different payload classes, a wide range of bodies, and more than twenty different wheelbase lengths were manufactured, and fitted with different sized versions of the straight six-cylinder Chrysler "Flathead" side-valve engines – from the half-ton TC pickup truck on a 116-inch wheelbase to three-ton tractor cabs. In 1940 alone, 20 different truck frames were simultaneously produced in the same year, which increased to 31 different chassis frames, for 17 wheelbase lengths in 1947.

Nevertheless, mechanically, the trucks were all very similar, with solid axles front and rear and leaf springs at all four corners. With World War II taking up most of production capacity from 1942 to 1945, the 1939 styling continued largely unchanged through 1947, as engineering and production became the main focus. The Dodge trucks enjoyed some popularity before the war, and the last of them – built in 1942, before Dodge turned to mostly military production – had progressed to the W-series model name. When commercial sales of the trucks restarted post-war, they resumed as the 1946 Dodge W-series.

Historic author on Dodge trucks, Don Bunn, noted that the 1939–1947 Job-Rated trucks represent a very significant segment in Dodge history. They were the first to be mass-produced in the new, huge (Mound Road) Warren truck plant. The Job-Rated trucks also formed the basis for Dodge's first light-duty military 4×4s, the 1940 half-ton Dodge VC series, which in turn further developed into the world's first factory four-wheel-drive commercial pickups: the Dodge Power Wagon. And lastly, Dodge was the first of the Big Three U.S. auto manufacturers to offer a diesel-powered truck – all the more exceptional, given that Chrysler engineered and built its heavy-duty diesel engines all in-house. Today, this series is the most popular pickups with Dodge truck collectors.