Numbers by color

[DavidGB]

Hello,
I have a 47 WDX that is Dark Blue with black fenders and running boards. This color is not uncommon on other (non power wagon) 1939-1947 Dodge trucks. However in doing searches I have been unable to find any images of any other Power Wagons this same color. All of the other blue PWs I see are lighter to a lot lighter blue. Is anyone aware of a source for production numbers with a breakdown by color. If I remember correctly, the PW in the Country Journal article in the 80's on Power Wagons was the same dark blue as mine. I am confident that the color is correct and original to the truck. Has anyone else seen a Power Wagon in this color. I would love to see pictures.
Thank you,
David

[DavidGB]

Clarification (Somewhat)

Hello again,
I just went through all the pages connected with the Color Survey done a few years back on this forum. All the examples (pictures) of "dark blue" are a lighter blue than what I am referring to. A friend here in my town has a '39 1/2 ton Dodge pick-up the same paint scheme as mine and his is also unrestored. If you do a google search for that kind of truck in dark blue and click "images" you can find some examples of what I am talking about. Typically this color looks black in most photos. It is because I have had such a hard time finding any pictures of similarly painted power wagons that I was wondering about the availability of production numbers. Do you think Chrysler might have this information?
David

[53Crusher]

Colors

Have you seen this page? Shows a variety of blues over the years and some have the old paint code #'s.
http://t137.com/colorchips/index.html

[DavidGB]

PW production numbers by color

Tim,
Thanks so much for the reply. I have seen that page. Nothing for 1947, but I believe this color was available for a number of years and although it is hard to actually see the color I would have to put my money on Dodge Truck Blue #10349. As I said before the blue is so dark that most of the time it appears to be black. I would like to know if anyone is aware if there is a source for PW production numbers with a breakdown based on color. Also, I would be very interested to see any photos of any other PW in this color. Having recently lost all my photos off of this computer and only so far been able to recover a few, therefore I have a very poor selection showing any kind of blueness. I will attempt to attach some.
Thank you,
David

[DavidGB]

Corrections and additions.

Hello,
Although I may be little more than talking to myself with this thread, I received two things today that I feel are relevant and may pretty much wrap up this line of inquiry.
First, after much searching, I finally acquired a copy of the May 1987 issue of the Country Journal with the article "The Legendary Dodge Power Wagon" by Donald McCaig. This article was responsible for igniting my obsession with these trucks. However, I have incorrectly remembered the writer's truck as being dark blue. In the article he describes it as orange. In my defense the photo that I always thought of is in black and white and even now it looks dark blue to me.
Second, I received a reply today from Chrysler Historical services to my question of wether or not any source for production numbers by color existed.
I quote.
"Unfortunately, the only productions numbers we have are by body style only. Nothing further is broken down by color or options. Also, we do not have any figures for trucks. These records were not passed along to the archives and do not exist within the company."
Although I suppose the final qualification "within the company" is interesting, I am not going to actively pursue this. I would still always be interested in photos of other dark blue Power Wagons and would also always be interested in just guesses and opinions on the relative percentages of different colors.
Thanks for reading,
David

[John Waak]

I'm listening. I don't have anything to add, but your quest is interesting. Ramble on.

[DavidGB]

Thank you. I don't have much more to add on the subject that can be considered useful. I have contemplated trying to extract a general sense of what percentages of each color were produced through the years by surveying the results of image searches for the various years. There are many obvious drawbacks. So many trucks have been repainted. Photos online can be quite far off from true color. Many trucks were bought for commercial use and painted in the companies' livery. Etc, etc. Of the trucks I have owned (WDX-WM300), two were red, but one of these was black underneath and the other started out green. I had an orange one that I believe was always orange. I had another green one that I believe was also originally green. And I had one in orange/red primer that was originally green. Now I have the dark blue one. Based on this green was a fairly dominate choice. However, my observations of the PW world in general would indicate dark green and red were pretty even in popularity and thus the most common, after that I would not be sure how the other colors rank.
David

[DavidGB]

another dark blue PW

Just noticed the posts by aeblank re: his 48 PW. It appears to also be of the dark blue variety.
David

[Clint Dixon]

David

Thank you. I don't have much more to add on the subject that can be considered useful. I have contemplated trying to extract a general sense of what percentages of each color were produced through the years by surveying the results of image searches for the various years. There are many obvious drawbacks. So many trucks have been repainted. Photos online can be quite far off from true color. Many trucks were bought for commercial use and painted in the companies' livery. Etc, etc. Of the trucks I have owned (WDX-WM300), two were red, but one of these was black underneath and the other started out green. I had an orange one that I believe was always orange. I had another green one that I believe was also originally green. And I had one in orange/red primer that was originally green. Now I have the dark blue one. Based on this green was a fairly dominate choice. However, my observations of the PW world in general would indicate dark green and red were pretty even in popularity and thus the most common, after that I would not be sure how the other colors rank.
David

I would tend to agree that Dodge Truck Dark Green and Dodge Truck Red were probably the two most common colors that early Power-Wagons were painted. It is interesting that the one color that was listed as being only available on Power-Wagons, Seawolf Submarine Green, is one color that is rarely found. As far as the early trucks, Yellow is kind of rare as is Black and your Dark Blue.

I had a 2wd door and a windshield header cover panel for access to the windshield wiper motor that I thought for years were black. Until one day I took some rubbing compound to the panel. Yep, it is Dark Blue. I still have that in my collection but I traded off the door for an original Dodge Truck Dark Green door to replace the slightly damaged one on my WDX.

I don't know why so many Power-Wagons got painted over the years. But it makes finding one with original paint that much more exciting. When you find an original Dark Blue one, sometimes they have oxidized in a way that makes them look even more black. A fine rubbing compound can bring back the rich color.

[DavidGB]

Clint,
Thank you for the reply. I can not think of ever having seen a Seawolf Green truck that wasn't a repaint. I happen to like the color a lot. I believe I have seen an original yellow, but again most yellow trucks I have seen have been repainted. The orange truck I had that I think was original, I bought from it's first owner who had used it to help build a ski resort in NY called Catamount. The owner said he had never painted it since new. I could be wrong but I remember it as being a '46. The red truck that started out as black was a '54 (again, I believe.) Peoples's preferences for the color of their vehicles changes with time. Look at all the silver vehicles on the road today.
I have slowly been working on the paint on my truck and as you mentioned, where it exists, it comes back very nicely. Initially I just cleaned it and then put wax on it for protection. Since then I have been testing different approaches on how to deal with areas of surface rust etc. I am still learning.
David

[53Crusher]

Dark Blue

David-
Here is a 48 that belongs to a friend. It was originally Dark Blue.

[DavidGB]

Tim,
Awesome truck! Thanks for posting the photos. I am curious about the small add on panel with the heater etc knob. Looks factory(?). The truck appears pretty straight and I bet it would clean up pretty well. Although it may be that your friend is more interested in it being a work truck. Thanks again.
David

[Clint Dixon]

David

Those are very nice photos of the interior of your truck. Would you have any exterior photos? Would like to see how the Dark Blue looks against the black fenders.

[DavidGB]

Clint,
I am attaching some photos of the truck, but they do not really show the blue well. As I mentioned earlier in this thread I stupidly lost the better part of 6000 photos and have only recovered a few so far, so options are limited. I keep the truck along with some of my other old cars about 4 hours away where I have the garage space I need, otherwise I would go and attempt to take some more pictures now. When I next visit it, I will make a point of trying to get some pictures that will show the contrast of blue against black. You may or may not notice that the door panels below the windows were painted black (possibly to cover some writing or such.) You will definitely notice that the bed is a series 2 and thus can't be original to the truck. The bed began life dark green and was painted to match the cab. I bought the truck from a collector in CT and it has an old NH inspection sticker on the windshield and the remains of a MA registration in the glove compartment. So pretty much a New England truck which makes it unusual for it to be in such good condition. I included the picture of myself with my then 10 month old grandson (I call it "teaching the wookie to drive") to show one of my reasons for wanting to preserve the truck.
David

[53Crusher]

Heater control panel

David -
The heater control panel is a factory accessory listed in my parts book. Provides a place to put the heater control and defrost knob with cable to move the heater door from floor to defrost. I thought it was such a good idea, I found one on EBay for my truck!

This 48 is in spectacular condition. The original purchaser of the truck loaded it with nearly every option available. It's in the process of a full frame off restoration by Cheyenne Dave for a customer.