The Dodge WC series, sometimes nicknamed ‘Beeps’, were a prolific range of light 4WD and medium 6WD military utility trucks, produced by Dodge / Fargo during World War II.
Together with the 1⁄4-ton jeeps produced by Willys and Ford, the Dodge 1⁄2‑tons and 3⁄4‑tons made up nearly all of the light 4WD trucks supplied to the U.S. military in WWII – with Dodge contributing some 337,500 4WD units.
The Dodge WC series were essentially built in two generations. From 1940 to early 1942, almost 82,400 of the 1⁄2‑ton 4×4 Dodge trucks were built — initially called the VC series, but the great majority (from 1941) in the WC series, and in more variants. Contrary to what Dodge’s nomenclature suggested, the 1941 WC models were a direct evolution of the 1940 VC models, retaining the U.S. Army’s G-505 Ordnance Corps Supply Catalog number.
In 1942, the payload was uprated, and the trucks became the shorter G-502, 3⁄4‑ton, 4×4 Truck (Dodge), and the longer 1943, G-507, 11⁄2‑ton, 6×6 personnel and cargo truck (Dodge) — confusingly retaining Dodge WC model codes. Although the 3⁄4‑tons featured significant design improvements, they did retain some 80% interchangeable components and service parts with the 1⁄2‑ton models — a vital Army requirement, for field maintenance and operability of the trucks.
Dodge was the U.S. Army’s main supplier of 1⁄2‑ton trucks, and its sole supplier of both 3⁄4‑ton trucks and 11⁄2‑ton 6×6 trucks in World War II. With over a quarter million units built through August 1945, the G-502 3⁄4‑tons were the most common variants in the WC‑series.
After the war, Dodge developed the 3⁄4-ton WC‑series into the civilian 4×4 Dodge Power Wagon; and in 1951, the WCs were replaced by the very similar 3⁄4‑ton 4×4 Dodge M-series vehicles.
