WC52 storage compartments

[frank scholer]

I just acquired a 1942 Dodge WC52 and noticed that the four compartments under the troop seats are open. Are these supposed to have some sort of cover (wood or metal) to keep out rain, dirt, trash, etc.? I can find no pictures or info in the TMs I have.

 

[MWMULES]

Open and closed.

 

[frank scholer]

Interesting. My truck has a steel half cover on the front of the compartment but nothing on the rear compartment. It looks original since there are factory holes in the lip of the compartment with four hold down bolts. You can see the holes in the posted picture. Also, my truck has seats that cover the compartments but the wood troop seats in the truck in the picture does not.

 

[FrankUSMC]

Not open. The 4 storage compartments all have lids on the tops to protect what ever you have stored in the compartment.
An early truck the lid would be metal, and a late war truck the lid would be wood.
Is your truck a late or early one? The lid would also be bolted to the bottom troop seats, so when you picked up the bottom troop seat the lids also came up.
The truck in the photo above looks like is has been picked over for some parts, as the storage compartment that is shown is also missing a metal cover that was bolted into place in the front of the storage compartment that the jerry can holder was stored on. See how long that open storage compartment is in the photo above, the bolted on cover would have come back to be even with the end of the bed.
One of the few, Frank USMC RET

 

[FrankUSMC]

Interesting. My truck has a steel half cover on the front of the compartment but nothing on the rear compartment. It looks original since there are factory holes in the lip of the compartment with four hold down bolts. You can see the holes in the posted picture. Also, my truck has seats that cover the compartments but the wood troop seats in the truck in the picture does not.

Frank
Sorry half asleep when I read you post. The steel half cover that is bolted in place is the part I am talking about in last part of my post. there is a good chance there will be 4 holes in that cover, as that where a jerry can holder was placed on a lot of the weapons carriers.
One of the few, Frank USMC RET

 

[frank scholer]

My truck has the gas cans mounted on the rider side running board. The front compartment has a steel cover on the front half and uses the same bolt holes shown in the picture. There are no other holes in the lid. My wood seats are not original so what you say about the lids being attached to the bottom of the seats is possible. They go from the front compartment just to the rear of the metal cover all the way to the rear of the bed, covering the rear compartment. The data plate lists the serial number as 81626027 and a delivery date of 12-42. I'm not sure if this is considered early or late war.

 

[FrankUSMC]

Frank
you have an early war truck. I also have a WC52 in the barn that is restored.
One of the few, Frank USMC RET

 

[FrankUSMC]

I just clicked on NWMules photo. The trucks in the photo, is not a WC52, but the short lived WC55! They have already had the 37mm cannon removed, converting them back into WC52s. They have also had the ammo storage racks removed from the storage boxes, that would explain the open boxes.
Things in the photo that point to the trucks being WC55s: short troop racks, no spare tire carrier, chevron run flat tires, no covers on the storage boxes, as an ammo box/rack fitted into the compartment to hold the rounds for the 37mm cannon.
One of the few, Frank USMC RET
PS. That is a great photo you displayed, NW Mules! I have never seen that one!

 

[frank scholer]

I found the same photo on olive-drab.com. The caption says it is of WC-51 and -52 trucks outside the Chrysler plant near Detroit, dated August 1942.

 

[FrankUSMC]

They (the one closest to the camera), look to be a WC55, if the photo was taken at the Dodge plant then the trucks have not yet been out fitted with the 37mm cannon. The biggest items that leap at you is the lack of a spare tire carrier, and the chevron run flat tires on the truck.
One of the few, Frank USMC RET
PS, the date the photo was taken, is when the Army was going into North Africa for operation torch. That is when they found out a 37mm cannon mounted on a pick up truck taking on German tanks was not the brightest thing to do. After Operation Torch, the Army would drop two of the Dodge models that found out were worthless in combat, the WC55, and the WC 53 Carry All.

 

[gerrykan]

Frank, did Chrysler mount the gun on the WC55, or did the Army?

 

[Another Ahab]

PS, the date the photo was taken, is when the Army was going into North Africa for operation torch. That is when they found out a 37mm cannon mounted on a pick up truck taking on German tanks was not the brightest thing to do. After Operation Torch, the Army would drop two of the Dodge models that found out were worthless in combat, the WC55, and the WC 53 Carry All.

Funny little wrinkle of history there, but if I remember right; the first tanks encountered in North Africa by the U.S. were French (i think it was with German crews);

- Regardless early in the war the French tanks were more heavily armored than the Panzer III's and IV's (which discovery led to the later up-armoring by Germany).

I don't recall all the details, but one of my grandfathers serving under Patton was decorated with a DSC in the early armor action during Torch, and that's where I got the story.

 

[Daren Uzzell]

The half covers on 51/52 are pressed steel with a folded section to the real and a dished panel in the middle, they are mounted dished side down so not to hold water. Jerry cans were often mounted onto these either side of drive / passenger. The other part of the front boxes and the rear boxes had a flat steel plate attached to the bench seat base as has be mentioned previously. I've attached a couple of photos of my 52 for reference.
The pressed covers are quite hard to find here in England not sure about availability in the States.