Don Bunn tells the story of the legendary Dodge Power Wagon through a brief two-page introduction and 122 black-and-white photographs. Published in 1998 and reprinted in 2018, the book follows the format established for the Iconografix Photo Archive series, offering mostly large, full-page images with minimal captions. Bunn’s introduction begins with World War I, since it “was the reason the Dodge Bros. Co. entered the truck business.” In 1934, Dodge developed a 11/2-ton four-wheel-drive military cargo truck and subsequently began mass-production of the VC-series half-ton four-wheel-drive in 1940 that was replaced by the WC-series in 1941. Following World War II, Dodge adapted its military trucks for civilian use to create the 3/4-ton four-wheel-drive Farm Utility, subsequently renamed the Power Wagon in 1946. The book’s visual cornucopia covers Dodge’s military vehicles for use in WWII and the civilian Power Wagons of 1946 through 1980, when the series ended. Beyond the scope of the book is the revival of the nameplate in 2005. Photographs include military vehicles, ambulances, fire trucks, pickups, wreckers, a rare wood-bodied station wagon, and—one shudders—an out-of-character 1980 model equipped with narrow-band whitewall tires.

Book Review by Robert Gabrick