Meet The War Wagon: 1953 Dodge M37 Military Truck 

And it’ll take a whole bunch of single digit fuel economy to match the truck payment on a newish truck. But it’ll also be very uncomfortable. Haha.

On a 90°+ day in western WA- OK, newer-ish truck A/C is kinda nice!

Well unless you change the gears you are not going anywhere fast, the gearbox is not great either. I'm putting a Cummins in mine.

I was totally wrong on that number - it’s a bridge plate denoting the weight class of the truck. I’m not sure where I read or heard that it meant 4th infantry, but it doesn’t. It’s a pretty dang nice truck!

@DeadDodgeGarage I would agree. The carb,air cleaner and distributor are not original but other than that it looks pretty unmolested. Yep bridge weight. My 55 has a 251 ci engine being a Canada built truck.

Awesome! I love these things. They’re so rugged. Overbuilt and hard to kill.

@@DeadDodgeGarage we were driving it around the yard after we got it back. What a tank. It would be nice to find some non-split rims for it though…. Those look pretty sketchy on my buddy’s truck.

Those should be a lock ring wheel instead of an actual “split rim.” But… still not the most ideal of things. My local tire shop was actually able to do an inner tube on one of mine. I was very surprised.

@@DeadDodgeGarage Yea, it is a lock ring. But still not the safest setup on the books.

Yes those always look like they would complicate things. Haha. I really like the M37. It rides so much better compared to my civilian Power Wagon.

Yes I’ve been schooled on this already. It’s a little late to go back and edit the video now. I was misinformed.

That's a 4 ton bridge rating not infantry or cavalry division !!!!!

James is correct, that’s not an infantry division marking, it’s a bridge plate, designating it’s weight class

Yes I’ve been schooled on this already. Someone had informed me incorrectly. Technically the 4 is weight class 4, which is roughly 4 tons / 8,000 pounds, but the different weight classes do not actually follow tonnage exactly.

Choke basically doesn’t work now unless closed manually at carb. Flathead hates starting without choke in my experience. I know this… but am stubborn

i have one to sell 1953 m37

It’s such a shame I was born this way

Vintage Power Wagons seems to have all of the goods, and at reasonable prices. I haven’t ordered from them yet but I plan to get a bunch of stuff for my ‘48 at some point.

I wish… it wasn’t actually mine. I don’t know that I would’ve submerged it, but I really would’ve liked to have tested it off road.

I don’t know the numbers, but I got the plug number from O’Reilly, I think - and the wire set I used was the cheapest set available for a 1970 Dodge Dart with a 318. I used the six shortest wires and the coil wire.

that,s great. thank you. great video too.@@DeadDodgeGarage

It was for sale for a time, and was finally traded for another Dodge truck.

It was actually traded for a stepside Dodge a month or two after this. That guy is driving it!

The only trucks of this type with longer beds would also have dual rear axles! But I’m actually pretty sure those only existed in the WWII trucks.

I was young back then maybe I just remember it being larger than it was.@@DeadDodgeGarage

Awesome! I need to get back to work on my ‘48 Power Wagon. I’d really like to get the bed together. It would be huge motivation to finish the other projects on it. My first real Dead Dodge Garage video in December was starting a 12 volt conversion… haven’t finished that yet. Whoops.

Thank you for correcting me. Whoever informed me the first time did so incorrectly and I hadn’t bothered to do any research on the subject. Learning that the 4th Infantry spent the 50s hanging out in Germany is something I also could’ve done sooner. Haha. The yellow marker is a ‘bridge plate,’ and the 4 denotes weight class 4 - the lowest weight class in the numbered system.

It isn’t a power wagon and wouldn’t say that. Even power wagon titles likely won’t say that. This varies by who typed up the registration, but often it may say “PU” or perhaps a truck model designation - on my ‘48, for example, it might say B-1-P, or PW-126. I can’t remember which mine actually says.

thank you for the reply, i was asking because someone selling this truck said hes title was saying fargo on it so it must not be the real title.@@DeadDodgeGarage

@@philipthemechanic5782 Ah, that's a different matter altogether - Dodge trucks in Canada were sold as Fargos. I would expect to see Fargo on a Power Wagon or other pickup title there. I suppose it stands to reason that the M37 may also end up as a Fargo. Verify that the VIN / chassis number on the title matches the tag of the truck you are looking at and you're good.

Oh i see, a big thank's, that was very informative and helpful. @@DeadDodgeGarage

Damn. They tend to be much more reasonable than that around here, but they also don’t often pop up in original shape like this one. Other than the few little things this one is pretty much operational, and not messed with. It would probably cost around half that.

i have one in south carolina been work ing on 11 yrs replaced everthing that needed replacings from gd up ive add 50 more yrs to it it was reg in ga. 2007 i bought in 2011 put in new points got it running 24 volts system 5 new tires tubes and flaps new rings total new wiring new lights idiot light on oil pressure new brakes new wheel cylinders new gas tank new alternator new plugs and wires rebuild dist. 2 new batterysnew canvas cover on bed ---------braiden winch and 100 ft cable all gauges work will sell for right price.