Some Background on my WC-51

My grandfathers both served in WWII and I guess I picked up my interest in the period from them. As a kid I was particularly fascinated by the aircraft of the time. Later in life I even got my FAA Airframe and Powerplant licenses, and toyed with the idea of restoring a warbird. My finances would not support that dream, but I did find an old military jeep to put back together… and in turn found a new hobby.

That was 10 years ago… I have restored a couple WWII jeeps since and enjoyed them. They don't take up a lot of garage space, and the parts are mostly small and manageable for one person. I like to take my kids with me in parades and such, and it got to the point that my family out grew jeeps. I restored a WC-53 Carryall, but missed the open top of the jeeps. So I decided to try a WC-51.

I found this machine on an orange grove in Lindsay California. The truck had been purchased surplus from the military after WWII by Imoto Brothers Farms. The Imotos were Japanese Americans, and their family had been interned in Poston, AZ during WWII. They had five sons, and despite the internment of their family, four of them served in the US Army… and the brother who didn't (Mike) would have too, but a heart problem prevented him. I talked with the youngest and only surviving son (now in his 80s) at some length and got details of he and his brother's service.

Have not located a photo of Tobias "Toby" Imoto yet.
Sam Imoto (Sgt) U.S. Army of Occupation, Headquarters, Frankfurt Germany
Tobias "Toby" Imoto (Sam believes he was with the 442nd also, which makes sense, but I've not been able to find any rank or unit details for him.)

Akira Imoto (Sgt) 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Service Company

Hiyoshi Imoto (Sgt) 442nd Regimental Combat Team, 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, Battery B.

So, while I suspect the truck never left the US, It was driven by members of one of the most decorated units in WWII, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. They didn't drive it into battle, but used it to help rebuild their farm and livelihoods after their family's internment and their service to our country. I'm proud to have a chance to restore a vehicle these guys owned.

One of the first things I did after getting the truck home was to write the DaimlerChrysler Corporation's corporate historian and get a copy of the Build Card for the truck. They can pull it based on the vehicle's serial number. This document provided the following information:

  • Date Built: Feb 5th 1945
  • Serial No: 81741239
  • Motor No: T214-226806
  • Body No: 171514

Click the image to see a larger copy.
All this matched the truck's tags and stampings except the motor number… turns out the motor had been rebuilt at the depot level and swapped with another T214 engine. The engine wasn't the only thing swapped though. The bed is from an earlier style WC-51, with steel sides and a larger storage box on the front driver's side… (by 1945, Dodge had changed to a composite bed with wood sides to save material.) Sam said they never swapped the bed after they bought it surplus, so it would have to be some sort of depot repair.
Here's the dataplate, the contrast and hue on the image have been pushed to help make out the stampings. (Click on the small image to see a larger version.) Data matches the build card, but does show a date of delivery of 2/14/45... Nine days after the build date.
In the process of restoration I also found the hood number: 2285841, which would be consistent with the date of manufacture, but the front bumper was beat up and I wasn't able to recover unit numbers.