Dodge Brothers John and Horace Dodge were parts suppliers for Henry Ford from 1903- 1913. In 1914 they formed the Dodge Brothers Manufacturing Company and went into their own manufacturing. Their vehicles were know for their extreme ruggedness and durability. The U S Army, which entered WW1 in 1917, was a large purchaser of their vehicles, especially a light truck they used in France to carry the wounded and supplies.
In 1928 Walter Chrysler purchased the Dodge Brothers in what was then the largest all cash transaction in history. Dodge Brothers became Dodge Division. Chrysler wanted to flesh out his growing corporation, and intended to go toe to toe with General Motors with their wide assortment of vehicles and many divisions.Chrysler wanted access to the Dodge dealerships, well established and numerous- as well as the fine reputation of the car itself.
These two, a late 40’s to early fifties 2 ton on the left, called the Pilothouse” sign,and an early forties 2 ton on the right called the “Job Rated” model. Here it is rigged as a makeshift tow truck. They caught my eye in Sprague Washington in 2015. They created a powerful image that invited comparison, being more or less mirror images of two different generations of trucks, side by side after their long careers were over.
“Dodge Brothers” were painted pretty much as I found them. The foreground was made claylike as it was an excuse to put a blue element into the foreground, and the muddy tracks were added to create structure in the foreground also. Likewise the moss, which resonated with the trucks.The sky I photographed from my back yard, and grafted on the portrait. I wanted the converging lines this sky offered to strengthen the composition.
