Just curious..

[INJUNTOM]

New guy here, and never heard the term "Pilothouse truck"

Are all those body style trucks called Pilothouse trucks?

Where does the term "Pilothouse" come from?

I grew up in a '49 Dodge pickup lowbed that my dad drove. After our '68 442 got totalled out in front of our house in the early 70s, my dad transplanted the Olds 400/Muncie 4 spd into the Dodge, and needless to say it was a screamer. Eventually he sold it to my uncle who painted it "Fireball red", and put on a brand new set of the "just released" Turbo Vex whels. They were the newest and coolest thing in those days, even though you can't give them away nowadays. His were the 10" wide versions and I can still remember how cool that truck looked at the time.

Eventually he passed it down to my cousin who pulled the Olds engine and put it into his '66 Chevelle, then dropped in a Chevy straight 6 and was to give it to his younger brother who never did anything with it.

Several years ago my uncle sold it to a produce vendor who bought it to cut in half, and mount it to the side of his building as if the front of the truck ran through the building, and the bed was used for produce..

[Bob_Koch]

Take a look around on the DPETCA website. I think it will help answer some of your questions.

http://dodgepilothouseclub.org/

[41/53dodges]

the name basically came from the 7-window cabs with their improved visibility from the corner windows. the name kinda tended to stick with the whole group, 5 or 7 window!

[HanksB3B]

This book was recently brought back into press. You'll be very well informed after reading it and will find it to be both factual and a great help when you and your buddies find the front half of the truck, rent a 10 ton crane and remove the rear half from the building (we've seen it) in the middle of the night and put it back together...just kidding (or find another one).

http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/showthread.php?t=23612

Hank

Edited December 30, 2010 by HanksB3B

[OLD DODGE]

"Where does the term "Pilothouse" come from?"

The Pilot House is the part of a large boat where the ship's captain would be. Like the driver's seat of a car or the cockpit of a plane. It is elevated higher than the rest of the ship and is made up of mostly windows. Its a good place to see everything.

When Dodge introduce the new "B" series trucks in 1948 they started using the term "Pilot-House" to describe the cab and the improved visibility it had due to the increased size of the windshield and the addition of the quarter windows. They continued to use this term in marketing their trucks through the "C" series trucks till the end of 1956.

Dodge used marketing words to describe their trucks or truck parts over the years. Words like Job-Rated, Pilot-House, Power Giant, and Sweptline. Every one of these terms was used by them over a wide range of years but they seem to have been unofficially applied and used to describe specific era trucks. Dodge never used these terms like this. While it can be very useful to have a name for a certain era of truck it can also sometimes add some confusion.

In this case the term Pilot-House was used by Dodge to describe the CAB design of their "B" series trucks 1948-1953 and their "C" series trucks 1954-1956. Now the term is being used to describe only the "B" series ERA of trucks.

Kevin

[INJUNTOM]

Cool. Good info. They are definately cool looking trucks. I believe my dad's had the wraparound windows.

Edited December 31, 2010 by INJUNTOM

[41/53dodges]

i always thought mine was so butt-ugly that it was cool looking, especially with all the front sheet metal in different colors!