Definitions?

[BobB]

Been a member since 2013 when I bought my 1952 B3B. Got my 1947 WD21 a few years later.

 

The terms “job rated” and “pilothouse” are used a lot, but don’t seem to enjoy consistent usage — probably due to us uninformed newbies? Just wondering if the more seasoned among us could provide a more definitive answer to a few questions.

 

1.  Job Rated: I’ve seen posts that limit this term to the 1939-1947 years, but my ‘52 has a “job rated” badge on the front grill. Does the term properly fit both?

 

2. Pilothouse: does this term relate to all cabs in the 1948-1953 years due to the higher riding cab or just to the five window “delux” cab versions.  I’ve seen pilothouse used for 3 window cabs too, but can’t tell is that’s proper use of the term.

 

Thanks in advance for the clarity that those years of experience and wisdom can provide.

 

Regards,

 

Bob

[wallytoo]

pilothouse, as far is i know, refers to all of the '48 to '53 cabs, not just the versions with the cab corner windows.

[greg g]

Didn't they then use the term power giant beginning in 57 or 58?  Under the hood was the olde 230 flathead or poly v8.

 

It's all just marketing department fuzzy meaning appellations. 

Edited July 18, 2021 by greg g

[Plymouthy Adams]

Power Giant does scream MACHO compared to Cameo........lol

[Young Ed]

The job rated series is 39-47 but the tricky part is the term continued to be used afterwards 

[The Oil Soup]

I don’t know if this is a legitimate ad but it looks like “job rated” was still in use for the 1953 model line.

[tom'sB2B]

https://images.app.goo.gl/x6r8Vvq2ssuBaW9B9.   

I am curious to know as well.

Just by doing a search for "job-rated" advertising. I found it used from 1939 into the mid 50's. The Pilot-House seems to start in 48 with the b series and is used into the mid 50's with the c series.

Just my 2 pennies worth of Google searching.

 

Edited July 19, 2021 by tom'sB2B

[48Dodger]

As I understand it, the "Job Rated" era is from 39-47, and liberal usage by the builders (and customers) was on going for years.

It was a Dodge created term, so I imagine they had no problem when a designer who wanted to put "job rated" somewhere on the truck. 

 

48D

[Jim G]

Is 'Pilot House' an official term, or just one that people started to use? I never heard the term before I joined this forum, (of course there are lots of things I've never heard . . .) but I do come from a mopar family, in what once was a mopar town, (when I was a kid at least half the cars were some sort of mopar)

[ggdad1951]

I have sales literature that talks about these trucks being "Pilot House" and why called so.  So I'd say "official".

 

As much as it annoys me when a C series owner talks about their "Pilot House" C series, I can understand the WC series owners being a bit put out when the B series co-opted the "Job-Rated" logo and imagery, but that info is actually on the trucks and sales documentation for whatever that's worth.

 

[greg g]

https://www.google.com/search?q=dodge:power+giant+trucks&client=tablet-android-samsung-nf-rev1&prmd=sivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjn8raptO_xAhXTrZ4KHcauAEsQ_AUoAnoECAIQAg&biw=800&bih=1334&dpr=1.5#imgrc=_eFHoanwcNJiYM&imgdii=pnXzFyzRKrxSDM

[Young Ed]

1 hour ago, ggdad1951 said:

I have sales literature that talks about these trucks being "Pilot House" and why called so.  So I'd say "official".

 

As much as it annoys me when a C series owner talks about their "Pilot House" C series, I can understand the WC series owners being a bit put out when the B series co-opted the "Job-Rated" logo and imagery, but that info is actually on the trucks and sales documentation for whatever that's worth.

 

That leads me to a thought. Clearly the engineering group was using the letter and # combinations for models. T,V,W for 39-47 and then starting over with B in 48. So job rated and pilot house is probably stuff dreamed up by the marketing folks so no wonder there is overlap

[Jim G]

1 hour ago, ggdad1951 said:

I have sales literature that talks about these trucks being "Pilot House" and why called so.  So I'd say "official".

 

 

 

works for me as documentation it's an 'official' term. Thankyou.

[ggdad1951]

1 hour ago, Young Ed said:

That leads me to a thought. Clearly the engineering group was using the letter and # combinations for models. T,V,W for 39-47 and then starting over with B in 48. So job rated and pilot house is probably stuff dreamed up by the marketing folks so no wonder there is overlap

 

yep, I've never cared what marketing wanted, just make stuff that works.

[greg g]

Did Fargo follow these Nick naming processes? 

[JBNeal]

On 7/18/2021 at 9:51 AM, BobB said:

...

The terms “job rated” and “pilothouse” are used a lot, but don’t seem to enjoy consistent usage — probably due to us uninformed newbies? Just wondering if the more seasoned among us could provide a more definitive answer to a few questions....

 

From my understanding of various pieces of sales literature and Bunn's books, Dodge truck salesmen were trained on selling to a customer's needs to maximize the customer's budget, which has become a lost art over time IMO, when sales are commission based and selling the most bells and whistles increases resale value blahblahblah which completely dismisses the importance of capital costs.  This was the Dodge marketing approach as ford + gm dominated truck market share and salesmen had to chip away at that brand loyalty with whatever they could, from features to styling to utility...if a salesman could sell 11 Dodge trucks to a fleet manager for the same price the competition was offering for only 10, with the Dodge advantage of having only the options the fleet manager wanted, then the Dodge sale wins with rolling advertising in the streets to boot, cuz everybody knows 11 is 1 better than 10

 

Job-Rated was not only a marketing approach that was used for multiple model configurations, it was how the '39-'47 models were described, and it was on trim pieces from '51-'56.  So Job-Rated could be used in some form for Dodge Trucks from 1939 through 1956.

 

As for the term Pilot-House, I believe that this term was first used in marketing literature from 1948 model year, such as shown, referring to the new cab design that increased operator visibility forward and aft,  which was used from '48-53.  Even though the '54-early '55 cabs were similar, they were not referred to as Pilot-House trucks.

 

additional information - 1948 Dodge Advertising Poster

 

 

Confused?  You're not the only one...yet another layer of confusion is what was happening with build cards.  Without straying too far off topic, build cards for model years 1948-1953 varied year to year, which is the big reason why this important document for an owner cannot be readily deciphered with some kind of on-line database.  So not only was marketing all over the map with model names, but manufacturing was "evolving" as to how they specified what they were cranking out of the assembly lines...even the leaping ram hood ornament changed part numbers when it went from being standard equipment to an option but the casting number was apparently unchanged

 

When this website went through some changes a few years ago, I asked about correcting references on the main page and to the subheading to these trucks to reflect this original literature hyphenated nomenclature, which jived with the website's original address of pilot-house.com but that sorta hasn't happened yet.  It's a minor thing but a unified approach to recalling historical documents helps avoid confusion. 

 

And apparently some identity confusion is part of Dodge Truck DNA to this day.  It's been over 10 yrs since mgmt decided to call Dodge Truck the RAM brand for dubious marketing budgetary reasons.  But local advertisers call them "Dodge Trucks", reporters call them "Dodge Trucks", parts dealers call them "Dodge Trucks", even the official Dodge new vehicle website has a link for Dodge Ram Trucks in their Vehicles drop-down menu 

[lostviking]

Marketing. The art of selling you something you never wanted, for more than you can afford...and getting you to  be happy it does less than they said it would.

Edited August 7, 2021 by lostviking

[JBNeal]

I was looking around and rediscovered this little nugget...