Alameda Street Sighting - 1952 Dodge B-2B Job Rated Pickup

GMC likes to market itself as "Professional Grade". That tagline implies that GMC trucks are built to work hard and will hold up under the stress of whatever job they do. This kind of statement is nothing new. As long as the truck could reasonably live up to the claim, manufacturers would trumpet it loudly. And some even bolted that claim onto the front of their trucks. Long before Dodge spun its truck line off to become RAMs, they built these, the Job-Rated B-Series pickup.

Job Rated was a term coined in 1939 to describe a range of Dodge trucks built for a spectrum of jobs. Lighter duty trucks would serve general pickup use, all the way up to big commercial rigs hauling or towing heavy payloads. Dodge introduced all-new trucks for 1948 with the B Series, beginning with the B-1. These trucks were improved over the pre-war design that, while visually interesting, was woefully outdated by the time it was phased out. The 1948-1953 trucks, in my opinion, are not the prettiest things out there. However, they do have a certain toughness to them.

This one appears to be a 1952 B-2, or close to it. Judging by the tough-looking tires it could be a 4x4 model, but the lack of a visible solid front axle makes me wonder if it's just a 2WD truck with beefy rubber. It's a badass hauler in dark green with black steel wheels and minimal brightwork. It reminds me almost of an old Buddy L toy in large scale (complete with paint chips and play wear). The only chrome or stainless pieces on the whole truck are the hubcaps, headlight bezels and D-O-D-G-E badge on the grille. Note the small "Made in USA" stamped into the middle D on the emblem. Cars these days usually have their point of origin listed on the window sticker, broken down into parts content percentages. Made in USA tends to be a decision made by 'foreign' automakers to save money on shipping and to curry favor with Americans by bringing in new jobs. American automakers frequently outsource to Canada, Mexico or any number of other countries for cost cutting and whatnot. It's become a novelty for Chrysler to advertise its cars as "Imported from Detroit" (which is also false in the case of the Canadian-built Chrysler 300 and Town & Country minivan). Sigh.

Anyway, cool truck. It's nice to see an early 1950s pickup that isn't a Chevy.