All the Dodge men were strong and hardworking types who could trace the Dodge family back to 1629 in America. In the 1850s, Ezekiel Dodge ran a successful machine shop on the banks of the St. Joseph River in Niles, Michigan. Ezekiel was a good machinist upon whom the local fishermen depended to repair the steam engines in their boats. Ezekiel and his wife Anna had 2 daughters and 11 sons including Daniel Rugg Dodge. Despite the success of Ezekiel's machine shop, times were hard and all the Dodge children had a tough life ahead of them. Daniel's father taught the young man to be a machinist and Daniel took over the business when the time came. Daniel married Maria Duval Casto and, as was the custom in those days, provided Daniel with children. Della, the oldest child, was born in 1863, John Francis was born in 1864, and Horace followed in 1868. The boys grew up on the dusty streets of Niles and played along the river's edge. Two red haired, dirty faced urchins, who spent many hours at their Father's side learning the skills of the machinists trade. John was the quieter of the two and the better machinist. Horace was the leader, making sure the no one took advantage of the pair. The brothers were inseparable.

  Detroit was already the machine capital of America when the brothers moved there as partners in a bicycle manufacturing business. The bicycles were top quality and dependable due mostly to a sealed ball bearing the two men developed. When the bike business was sold the brothers received $3700 dollars which they used to open the first Dodge Brothers machine shop. One of their first customers was Ransom E. Olds who needed engines for his "Merry Oldsmobile." The famous curved dash Oldsmobile was the first successful production car in America and the Dodge Brothers used the profits to expand their shop.

  By the time Henry Ford approached the brothers in 1902, they were one of the largest automotive concerns in Detroit. Since the Ford Motor Company had very little capital, the Dodge Brothers became major stockholders when they bought equipment to produce the first 650 Model A Fords in 1903. An early Ford car was assembled in the Ford factory from a complete chassis made by the Dodge Brothers plus wheels and a body from other subcontractors. Ford designed it but it was the skill of the Dodge Brothers that made it work. And work it did! The Ford Motor Company sold millions of cars during the next ten years and the Dodges became rich.

  Using the millions they made producing Ford cars, the two Dodge Brothers began production of their own, up scale car line in 1914. The Dodge Brother's auto was made to the best standards of workmanship, materials and design. The design had the dependability of the Ford Model T but with modern refinements of the day. The Dodge cars had electric starters, sliding gear transmissions and rear wheel brakes. The Dodge Brothers also collaborated with Edward Budd to produce one of the earliest all steel bodies in mass production. The cars were an immediate success.

  The Brothers both died in 1920 leaving a successful car line, a prosperous company, and an engineering legacy. When Dodge Brothers Inc. was sold to Dillon, Read and Co. in 1925 for 146 million dollars, it was the largest cash transaction that had ever occurred.

  The Dodge cars, designed in 1914, remained essentially unchanged until Chrysler Corporation bought the Dodge Brother's company on July 31, 1928. Public demand for the cars always exceeded the supply because of the Dodge Brother's reputation for quality and dependability.

The Birth of Dodge Trucks

  When the Dodges began production of cars in 1914 they were an immediate success. Many of the Dodge Brother's cars were cut down to make dependable light trucks even in those early years. The public and the Dodge dealers repeatedly asked The Brothers to produce a truck. After extensive testing The Dodge Boys determined that a light "Commercial Car" could be made on the existing car chassis and assembly line without disrupting the car production. Finally, in October 1917, the first commercial body style emerged from the Hamtramck factory into the waiting arms of the public and the US Army. Thousands of Dodge Brothers trucks, with ambulance bodies, were sold to the U.S. Army for the war in Europe.

  The first Dodge Brothers truck was a pick up with heavy screens between the bed sides and the roof. The truck had a 1/2 ton capacity and was built on the successful 114 inch wheel base car chassis. The trucks were for light delivery only and a fully enclosed panel version soon followed the screenside. From the dash forward the trucks were indistinguishable from the autos using the same dependable four cylinder engine, wood spoke wheels and even intermixed serial numbers.

  Just like the Dodge Brothers cars, there were no model years for the trucks, but they have spotting features to help identify approximate construction dates. The spotting feature for the earliest trucks, from 1917 to 1922, is the low hood which dips down from the dashboard out to the radiator. The truck cab has roadster style doors with no outside handles and the spare tire is mounted on the drivers side. In 1922 major changes were made to the car and truck line including a taller radiator making the hood line almost straight out from the top of the dash. The panel and screenside trucks were still built on the 114 inch wheel base and limited to 1/2 ton loads. Outside door handles were added to the doors. In 1923 the wheel base was increased to 116 inches which allowed a larger cargo area and increased capacity up to 3/4 ton. Even though fully enclosed cars had been in production for several years, the trucks still had the half height doors and a roll down curtain to keep out the rain. Finally in 1925 the trucks were given full size steel doors with roll-up windows. The side mounted spare was moved to a rack under the rear of the bed. These were the last major external changes until the production of Chrysler design trucks replaced those of the original Dodge Brothers, inc.