50 Fun Facts About Dodge

What were the first names of the two Dodge brothers who founded the company in 1900?

They started as a Detroit machine shop supplying parts to Olds and Ford before building their own cars.

In which Michigan city did the Dodge Main factory operate from 1910 to 1980?

The site later became GM's Detroit-Hamtramck plant, now called Factory Zero.

How much were the Dodges paid when Henry Ford bought out his shareholders?

Henry had only needed to add bodies and wheels to the chassis the brothers built for his first Model A.

What stake in Ford did Henry Ford give the Dodge brothers for $10,000 of goods?

Their buyout in 1919 plus dividends returned nearly $35 million on that investment.

In what year did Dodge Brothers build their first complete car?

The Model 30-35 touring car was pitched as a step up from the Ford Model T.

Which feature, still rare at the time, did the first Dodge car make standard?

Most cars still used wood framing under steel panels.

Which electrical system did the first Dodge use when the norm was half as powerful?

Six-volt systems remained standard across the industry into the 1950s.

Which famous line is attributed to John Dodge about his biggest customer's buyers?

Dodge Brothers cars ranked second in US sales as early as 1916.

Why did the Dodge brothers sue Henry Ford in 1916?

Ford was diverting profits to build River Rouge; the suit forced him to buy out his shareholders.

Which general used a Dodge touring car in the 1916 expedition against Pancho Villa?

It was the US military's first operation to use truck convoys.

Which future WWII general led America's first motorized military raid in three Dodge cars?

His men tied the bodies of Villa's men to the hoods and drove back to headquarters.

Roughly how many Dodge cars and light trucks served in World War I?

Most were touring cars; the rest were screen-side trucks and panel vans used as ambulances.

In what year did both Dodge brothers die?

John died of pneumonia in January; Horace followed in December.

Which investment bank bought Dodge Brothers from the widows in 1925?

The $146 million deal was then the largest cash transaction in history.

Which truck-body maker did Dodge acquire in 1925–26?

The Graham brothers left in 1927 to found Graham-Paige and build their own cars.

In what year did Chrysler buy Dodge?

Chrysler had tried two years earlier; the $170 million deal was done in stock, not cash.

In Chrysler's 1930s lineup, Dodge was slotted between Plymouth and which brand?

The two swapped positions in 1933, with Dodge dropping just above Plymouth.

Which 1941 feature put a hydraulic coupling between engine and clutch to stop stalling?

Drivers still shifted manually; Gyro-Matic later made it semi-automatic.

Roughly how many trucks did Dodge build in the United States during World War II?

Chrysler Canada added another 180,000 for the British and Commonwealth armies.

Which civilian truck grew directly out of Dodge's wartime WC series?

It arrived almost unchanged in 1945 for the 1946 model year.

What was the name of Dodge's first V8, a smaller version of the Chrysler Hemi?

It debuted in 1953 alongside the Coronet, Dodge's first pillarless hardtop.

Which Chrysler design chief led the tail-finned 1955 restyle that revived Dodge?

The tail-finned era that followed lifted Dodge sales through 1960.

Which 1950s Dodge model, trimmed in white and orchid, was marketed to women?

A gold-accented model called the Texan was sold only in Texas at the same time.

Until 1965, how were Dodge's PowerFlite and TorqueFlite automatics controlled?

The three-speed TorqueFlite arrived in 1957.

Dodge's first compact, launched for 1961, was a variation on which Plymouth?

The Lancer flopped, but its 1963 successor the Dart became a long-running best-seller.

Which sporty fastback version of the Coronet dominated NASCAR for four years?

Its aerodynamic improvements changed the face of stock-car racing.

Dodge entered the pony car market in which model year with the Challenger?

Engines ranged from economy straight-sixes to the race-ready Hemi V8.

Dodge's Colt subcompact of the seventies was built by which Japanese partner?

Chrysler came to lean heavily on the Mitsubishi relationship for engines and small cars.

The original Dodge Demon was a badge-engineered version of which Plymouth?

It sold in far smaller numbers than its Plymouth twin.

Which European Chrysler model was rebadged as the Dodge Omni?

In 1978 it beat Ford and GM to market with a US-built front-wheel-drive small car.

Which Chrysler chairman secured federal loan guarantees in 1979?

The Omni was used as evidence that Chrysler could build small, fuel-efficient cars.

What was the Dodge version of Chrysler's K-Car?

The durable front-drive platform spawned a whole range of 1980s Dodges.

Who co-developed the minivan idea with Chrysler's future chairman while both were at Ford?

Henry Ford II rejected their prototype in 1974; at Chrysler it became the T-115, then the Caravan.

The Dodge Caravan was introduced in November 1983 for which model year?

Early marketing called the Caravan and Voyager the "Magic-wagons".

What type of vehicle did the Caravan largely replace in American driveways?

It created an entirely new market segment and helped save Chrysler.

Which late-1980s Dodge was among the first Chryslers with a standard driver's airbag?

Iacocca considered the rear-drive M-body a relic and refused to invest in it.

Which Dodge sports car made Car and Driver's 10Best list in Turbo form?

A Shelby Z version with an intercooled Turbo II engine followed in 1987.

The 1988 Dynasty was the first mass-produced car with what electrical innovation?

The Ultradrive four-speed automatic debuted in the same cars a year later.

How many cylinders does the Dodge Viper's aluminum engine have?

The 1992 roadster launched "The New Dodge" advertising campaign.

Which actor narrated "The New Dodge" TV ads through the 1990s?

The Gilmore Girls actor became the brand's spokesperson for the rest of the decade.

What did Chrysler call the Intrepid's wheels-at-the-corners styling?

Fuselage and Wind Stream were earlier Dodge styling eras.

What was the internal nickname for the big-rig-styled 1994 Ram concept?

Sales jumped from 95,542 trucks in 1993 to 232,092 in 1994.

The 1994 Ram was prominently featured in which storm-chasing movie?

Motor Trend named the redesigned truck its 1994 Truck of the Year.

Which pickup was the first two generations of the Durango SUV based on?

Dodge raised the roof two inches behind the front seats to fit a forward-facing third row.

Chrysler merged with which German company in 1998?

Dodge's sister brand Plymouth was dropped soon after the merger.

Which 2005 Dodge was the brand's first model built on a shared Daimler platform?

It also revived the Hemi V8 and preceded the 2006 Charger on the same platform.

Which Italian automaker partnered with Chrysler in June 2009?

The bailout loan was repaid with interest on May 24, 2011, five years early.

In 2011, which two sub-brands were split off from Dodge?

SRT was merged back into Dodge in 2014.

The 2013 Dodge Dart compact was based on a design from which brand?

It was the first new Dodge produced under FCA.

The 2021 merger of FCA and PSA Group created which parent company of Dodge?

The Dutch-domiciled group is Europe's second-largest automaker after Volkswagen.