Before 1960, an American who wanted a 4×4 pickup could not simply tick a box on most order forms. Instead, buyers went to specialist converters, to a handful of purpose-built trucks, or to dealers selling add-on kits.

Here are six routes to four-wheel drive that existed before 1960, from 1930s Ford conversions to Ford’s own F-100. Each one is backed by the records and histories linked below.

1. Marmon-Herrington Ford conversions (from 1935)

Marmon-Herrington grew out of the truck business of the Marmon car company in Indianapolis. Walter Marmon and Colonel Arthur W. Herrington were among its founding partners in 1931. Four years later, the firm turned to Ford trucks.

According to the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, Marmon-Herrington began converting Ford 1.5-ton V-8 trucks to all-wheel drive in 1935. Light-duty conversions followed in 1937, RM Sotheby’s notes. A customer ordered the vehicle through a Ford dealer, the complete Ford went to Marmon-Herrington for conversion, and then the Ford dealer delivered it. However, the work was not cheap. On a 1940 Ford station wagon, the $1,805 conversion more than doubled the price, RM Sotheby’s says.

2. 1946 Dodge Power Wagon

Dodge took a different route and built its own. The Power Wagon was officially announced in March 1946. It descended directly from the WC-series weapons carriers Dodge built for the military during World War II.

Power came from Dodge’s 230-cubic-inch flathead straight six, and the truck rode on a 126-inch wheelbase, according to Restore-an-Old-Car’s Power Wagon history. The same source reports that 95,145 WDX and WM300 Power Wagons sold in the United States from 1946 to 1968. After that, U.S. sales ended, but export production continued through 1978. The Dodge Power Wagon entry on Wikipedia also gives the 230 six, the 126-inch wheelbase and the 1978 export end.

3. 1947 Willys Jeep Truck (4T)

Willys turned its wartime Jeep know-how into a full-size pickup. The Jeep Truck arrived in 1947 in 2T and 4T forms, and the 4T was the four-wheel-drive version.

Under the hood sat the same 134-cubic-inch Go-Devil four used in the CJ-2A, rated at 60 horsepower by Kaiser Willys. The 4WD truck rode on a 118-inch wheelbase and carried a 1-ton payload rating, the same source says. Later, Willys dropped the two-wheel-drive versions, leaving only the 4WD models by 1951. Wikipedia’s Willys Jeep Truck entry also describes the 1947 launch as a 1-ton four-wheel-drive truck on a 118-inch wheelbase.

4. 1956 GMC with NAPCO four-wheel drive

NAPCO stood for the Northwestern Auto Parts Company of Minneapolis. Soon after the war, it began selling a 4WD conversion called the Powr-Pak. A dealer or a NAPCO distributor installed it, and NAPCO claimed the job needed no torch cutting or welding.

Then GM’s truck division stepped in. According to a Collectible Automobile excerpt on Consumer Guide, GMC was the first to offer NAPCO four-wheel drive, starting in 1956. Jalopnik agrees that GMC began offering the kit at its dealerships in 1956. It also stresses that the system was an aftermarket conversion, not one GM designed.

5. 1957–1959 Chevrolet with NAPCO four-wheel drive

Chevrolet followed its sister division in mid-1957, according to Consumer Guide. Jalopnik also dates Chevrolet’s move to 1957. As a result, a Chevy buyer could now get a NAPCO-equipped 4×4 pickup through GM.

The price was steep. Consumer Guide says a 1958 half-ton Apache with four-wheel drive cost $2,860, while a comparable rear-drive truck cost $1,884. At $976, four-wheel drive added more than 50 percent to the price. That arrangement lasted only a few seasons, because GM began offering its own in-house 4WD system with the 1960 redesign, Jalopnik says.

6. 1959 Ford F-100 4×4 pickup

Ford’s own factory four-wheel drive came last in this story. “Ford joined the party in 1959,” Consumer Guide says. Before that, the four-wheel-drive Fords in this list came from outside companies such as Marmon-Herrington.

According to OffRoadXtreme, the 1959 F-100 was the first Ford truck offered with factory-installed four-wheel drive. Its profile of Jay Trowbridge’s 1959 F-100 4×4 lists a 292-cubic-inch Y-block V8, a BorgWarner T98 four-speed and a Dana Spicer Model 24 divorced transfer case. Trowbridge’s truck won an Award of Excellence at the 2024 4-Wheel Jamboree Fall Nationals in Indianapolis.

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This article was created with the help of AI and was reviewed and edited by Fast Lane Only editors before publication.