The Dodge WC series (nicknamed "Beeps") is a prolific range of light 4WD and medium 6WD military utility trucks, produced by Chrysler under the Dodge and Fargo marques during World . Together with the -ton jeeps produced by Willys and Ford, the Dodge ton and ton trucks made up nearly all of the light 4WD trucks supplied to the U.S. military in WWII – with Dodge contributing some 337,500 4WD units (over half as many as the jeep).
Contrary to the versatility of the highly standardized jeep, which was mostly achieved through field modification, the Dodge WCseries came in many different, purpose-built, but mechanically uniform variants from the factory, much akin to the later family of High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles. The WC series evolved out of, and was part of a more extended family of trucks, with great mechanical parts commonality, that included open- and closed-cab cargo, troops and weapons carriers, (radio) command, and reconnaissance cars, ambulances, carry-alls, panel vans, and mobile telephone installation and (emergency) field workshop trucks.
The Dodge WC series were essentially built in two generations. From 1940 to early 1942, almost 82,400 of the ton 4x4 Dodge trucks were built — initially called the VC series, but the great majority, from 1941, in the WC series, and in more variants. Contrary to what Dodge's nomenclature suggested, the 1941 WC models were a direct evolution of the 1940 VC models, retaining the U.S. Army's Ordnance Corps Supply Catalog number.
For 1942, the trucks bodies and chassis were largely redesigned – heavier frames and drivetrains uprated them to carry tons off-road. And widening their tracks, while greatly shortening the wheelbase on the main models, plus lowering the bodies' center of gravity, gave them a much more square stance, with a much better break-over angle and side-slope stability. The trucks thus became the shorter , ton, 4×4 Truck (Dodge), and from 1943 also the longer, stretched , 1ton, 6x6 personnel and cargo truck (Dodge) — all while retaining Dodge WC model codes.