CC reader Kartner G. sent me this picture of his rather rare Dodge Mowag 4×4 B350 van, formerly used by the Swiss Fire Department as a brigade transport. Kartner says the van was built in Canada and converted to 4×4 in the US, but Wikipedia says it was converted by Mowag, which is a Swiss concern that has a long history of building specialized vehicles for the Swiss military, fire departments and police. In either case, it’s a gem with that paint job, and looks like new, with only 12,000 km on the odometer. Well, one would hardly expect it to look all ratty and worn out; that wouldn’t exactly fit the stereotype Swiss character, would it?
And this isn’t his first either; he’s had two others. And I like the older one even better.
Love that “Mowag” emblem on the hood. Now that’s a Mopar Mowagen I can get behind.
Sweet looking van. It’s too bad Dodge never offered a 4wd van here in the USA.
A little google searching revealed that a California company called Pathfinder Equipment did Dodge van 4×4 conversions called “VanChargers” and sold them directly through Dodge dealerships.
The VanCharger was briefly profiled by me about a year ago.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-dodge-ram-van-charger-4×4/
Wow, thats bright!
Exciting…
Do Want.
I’ve seen a 4×4 Dodge van similar to the older one pictured at local car shows from time to time. It’s silver/grey. I’ve never talked to the owner to find out the story behind it though. I know it does not have that “Mowag” badging.
Very interesting ! Never heard of them before, so I (also) went to Wikipedia.
Besides the military vehicles they also built several “Mopar Specials”, like ambulances and fire trucks.
This is a 1974 Mowag 4×4 fire truck based on a 1971 Dodge W200 with a 318 engine.
Source: http://www.mowag.nl/215049395
the hubcap is the only chrome I see on the first one. No wonder I feel besides 4WD it still looks different
Didn’t Ford offer 4×4 versions of the Econoline for a few years in the 1990’s-2000’s?
There are indeed 4×4 Econolines, and the armed forces use them as “non-tactical” (noncombat, general purpose transportation) vehicles. I rode in some armored ones in Iraq during the previous decade.
A Pennsylvania company, Quigley 4×4, still does the AWD conversions for various Ford and General Motors as well as Nissan vans. This company used to do the right-hand-drive conversions for General Motors vehicles in the early 2000s.
http://http://www.quigley4x4.com/
A tidbit: the right-hand-drive conversion was very high quality. Why General Motors chose to use the older stretched right-hand-drive dashboard from older Trailblazer rather than Quigley perfect mirror conversion for its Australian Holden Suburban is beyond me.
I bet they used the Trailblazer dashboard because it was cheaper and an internal part. I’ve seen a Quigley Chev 4×4 van here in Melbourne a few times, I couldn’t begin to guess the year other than probably 1990s.
A nice rig .
Occasionally I see some used Swiss Military truck or Moto and they’re always near pristine .
Sweet .
Who in Europe can afford to feed it ? .
-Nate
Another very neat Mowag-Mopar.
Source: http://gomotors.net/Mowag/Mowag-W_200/gallery.html?pic=5
Now those are vans I’d daily drive with pride!
I guess this answers the question of whether there was a Dodge equivalent of the Quigley Ford and Chevy conversions. That would definitely be a cool thing to bring to a US Mopar show.
Hope there’s a little step stool inside the door on the orange one….
I’ve never seen top-hinged side windows before, like on the first photo. Are they factory? Were they common?
My 76 Tradesman has three of them on the passenger side and two on the drivers. They are very nice, reliable, seal well, and create a nice silent draft. Really don’t know why more manufacturers didn’t use them.
On a side note I have my Tradesman and an 85 RamCharger rusting away on my rural property. These look like their bastard child and grand child!
Have often thought about combining the two. If I only had that much money and/or time to waste.
I was also extremely surprised to see the Mowag emblem on road cars. The brand is known here in Chile, as our army has assembled and uses Mowag Piranha vehicles, and they go on military parades and to help the people affected by floods, for instance.
I had a MOWAG B 350 A8 from 1980, MOWAG was just modifing the vans to fulfill the needs of several fire departments or ambulance specifications. The vans (Dodge and Chevys) came from Quickley or Pathfinder to MOWAG and the vans are declared as MOWAG in the registration papers as producer. MOWAG also had pick up trucks aswell back to the late 60th (they imported Dodge W200 for example).
Now the company is specialised in armed military vehicles.
I am suprised that there are not many converted 4×4 vans in the USA, i found a 1994 and 1999 MOWAG B 350 A8 as the last models in that MOWAG history. Also i found here in Switzerland converted Mercedes T1 vans, converted to 4×4 by LARAG (LARAG Mercedes van 4×4).
https://can01.anibis.ch/Minibus-Dodge-Mowag-1980/?2048×1536/3/50/anibis/873/732/017/Mkb0HZ6n-EiGeqsyP8-lIQ_1.JPG
le mien a vendre 12000 euro
anibis.ch
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