Dodge built its first truck in 1917, and during World War II supplied the WC-Series 4-wheel-drive truck and utility vehicles most prominently used as ambulances and command cars. After the war, the WC three-quarter-ton military pickup was only slightly tamed to become Dodge’s legendary 1946 Power Wagon pickup.

The bulbous Dodges of the late ’40s and early ’50s, wearing sober names like Wayfarer and Meadowbrook, were hardly glamorous. Flush with prosperity, Americans demanded style, so the 1955 Dodges from Chrysler’s new design chief, Virgil Exner, gained some flamboyance. There was even a La Femme two-door hardtop in pink and white to attract women buyers. It came with a matching purse and accessories.

True razzle-dazzle arrived with the 1957 models that turned heads with their massive front grilles and soaring rear tailfins. The optional D-500 series of Hemi V8s ranged up to 340 horsepower, hinting at the muscle cars yet to come.

But it was the introduction of the 225-cubic-inch Slant Six engine for 1960 that defined Dodge for much of the public. Mechanically simple, and with its cylinder bank slanted 30 degrees to the right, the Slant Six soon earned a reputation as impervious to abuse or deferred maintenance. Dependable Dodges — compact Darts, midsize Coronets and lots of trucks — were defined by the bulletproof Slant Six.

Dodge’s first true entry in the muscle car era was the fastback 1966 Charger with the optional 425-horsepower 426-cubic-inch Hemi V8 that would dominate Nascar and N.H.R.A. drag racing. By 1969 even the big Polara police cars were powered by a 375-horsepower 440-cubic inch V8; they lapped the oval at Chrysler’s proving grounds at an impressive 147 m.p.h.

The Charger was redesigned for 1968 with brilliant new “fuselage” styling. For 1970, the Challenger pony car arrived — late to the party — as a competitor to the Ford Mustang and Chevy Camaro. Dodge bundled its performance models into what it called the “Scat Pack” for marketing, but they were doomed. Insurance rates, OPEC oil embargoes and new safety and emissions regulations ultimately killed the muscle machines.

And then Chrysler nearly killed itself.

In the same model year as Honda’s introduction of the Accord, Dodge put the innocuous Aspen into production. A bit bigger than the Dart, the 1976 Aspen and its fraternal twin, the Plymouth Volaré, were recalled an agonizing eight times by the end of 1977. Beyond that, they were notoriously prone to rusting. With the rest of Chrysler’s lackluster products aging, by 1980 the corporation was nearly bankrupt. Dependable? That wasn’t Dodge any more.