The axle would be a forging, not a casting, that could stand up to the rigors of the rough roads and stresses put on the chassis of a car. A casting could easily break but a forged axle could be twisted in a knot before breaking. Henry Ford did such a demonstration with a Model T axle bent around like a pretzel.

General Pershing used several Dodge cars like this to chase Pancho Villa in Mexico in the early nineteen-tens. The bandido must have been impressed by the rugged little Dodge, because years later, in the early twenties, when he was a respected ex-revolutionary living in his hacienda in northern Mexico, he bought a Dodge car for himself. He was at the wheel of his car, driving along minding his own business, when he was, let's say, "terminated".

[Or maybe more like 1916, seeing as how there were no Dodge cars in the early 1910s. - Dave]

of the Dodge Brothers expertise, casting of parts-look at that beautiful sand casting of the front axle. They made high quality parts for Olds and then Ford before venturing on their own.