My F1-all, seen here, had been gone for quite some time when a friend asked me if I wanted to buy a Scout. That got my attention, but when I asked him for details he said it was the pickup version, was powered by a six-cylinder engine and, worst of all, had 2WD. Even though I’d always thought Scouts were cool, a 2WD version didn’t really interest me. After he tried to sell it to me a couple more times, he finally said, “I just want it out of my garage, so how about I give it to you in exchange for doing a tune-up on my Celica?” Now that was a deal I couldn’t refuse despite the 2WD.
Once I’d finished up with the Celica, we went into his garage to check out the Scout. His story was that his grandfather had purchased it new, and then passed it down to him when he got his driver’s license. He drove it while he was in high school, then took it along to college, where the 258 finally let go. He simply had a rebuilt short-block installed at a local gas station and continued to drive it.
Note license plate frame from the selling dealer, who is still selling Internationals, albeit larger ones in a new location.
The problem was, it had to pass emissions testing after he moved back to Seattle. It failed, by a long shot, and none of the numerous shops he took it to knew why. He drove it to his parents’ house (which eventually became his) and stuck it in the garage, where it sat for seven years. After I popped the hood, the first order of business was checking the oil; the dipstick came up dry. He had a couple of quarts on hand and we poured them in, so at least some oil showed up on the stick. I dropped in the battery I’d brought along, splashed a little gas down the carb, and it fired right up. Still, it clearly was missing on more than one cylinder. Even so, I figured it was worth at least as much as I would have charged for parts and labor for the tune up.
Modern photo of the location of Everett Motor Trucks when my Scout was first sold.
I returned the following Saturday with a couple of quarts of oil, enough to bring it up to the full level. Then we splashed a little fuel in the tank and were ready to go. After pulling it out of the garage, we noticed a pretty large-diameter stain on the carpet over which it had sat. Anyway, I headed to the nearest gas station to top it off and add fresh fuel to the stale, seven-year-old gas. As I pulled into the station, a girl in a bikini-topped early-model Scout was pulling out. She waved, and I was now officially part of the IH owners club and not some half-breed! Once I got it home, the first order of business was to change the mix of various weights, brands and ages of the engine oil. When I rolled underneath to drain it, I found the plug finger tight. Whew–I’d not only dodged a bullet, but discovered why I had to put so much oil in it and what had caused the carpet stain.
Now to find out why it wouldn’t pass emissions. I started by reviewing the repair orders from the shops that had attempted to fix it so long ago. I saw that the various “emissions specialists” had replaced the cap, rotor, plug wires and more than one set of plugs; what’s more, the only place that actually did a compression test found that while all the cylinders had great compression and spark, a couple of them “weren’t carrying a load”. Thus it had to be a fuel problem, but given the one-barrel carb, there might also be a vacuum leak. Sure enough, I found several leaks between the intake manifold and the head that corresponded to the cylinders that “weren’t carrying a load”.
The bottom silver gasket covers intake and exhaust ports and the larger blue one lays on top and matches the intake ports.
I bought a manifold gasket set and went to work. Once I had it apart, it was clear that the guys who’d installed the rebuild hadn’t ever worked with an engine whose intake and exhaust manifolds intertwined; they’d installed only the exhaust-manifold portion of the gasket, and hadn’t loosened the bolts holding the two manifolds together before torquing the manifold-to-head bolts. That meant the intake could not properly join up with the single layer of gasket. A short time later, I had it running on all six cylinders. I then replaced the points and condenser and dialed in the settings, after which it passed emissions with flying colors. However, it still didn’t run perfectly; occasionally, it felt as though it was running a little lean.
Note real gauges in the metal dash, temp, oil pressure and ammeter, no idiot lights here
Next up was removing the top so I could enjoy driving a topless vehicle! The previous owner had mentioned that he’d thought about removing it back in high school, but decided not to when he found out he’d have to cut the door seals. However, I had no qualms about cutting them, as the call of open-top motoring was just too strong. I had been using the Scout for occasional light hauling and enjoying topless motoring, then one day my younger brother called. He had a knack for killing cars, and needed some wheels for a few days so he could drive to work. With his daily use the carb issues became worse. Not wanting to call me, he decided to try and fix them himself. He found the new boxes with the old points and condenser in the glove box and put them in. Lacking the proper tools, he used the old paper-matchstick trick to set the points, which only made things worse. The engine started dieseling badly, yet again he didn’t bother to call me.
One day he decided to use the truck to retrieve his motorcycle, which was being stored at Mom’s house. By the time he got there the dieseling had become worse than ever. To kill the engine, he dropped into gear and dumped the clutch, which produced a large bang. When he returned later to load the bike, he noticed a large puddle beneath the truck. He finally made the call and I went to check it out. Crawling under it I found the three-speed’s case split wide open from end to end. Being a 2wd meant that my searches for a replacement transmission didn’t turn up anything. Eventually I located a parts truck, which will be subject of my next COAL, but I deemed it in too good of shape to sacrifice. I’d officially started down that slippery slope into IH addiction like so many before and after me. Since I now had another, this one was left to sit.
One day, coincidentally about seven years later, one of my tenants who knew I had the Scout sitting around called me. Someone he had done some work for wondered if he would take a Scout in trade for his labor and my tenant wanted to know if I’d take it in trade for rent. I went to check it out, it had been rolled, the top was long gone and it had some pretty serious rust in the rockers and front body mounts. However it was 4×4, had a 345 and a 4sp so I deemed it a worthy parts rig. We came to an agreement on the value and I drove it the short distance home.
Now it seems as though the easy thing to do would be to swap the drivetrain parts over. One problem, that I had found out when I got my first “parts rig”, was that the engine mounts that are welded to the frame are entirely different for the AMC sourced 6cyl and the IH built V8. Add in the need to swap transmission, transfer case and both axles so they had matching ratios and it was apparent swapping bodies was the way to go. Now to figure out the best way to do without the use of a lift. It didn’t take long to strip off the front end sheet metal, doors, tailgate and a number of other parts off the donor to make the tub, as us binderphiles call it, as light as possible.
View through the wheel well showing the gap between frame and body.
When doing so I noticed that in the wheel well area there was a pretty large gap between the frame and floor where the frame kicks up to go over the axle. Hmm, I grabbed a 4×4 post I had laying around and found that I could slide it right through. That gave me an idea. I jacked the whole thing up and put a stack of tires on each side of the body under that 4×4. I supported the front of the tub with my tallest pair of jack stands. With the body supported and unbolted I lowered the frame down. I placed some bare rims on the back axle and rolled it out from under the body.
V345
With the frame out I decided it was a good time to clean and paint things while it was all accessible. Now to get the frame out from under the other truck. I employed the same basic method but I didn’t want to strip it down to the tub if I didn’t have too. Since the good truck didn’t have the structural rust problems I decided to leave it as intact as possible. Due to the extra weight I lifted the rear of the body off the frame enough to fit a 6×6 in there. I also decided to do it in the driveway, instead of the back yard, so that it would be a little more stable. I did need to remove the grille, valance and radiator so that the engine could fit through- I couldn’t get it high enough with the set up I had. The 6cyl rolled right through, no problem. On the wider V8 I definitely needed to remove the alternator and its bracket. I also removed the exhaust manifolds just in case and it cleared with an inch or two to spare. I really wish I had thought to take some pictures of it hovering in the driveway, but this was back before the days of common, cheap, consumer digital cameras let alone a camera on every phone.
Earning its keep.
I did have internet access though and I soon found out that there were these things called forums, there were a couple dedicated to IH’s and the people who love them. I also found several businesses that catered to IH addicts. I also found this new thing called E-bay where you could find all sorts of parts. It was official I was an full blown IH addict. The next thing I knew I had the parts to add power steering and scored a huge stash of parts (3 truckloads) that was actually local but listed on E-bay.
Since then it’s been a faithful truck. It’s hauled tons of things, including a true ton of gravel on a couple of occasions and all the blocks to build that wall above. Sure, I could have done it in less trips with my full size truck, but only my Scout could get to the base of that wall and back out, saving me a lot of time and stress on my back.
I’ve always been ambivelent about 4×2 IH products (kinda like 4×2 Jeeps) but this is cool the way you turned it into a hard worker. Couldn’t help but think of my 4×2 F150 standard cab flatbed that I hauled a 1 ton pallet of wood stove pellets for my in-laws yesterday. It’s my son-in-law duty at the start of every winter. It always makes the truck just about hit the bump stops on the suspension.
Thanks, the early Scout II is a (almost) 3/4 ton truck with it’s 5200 GVW and a 3650-4000lb curb weight, depending on engine, trans, and top. So with 1 ton in the back there is still some travel left and it almost sits level.
HEED MY WARNING: Do NOT let your brother within 100ft of this truck!!!!!! Not enough of them left as it is.
He has grown out of his car killing ways, plus now he has his own pickup, car and two Harleys so he is covered for transportation. Heck he now lives close enough to work he has been known to ride his bike, the kind you pedal, to get to work. Plus now that the wimpy AMC 6 and T-90 have been replaced with parts built for a MD or HD truck it would take some serious effort to kill it.
Whew! Had me worried!
That is a good looking rig. Great 70s colour too. I dunno – there is something about a 2wd, straight six Scout – no one would expect that. I’d imagine it is much more useful with the V8 and 4×4 though.
Tough old trucks those but very rust prone hence very few left here.
Do you know what the towing capacity is?
Scout II towing rated towing capacity tops out at 5,000lbs. This one technically doesn’t meet it since it doesn’t have power brakes. However the 345 and 3.73 to 1 gears exceeds the minimum 304 and 3.54 gear ratio required for the 5,000lb rating.
Nice rig, Eric. Nice to know you saved a rare pickup version; I don’t think I’ve ever seen one. Love the orange and white color scheme too.
Any chance we can see an interior pic?
Thanks, it’s was repainted, before my friend got it and his grampa had the top done in white, it was originally single tone, though it could have been ordered with a white top.
I’ll add a picture of the dash in the article shortly.
I had a 1973 Scout II as a teenager, purchased from a family friend for all of $100. It needed an exhaust which cost me like $300 ( a lot then) and a set of decent used tires. I then cleaned everything up and found the reason the 4WD didn’t work was the lever was stuck. With the newer tires, the thing was utterly unstoppable. It was the big IH 304 V-8 which was the most understressed V-8 I have ever driven. The thing was huge and had loads of torque. With the auto trans it was a real beast off road since it was such a rustbucket nobody have a darn if it got dented or scraped. Hell, we were proud of banging it up. I even did Dukes of Hazzard leaps in the gravel pit with it. Didn’t even phase it. All the mechanicals were built on the Grand Industrial Scale, meaning huge and unbreakable.
The downside was the eternal internal dust storm due to the rustbucketism of the beast. It had spent several salty winters in Quebec and the rear was so rusty the fenders flapped. It also had a prodigious thirst that even then was not cheap the slack. There were very places the Scout could get to that I could not get to in my Corolla, so the Scout had to go. I sold it to a relative for $700, more than I had into it!
My best friend’s dad bought a 73 Scout from the widow of a friend of his, around 1976 or so. It had that same AMC 258 6 mated to an automatic (I’m guessing a 727 Torqueflite). I believe that it was 4wd. I KNOW that it was slow, slow, slow.
The rust never had a chance to get a foothold, because there were three teenaged kids in the family. Each one cracked it up, and by the time my friend (the middle child) got done with it, every body panel but the tailgate had been replaced. His younger sister then wiped it out again. She may have finally totalled it around 1980 or so.
I spent quite a bit of time in that one, and always wished that it had the 345.
There’s a 2WD Scout II down the street from me …. a peek under the front end gives a new definition to the term “straight axle”. BAck in the ’80’s, friend had a long wheelbase 4WD Scout II with the 345 and various tops and bulkheads (Terra?) so it could be configured as an SUV (though we didn’t know the term back then) or a hard top or open pickup. I drove it quite a bit and it was fun – and pretty good offroad as well.
Yup the 2wd Scout II uses the same outer portions as the Dana 30 and 44 with a simple piece of tube in between. The spindles have an expansion plug where the axle shaft would go and instead of drive flanges or locking hubs a piece so sheet metal covers the wheel bearings.
The long wheelbase version is called a Traveler with the full length top and a Terra with the half cab, the Roadster (no top included) version was reintroduced with the Scout II but discontinued after the short 1971 model year due to low take rate. The Traveler was the “replacement” for the Travelall.
Nice one. I used to read the I-H catalogs on my grandfathers farm in school holidays, which featured the Scout/Traveler/Terra’s. Extremely rare to see them nowadays, and I dare say not too many sold over here to begin with. We would probably see Land Rovers, Nissan Patrols or Landcruisers for this sort of use, most can have panels removed for open-air use too.
I have a 72, I restored and used regularly. My has 4wd, the 345 with 3.73 gears, and a torqueflight. In addition I added a DUI distributor, aluminum radiator and a 4 barrel edelbrock. Runs great, amazingly it makes an excellent highway cruiser, I drive it 80mph down to the beach every weekend in the summer. IH was really ahead of times these are great trucks. My website link is a link to my gallery…
Nice truck, you’ve obviously put a lot of work into it. Yes IH was well ahead of the times if only they would have held on for a few more years they would have owned the rapidly expanding SUV market, particularly the luxury/premium portion of the market.
Nice rig Tyler, sort of a ‘Desperado’ feel to it except a lot more shiny!
Eric, the only flaw in your theory is I’m not sure that IH had the right brand image to crack luxury/premium! And probably not the interest in creating a new brand similar to Toyota & Lexus
They were pretty upmarket, I have the bill of sale for my scout and it sold for $7500 (well optioned with AC, the 345,towing package, and 4wd) in 1972, to give perspective a Corvette started at 5333, my father was able to by a new Jaguar E-type for around 7500 in 1972 after some negotiation. If you look at Scout advertising from the era you sense they were aiming at a Country Club yuppie demographic. Later very upmarket models made for Europe and America in partnership with 3rd party upfitters proved there was a clientele willing to pay a lot for a luxury SUV. IH designers planned on building two vehicles to replace the Scout range, a plastic bodied vehicle to satisfy the off-roaders and utility users, and a more upmarket metal bodied model. Ultimately, a combination of an awful CEO, Archie McCardell, the Bob Nardelli or John Scully of his day, and an ureasonable UAW, doomed the Scout.
As Tyler mentioned they were already considered the premium choice in some circles. There were a couple of compaines that up fit them for sale in the US the most notable being Midas but there was also Van America. Both companies gave them “van conversion” kind of customizing jobs and they could be more expensive than a new Cadillac after the conversion. They were ordered through International. The other thing is the ones done mainly for Europe by Montevrdi there were imported back to the US in limited numbers at bank breaking pricing. Not many of the European versions were sold in the US but quite a few Midas units were sold.
I’ve got a copy of the proposal to the board of directors from the Scout business unit that was prepared shortly before the 1980 models went on sale and one of their preferred options was to take it even further up market. A lot of that was based on the success of the converted units and their massive profit margins.
I do have to disagree slightly with what killed the Scout, big factors were CAFE and emissions regulations. To meet regulations they were going to have to go all Chrysler-Nissan diesel power and/or make the slant 6 the primary gas engine option largely due to it’s emissions certification. Not that the strike didn’t play a factor as well as other company issues outside of the Scout business unit didn’t also play a factor. For one they started choking off the R&D funding that made the SBU abandon the development of the Scout III and forced them to shift to making the SSV (Scout Supplemental Vehicle) plastic bodied prototypes that would have been built on the Scout II chassis instead of continuing work on the “all new” Scout for 1981
The sticker on my Scout, a 1973 model, was $8300, a heck of a lot of money at the time. This for a truck that rusted faster than anything I have ever seen this side of a Fiat. When I got it in 1980 it was a whole seven years old and had spent only three Quebec winters. It was such a rustbucket the rear fenders flapped. There were holes in the floor. It leaked like a sieve when it rained. My 1974 Corolla, bought at the same time, wasn’t nearly as rusty after a few Quebec winters. Sure, it finally expired in 1986 but it had 250,000 miles on it and it cost a whopping $2500.
In Canada anyway, this is the real reason the Scout didn’t catch on. Too much money and rust.
Great article, brought back memories of the Travelall my family had in the 70’s, a big red one with a white roof and wood grain panels. It was quite a novelty back then before every other driveway had Suburban in it. Thanks again.
Stay tuned because I think you’ll really like a future installment.
Have a 73 Scout II with the 1 barrel carburetor. Could use help in solving the chirping sound coming from the carburetor. Think it is coming from venturi (?) in carb at certain rpm’s. Had a after market air cleaner and replaced with original air box that uses oil, but only muffled sound. Replaced intake manifold gasket and rebuilt carburetor already, but no luck. Unless shop doing work messed up either. Thanks for any suggestions.