Now this shot posted by johnh875 threw me at first glance. A Dodge truck, with what is undoubtedly an International cab, and some unique front end sheetmetal. In that down-under alternate reality, why not? Chrysler Australia needed an updated truck cab for the sixties, International Australia was too small to have a body building facility, so the two teamed up.
Chrysler’s T.J.Richards body division would build the cabs for both companies, with some unique front end sheet metal. This went on until 1979, when the Japanese invasion of superior trucks killed further local production. And here’s another odd twist: Chrysler six and V8 engines used in these trucks had their blocks cast in International’s large Geelong foundry. Those blocks actually carry IH logos. That’s what you need in your Barracuda to impress the Saturday Car Show faithful: not a hemi, but a 318 with an IH logo!
Note the LPG tank.
And the Victoria plates. That’s a recent rego, truck is a 72 and I assume is running around.
LPG tank is probably because it has the 318 V8.
I want to see a drag race between the truck and the 190SL. Two totally different ways of being slow…
It was a 220S cabrio or similar, definitely not a 190SL.
Further to Paul’s remark about the end of production, I’d think it was the move away from conventional-cab and petrol (gas) powered trucks that killed production or should I say a replacement which was well and truly due by that point. Not to mention the sale of Chrysler’s Australian operations to Mitsubishi in 1980 – presumably there was writing on the wall.
IH kept on building trucks in Australia in Dandenong, a suburb in the south-east of Melbourne, and still do under the ownership of Iveco.
Looking pretty good for a truck that’s 30+ years old!
Cool, too in a Cars by Pixar kind of way. Familiar smile, but somehow… different. Fun to look at and figure out which parts are IH, which parts are Dodge and which are custom to make it all work.
Love the contributions from our down-under correspondents. Keep up the good work!
That’s a late 50’s Mercedes 220 cabriolet in the background, making this trio a terrific combination of vehicles to own.
I drove past later on the same day and there was a Jag E-type coupe parked in front of the truck, but the photo was too blurry to post
Whereabouts was that?
Reserve Road, Cheltenham
Reminds me of the Dina trucks I saw in Mexico – International bodies with a different name.
I’ve BEEN wanting that Japanese station wagon under a Swedish badge, owned by an American company…but this is better.
When we got the new D series Internationals in 1969 for what ever reason they decided to continue to use the old cab on the Aussie trucks. The front fenders are the same between the IH and Dodge versions. In the US there were different front fenders between the light and heavier versions but down under they went with a one size fits all approach so the light trucks got those flared fenders intended for a truck running 20″ wheels.
In the US IH purchased 727 transmissions and the CN33 (Nissan SD33) from Chrylser and sold them the MV 404 and MV 446 engines for their MD trucks. They also had planned on putting the slant 6 in the Scout II for 1981 had they continued production.
Here is a picture of one of the grilles put on the IH badged version
Here is a side shot showing the same front fender styling.
D-series as in the pickup trucks or were there medium/heavy-duty versions also?
The D series were available in “1/2” through “1” ton pickups and a “1.5” ton MD truck. A cab that uses most of the same pieces was also available as the Fleetstar. You can see the “1.5” ton version in this Coal with the larger wheel openings in this COAL. https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-cornbinders-of-a-lifetime-part-six-1973-1510-dump-truck-the-final-chapter-so-far/ Compared to the wheel openings on this 3/4 ton in this COAL. https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-cornbinders-of-a-lifetime-part-five-1973-international-travelette-1210/
Now the cab on the featured Dodge and the IH above was used with some changes on the Loadstar series trucks and it was continued to be used for some years after they stopped using it on the lighter duty trucks.
Its times like these I need the IH brochures I used to read as a little fella when I visited my grandparents’ farm that showed all the models available, tractors too plus a small section for the Scout at the back.
I can’t say why they didn’t change the to the newer cab other than a large dose of easier/cheaper to keep the old one – this would be a sentiment shared by a lot of the end users too!
My bet is that they kept using the old cab simply to save money. Did Ford or GM offer “full-size”, by American standards, pickups? If not then they wouldn’t have had any competition to keep up with or out do so no big incentive to spend the money.
Here is a rare ad for the Scout from down under. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkGSvYC6UQ4 Despite being imported the grille is different from any that were ever used on US or Canadian market Scouts.
Yes Ford were building F-series at their plant in Brisbane (recently demolished I think after 20 years of post-Ford ownership), and there are lots of Chev pickups of the era around too. Dodges are quite scarce which leads me to think they didn’t sell the US-type pickups at least in much volume.
From what I have seen I-H wouldn’t have sold enough pickup-type trucks that they would have been seriously worried about that market, the majority were ‘proper’ trucks. I wonder if a decent number of those sales were to organizations looking to have all their commercial vehicles from the one brand to simplify servicing.
Interestingly while looking for the Scout ad linked above I ran across this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSX7st1kiMk which shows one of these with International badges and what is definitely a Mopar power plant. Of course they do say it has been hot rodded so it is hard to say if the truck came with that engine or even if the truck left the factory with the International grille and badges.
So yeah it would be neat to see those old brochures to see what they show for the available engines. But it would make sense that they used the Mopar power plant if they were actually producing them. Also makes sense that they would start buying the 727 for US/Canadian light duty trucks.
Based on the fact that it appears that at least by this time they used a Chrysler engine I have to wonder if they were using Chrysler engines in the larger trucks? If they did I could see choosing the same brand fleet to keep the number of different parts you need to stock.
For some reason Dodge/International did change the D5’s exterior door handles in the mid-70s – all the post 1974 ones I’ve seen (including the two currently on trademe) have these odd vertical door handles. Initially I wondered if they were Valitank handles, but no. Any ideas what they were off?
I’ve seen those on the Australian trucks before. They look similar to those used on the bigger trucks in the US except that the US ones have a Man on the tractor cast into the handle portion. Since they did use them on the bigger trucks I’d guess that it again was a one size fits all to make them lower for easier use on the bigger trucks. Interesting that they put them where they intersect with the trim.
The IH trucks had IH power plus a couple of diesel engines, Neuss & Perkins 6354 in different models
Interesting “mash-up”, I spotted more Dodge trucks oddities from Argentina where the old “Swepline” generation continued to soldier to the late 1970s when Chrysler had sold its Argentinian and Brazilian operations to VW. http://www.cocheargentino.com.ar/d/dodge_pick_up.htm
Somehow the looks of this truck say North Korea or USSR.
These were all over the place in New Zealand – the Dodge-badged ones were often fitted with ambulance or campervan bodies. Still quite a few around too.