What a nice truck! This 1968 International-Harvester C-1200 4X4 pickup is on eBay in Vancouver, Washington. The current bid is just a touch over $1,500 but the reserve isn’t met yet. I wonder what this rugged beauty will sell for? Thanks to Jim S. for sending in this tip!
1968 was the last year for the C-Series pickups for International-Harvester. A new suspension and chassis meant that the body could be mounted 4 inches lower which gave a more car-like ride, but that also meant that the transmission tunnel was a little higher. As you can see, the floors look great and the seller took the photos without the new “ACC carpet kit” which they are having professionally installed.
The truck has been stored under a car port when not in use but even with that, the sun has still faded the paint on the hood and the tops of the fenders. But, believe it or not, the paint is all original. The box looks fantastic and this truck was bought to haul an Avion pickup camper so the box has been covered up for a portion of its life. That must have been a heck of a high-load with this 4X4 hauling a big pickup camper!
The seller has had the seat recovered with original fabric from SMS Auto Fabrics, which “came off the factory rolls! This is not reproduction garbage, it’s the real stuff and it shows.” The interior looks great, and those have to be replacement pedal covers; there’s no way that a truck with 76,000 miles would have such perfectly-preserved rubber. There aren’t any photos of it with the new carpet installed but that would be nice to see; at least we know that the floors are perfect. This truck also has power steering and brakes and a “T-36 five speed transmission.”
There has definitely been some dress-up work done here, and the seller mentions that there’s been a full tune-up and the seller “chose to have a brand new heater core made rather than have the old one rebuilt ($400.00 ). This heater can roast hot dogs.” This is an IH 345 V8 with almost 200 hp. I’d want a bit more power for lugging a heavy camper around, especially with the 4X4 system possibly draining a bit of power, too. What a great-looking truck! I would not do one thing to this monster, I’d just maintain it and drive it as is. How about you, would you restore this IH?
What a great truck to enjoy. Skip the carpeting and just install rubber matting. It weren’t built for comfort, son.
Nice Truck !!!
Cool truck! The 345/5 speed is an awesome towing combo. Nearly a street legal tractor. Leave as is and enjoy! This is the epitome of what trucks used to be.
$5500+ and still climbing??? Whoa! I like those old Binders but I’m out….
Nice truck that will take you a lot of places for many years to come. The 345 engine has stood up quite well overall; that is, I know a lot of them still working today. Of course Howard is likely to disagree with those comments because he had a lot of problems with said binder V-8s. And yes, they did have some problems with percolation, vapor lock, worn out distributors and flattened camshafts. But those blocks are HARD, and I’ve seen them with well over 100K miles with barely .004″ taper on the cylinders. I will say this to the negative: a binder engine will cost you a small fortune to rebuild; valves, guides, O/S pistons, camshaft, be prepared to shell out lots of clams. I hate the way they seal off the rear main cap on those Y-block engines, but then, Buick wasn’t any better.
That cup holder on the passenger side firewall under the hood is a little inconvenient.
Hah!
if you know anything about IHC’s you would know that the “cup holder” you refer to is actually the windshield washer reservoir holder. I bought a 1200-C in the mid 70’s and still have it in running condition so I know what I am talking about. If you want to learn about this year of vintage International 4X4s I can probably help you other than engine rebuilding as i have never had any reason to do anything other than a valve set.
I guess that 5plus-year-old joke went straight over your head?
I wonder what became of the Avion camper???
Love this truck
I have the identical truck only with a 5 sped overdrive (they came in either OD or dirrect in the 5 speeds) and 4.10 gears and 38K orignal miles. Mine also had a camper from new. The 345 has more than adaquate power for anything you might want to do with this truck. My dad owned my old 63 before I got it. His buddy had a similar setup 69 or something Ford and a 360 I think. Both had similar campers. The Ford would never run with the 304, both trucks had 3.73 gears. When they traveled together, dad had to stop and wait for him every so often just to make sure they were OK. This is not a bad looking truck but a better one sold last week for just over 10K. They are defiantly trending up.
I really like this pickup, but I wonder if it was in an accident. The “transmission tunnel” photo clearly shows a floor weld that is different from the weld on the driver’s side in the “pedal covers” photo. Despite the paint, I would leave it alone and just enjoy it. Too bad it’s so far away.
As far as I’m concerned, probably IH’s moment in the sun. ( before the awful “D” series) These were just the best trucks. IH didn’t scrimp on the mechanicals. To be clear, I know there’s a difference of opinion on the IH V-8. Like anything, some had good experience, some bad. In all fairness, the IH V-8’s I came in contact with were dump trucks, under severe load, and quite frankly, no gas motor held up to that. They did get millions of kids to school every day with the Loadstar buses, all of which used these motors. The old man had a 1970 Travelall with this motor, but again, in all fairness, it could have been his lack of maintenance that caused most of the trouble. ( overheated, hard starting, always smelled of gas, poor mileage, etc) Got to be one of the last vehicles to have an oil bath air cleaner. Sheesh. Can’t go wrong here. Very nice truck.
What is there to restore? Put in a rubber floor mat, clay bar the paint, wax it and go!
SWEET!
I’d repaint it simply because it is the right way to preserve it. I’m not a fan of patina as far as I’m concerned patina is nothing more than rust and neglect. This truck would look soooo much better with a good driver quality repaint in the same colour. From my days of working on school buses as I recall the exhaust manifolds burnout in the centre.
Were the cash in hand I’d drive the 15 miles to Vancouver and buy the truck and drive it often, especially on rockhounding jaunts year round.
StillRockinPdX is my Instagram page where I have picture of rocks and equipment I’ve collected over the decades. It’s another hobby.
I have a 66 1200A that my grandad got new. I was 11 years old at the time and felt it to be the best animal pu made. Well I used it on the farm for years and it got retired in the fence line for 22 years being obsolete. (no AC).. Hard time hit the farm with poor grain markets and my main field truck got afire and burned up. I needed a replacement but nothing under $10,000 I wanted to buy. So I got the old 66 to my shop and started to restore it too the point I could rely on it again to be my fuel. tool,, and get around farm pu again.
The old girl has 185,000 miles now and still runs like a watch. Even gets 16mpg.. Only main draw back is the old split rims and the 7.25″ lug spacing to find tubless rims and no AC. I do love the truck,, and will drive it as long as it will run. Daniel Penokee, Kansas