The 1970s were the height of the “topless truck” craze, and by then everybody was getting in on it! International Harvester Scouts were the first to the game in 1961 with the Scout 80, beating the first generation Bronco to market by five years. By the 1970s, International had moved to the larger Scout II. Scout IIs were just as popular as the Scout 80s and at one time they could be found out playing with Broncos, Blazers, and Ramchargers. Unfortunately, Scouts were known for being absolutely eaten alive by rust even faster than Broncos. Some historians even suggest that some Scouts may have left the factory with rust on the backside of panels due to improper steel storage by International! Regardless, there are less Scouts on the road than their competitors so to see one in such nice shape is both surprising and pleasing. Find it here on eBay in Idaho with bidding at $8,069. Thanks to Matt W. for sending this in!
This Scout has covered just 79,420 actual miles and it shows inside and out! Even the engine is in decent cosmetic condition. The engine is an International Harvester 345 cubic inch V8. The seller states “It runs amazing, drives straight down the road.” The transmission is a 727 automatic and the axles are “3.07 gears open diffs with dana44 front and rear.” The seller states that the “motor and transmission are original and number matching.”
The interior of this truck is in great condition and this picture doesn’t do it justice! Some of the other photos are closeups of the seats and they are really in great shape considering they are old cloth seats in a truck! As with its competitors, the roof comes off of this International and the seller says “to my knowledge it has never been removed.” If that is the case, that would explain the excellent interior condition and the seeming lack of abuse.
This Scout II is an XLC model, which means “Extra Load Capacity” and thus it should have stiffer rear springs plus a few other changes. This truck has one small rust spot on the driver’s fender, but by comparison to the condition many of these are found in, that small spot seems inconsequential. Though the newer wheels and Rancho suspension aren’t necessarily in bad taste, I think I would prefer it on an original or period correct set of wheel to match the age and condition. This would be a neat driver or weekend truck! What would you do with it?
“Lets put wood grain on every thing”. I love it.
So this one isn’t for sale?
Chris, Auction ended yesterday. Sold for $11,499.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1975-International-Harvester-Scout-II/263488457661
The author didn’t highlight the ebay listing. While I said I liked the red one a while back, for different reasons, this the nicest Scout ll to come thru. Somebody knew what they were doing when they spec’d this truck out. Shame Scout went away when things were starting to cook for SUV’s. Reason? I’ve got 3 words for that,,Toyota Land Cruiser. Scout did fine when it was just Jeep, Ford and Chevy, but the Land Cruiser was killing them in sales, and IH decided to concentrate on the heavy truck portion, which was booming at the time. Go into any backwoods up north, and there’s bound to be several lined up, all with bodies gone ( the guy I bought my GoldWing from, N.Wis., had 5 alone in his woods)
I still think these were the nicest of the 70’s SUV’s.
A Corporate Tragedy is a worthy read if you want to know what nearly killed IH.
The Land Cruiser was sold in the U.S. before the Bronco was introduced (’66) and long before the Blazer (’69). I looked up Land Cruiser sales and quickly determined, as I assumed, that its sales probably weren’t a factor in killing the Scout. Their annual sales were a little over 11K in ’73 and by 1980 when the Scout was discontinued, only 3K+ TLCs were sold. Hardly enough to make a dent in Scout sales.
Nice rig for sure! That is some wild linkage on the left hand side of the motor, I cant tell what it connects to but it is heavy duty.
Hey leiniedude, being an automatic, it looks like the kickdown for the transmission.
This Scout is one of the better looking ones, I would change the wheels to the white spoke rims which would be easier to maintain.
Screw period correct, I’d resto mod the hell out of this, while leaving most of the patina. New seats and seatbelts, aluminum intake, hotter cam, properly sized carb, electronic ignition, headers and a real exhaust; while adding a locking diff to the rear and a roll bar, for protection.
This must one of my favourite vintage 4×4 SUV’s of all time. My next classic will be one of these!
yes, this is a street truck (open diffs @ 3.07). I’d use it to tow my off roader to explore different states.
I like the finish scheme, thought it wuz color blocks, that would B OK too. I’d put one in that lill “dent-in box” in the tailgail too (all ways wonder Y those were there, even in the 80/800).
I’ve always suspected these were made from compressed rust.
Keep it original and enjoy the hell out of it !
Please stop reading about Scouts. I don’t want anyone to be too excited about them. Someday I hope to buy one. :)
The accelerated body panel deterioration came about as a result of a cost reduction program back in the mid 70’s – it was determined that the inner galvanization wasn’t needed on the body panels and by the time it was discovered in the broader market, the company decided that the model wasn’t cost effective and in mid ’79 was targeted for discontinuance with the ’80 model year. Owners such as yours truly had to develop constant body repair ‘habits’ just to keep Scouts looking decent through the years..
The Scout was more compact and more maneuverable than it’s competition in an off road environment and had quite the reputation for a very capable off road race truck, having won the Baja 1000, Mint 400, and Baja 250 races, to name a few in the day..
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/cto/d/1975-international-harvester/6511256807.html
Probably a BS ad. Its for Sale on SF bay area CL for 3k.
I owned three scout ll in my day great SUVs later ones had almost a bullet proof drive train , Dana 44s front rear, Dana 300 transfer case and Chrysler 999 automatic trans, and the motors would go 200,000 miles without breaking a sweat.IH had a union strike around 1980/1981 and the powers to be decided to stop production of it’s light truck lines, the jumped the gun too soon because the market was about to explode and just think how great if they still made scouts.