Solid Driver: 1978 International Harvester Scout II

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This 1978 Scout II was built by International Harvester and is located in Sparta, Michigan although the seller states that the vehicle spent all of its life in Huntsville, Texas just north of Houston. There is 1 day left in the auction and the Scout is bid to $15,200 and the reserve has been met. It is listed here on eBay . The Scout II appears to be in pretty good “driver quality condition”. International Harvester introduced the Scout in 1960 and production ran all the way through 1980.

The brown interior doesn’t really match the bright blue exterior. The interior has a lot of green in the dash and door panels while the seat has more blue or purple in it. That may just be the lighting but, in any case, it looks better than a lot of the barn finds we see. This vehicle is optioned with an automatic transmission and air conditioning.

The seller states that the truck is fitted with a 345 cubic inch V8 engine that runs and drives well. International Harvester offered a variety of engine options for the Scout during its production run. The Scout 80 (19611965) was equipped with a standard 152 fourcylinder gasoline engine. 19651971 model years (800, 800A, and 800B) offered 196 fourcylinder, AMC 232 sixcylinder, 266 V8, and 304 V8 gas engines, as well as a turbocharged version of the 152 fourcylinder from 19651967. The Scout II (19711980) featured 196 fourcylinder, 232 sixcylinder (early production), 258 sixcylinder (like in this model), 304 V8, and 345 V8 gasoline engines.

The body looks solid and the soft top is shown in the picture above. The seller has done some work to the vehicle besides just a tune up. An aftermarket 3 row aluminum radiator and water pump were added to help with cooling the engine. New shocks, gas tank and battery were also added. I won’t be surprised if this one sells close to $20k.

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Comments

  1. Nostromo

    Worth every dollar of whatever it eventually goes for. One can view it as restorable or as a pedigreed survivor with a genuine patina which a lot of people do fancy.

    Like 2
  2. Carl Bacon

    Don’t forget the 401 V-8. In 1979, I worked for a camp and they had a Scout with a 401. I can’t remember much, but I think it had a manual transmission and really pulled in the lower gears. LOL.

    Like 1
    • Todd Zuercher

      Scouts never had 401s – those were AMC Jeep engines.

      Like 0
  3. nlpnt

    The reason for the brown interior is that the Scout only offered the blue interior in cloth bucket seats, which was an upcharge and presumably almost only ever ordered with a steel top.

    Like 1
  4. SMcD

    Had two Scout Travelers, a 77 and a 79. Among the best vehicles I ever owned.

    Like 1
    • K. R. V.

      Yea I had a 1978, Scout II TERRA, that was 18” longer, like a Traveler, but an open bed truck with tailgate. It had a 2,000 lbs load and 7,000 lbs towing capacity and I can vouch for both+! The only weakness in the Scout line, from beginning to end was body metal and hardware. Terrible rusting and awful hinges and latches. But comfy roomy interiors and power.

      Like 2

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