Sometimes, a used vehicle can be too inexpensive, and it makes me scratch my head, wondering if it’s real or not. This is one of those cases. This 1973 International 1210 Camper Special is posted here on craigslist in Gresham, Oregon, and they’re asking a mere $4,950, and it’s said to have had $4,000 in recent work. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Curvette for the tip!
I’m not sure how this truck can be so inexpensive and look as nice as it does. I would have wondered if it was real at double this price. What are your thoughts? You can hardly get a used motorcycle for $4,950 anymore, let alone a great-looking International pickup with a V8 and solid-looking body. It’s been repainted, but I like the garden center vibe. I believe it would have originally been Frost Green, sort of a sage green, as can be seen in the engine compartment photo.
Which brings me to another weird thing: there’s an engine photo! I love the vice on the back, I’m wondering what that’s for in relation to a garden center? Maybe to hold bladed tools so they can be hand-sharpened? I would absolutely keep this truck exactly as it is now, other than I’d want a tailgate. International’s “Light Line” pickups were made from 1969 through 1975, when the last pickups rolled off the assembly line, sadly. The Camper Special package added power brakes, a heavy-duty cooling system, heavier springs, a sliding rear window, dual exhaust, and more. I love this truck. Hagerty is at $12,200 for a #3 good-condition truck with a 345 V8, just for a reference to that $4,950 asking price, which is about where they put a #4 fair example. Maybe the price is right?
It just keeps getting better and better. The Paul Bunyan plaid door panels and headliner would absolutely stay under my watch. I’d want to maybe think of a different seat color, but I’m guessing a tan interior, which International referred to as Sage, was what came with the original Frost Green paint. You can see that the steering wheel and padded dash top are matching. The seller says that $4,000 has been spent on this truck recently, and it has an AAMCO transmission, or I think that’s what they mean. Maybe the original three-speed automatic was rebuilt by AAMCO. This is a rear-wheel drive pickup, by the way, not a 4×4. At least according to the VIN decoder I did find online. It sure looks like a 4WD, doesn’t it? Those hubs… this is a confusing one.
They list a VIN, but unless one of you PhD candidates can decipher the notoriously confusing and elusive International VIN numbers, we don’t know exactly what this one is. Which brings me to another thing: they list a VIN! I’d bet this is a 345-cu.in. OHV V8, but I’m not sure. Geo? Howard? Anyone? Can you figure out what engine it is from the VIN? I’ve never been able to find a good International VIN decoder. A 304, 345, and 392 would have been available V8s in the 1210 for 1973, and in March, AMC’s 401 would be an option. Is this truck the real deal at only $4,950? That’s barely Pinto money in 2025.
This won me over. From the plaid interior door panels to the bench vise mounted on the rear, and very sturdy looking rear bumper. I mean, really, how many of us have been out working in the yard, dealing with something and saying to ourselves, you know, If I just had a bench vise handy right about now. Well…… Here you go… This sure looks like a solid International. I’ve always admired them. My Dad had a friend with one years ago, used it for his welding business. Couldn’t kill it.
Howard 🎤 Geo 🎤
Oh shukins, you can’t put me and Geomechs in the same sentence. He’s forgotten more than I know. I don’t believe there is a clear way of telling the IH V8s apart, but you can sure smell the gas, indicating one is near. I don’t think it’s a 392, as by ’73, the 392s were already in short supply, and the 345 , I think, was the most popular. It’s not a 4×4, as no transfer case shift, those hubcaps are merely back ones, or for 4x4s, and I think the mileage is actual. I bought a ’53 IH pickup years ago from a golf course, it had like 12,000 miles. They said, from new, it never left the golf course. This truck is highly optioned for a maintenance truck, and being a Camper Special, I doubt it was ever used as one. Local trips to the hardware store and back in the shed. I read those plaid door cards were an option. Garden centers have miles of water lines, and this truck didn’t go far. Most maintenance trucks I’ve seen always have a vise on the back. Very handy. Great find and somebody did a nice paint job, no A/C belt, so that’s ka-put.
Caution be advised. These trucks still had king pin straight axle front, and you’ll find out what “bump steer” was all about.
The small oil company my dad worked for was mostly a Ford shop, but for a time the drilling rig supervisor (“toolpusher”) had an International of this generation. I thought it was cool. Thus I like this example, except maybe for the Paul Bunyan touches.
I’ve mentioned this before: With all those horizontal lines with square and rectangular features (e.g. gauges), the interior must have been designed by an engineer. Efficiency, you know.
Fun write-up Scotty. Keep bringing us these less-commonly-seen vehicles.
Bob-In-TN got me thinking. And I think he’s got a very good point about who designed these pickups. If you look at the side profile, the front, even look at the bed design, the fender humps in the bed are very square not rounded. In fact, the whole truck is rather boxy as compared to a similar year Ford Chevy or Dodge. Very utilitarian. (which I like by the way). These were built to work. Period. And work they did!!!
Very purposeful.
I’ve always loved these trucks, almost as much as the Jeep J trucks! Talk about square! The only thing roundabout in those jeeps were the headlights!!
The international design team had lots of straight edges, no French curves and one compass to draw with, thus the threee box design. Fun truck to have.
Keep the Cascadia finds coming!! I googled the community garden on the door and nothing came up. They only have a phone number for the contact, which has a correct northwest OR area code, and no email or text options. Could be someone older that doesn’t realize they could get more for it. I was going to email them to suggest listing it on the big auction site or HERE for auction!
Edit: I think I take that back. Clicking more ads by this user shows a couple of other vehicles for sale with this message; Phil Hur Motors. “Selling to Folks Like You since 1982”. Call Phil at…..
I wasn’t sure if I could leave a number here so I left that out. A dealer that doesn’t realize what they have?
Ok, I’ll be alright lol. I didn’t realize that same dealer message was right on the International ad as well. It pays to read. I simply clicked the “contact” button on the ad which showed the # and no email or text options.
Anyway, again, the price seems low considering it’s a dealer. It’s also been for sale since 9/6, there’s an older ad posted on that date. Weird.
That’s a lot of truck for 5k! Square looking? That’s why they called them Box Cars! Looks like a 4bbl carb which means 345 or 392. The bumper,vice, and bed floor rails are probably from a former life. Aamco is an automatic transmission rebuild franchise on the east coast.
All 345 were 2 brl in 1973
Wow, cool truck. Price seems more than reasonable, should be sold by now. Unique, affordable and practical!
I drove one of these as a company work truck back in the seventies. It was fire engine red and a previous owner had installed glass packs on it. I don’t remember what engine it had but it was a V8. Had a manual transmission. We boy racers weren’t shy about stomping on it. With a couple of ladders on the racks and a toolbox on the side; it was pretty much a sleeper. Surprised more than a few people in the stoplight derby. I’d be all over this if I were in the market for a pickup. GLWTS.
“Nooou-iiccee” as they say in Brooklyn.
Love to see it like this in crew cab on ‘seventeens’, a 2 inch body or suspension lift (and U said it ) 4WD. One around here (that way) looked so big I thought it was a rail road engine. Special needs truck tho.
Love how they restored (few mods) it.
Great write up Scottie!!!! I am happy to see more trucks on this site, Thank You!!! This looks like a great turn key vehicle for someone to have as handy weekend work truck, and also be a conversation piece at local shows and cars & coffee .. Do not see a clutch pedal so you young kids can drive it!! Too bad it is on the wrong coast for me.