If what is reported in the ad, this could be a great truck to own. Listed here on craigslist in Orange County, California is this 1941 one-ton factory dump bed International Harvester for $1,499 or best offer. Think of all the utility you could get out of this truck, while still having a sweet looking rig!
John, the owner, says that the engine is not seized up and the tires hold air. We wonder if the engine will run with just a new set of plugs and a tune up or if the engine is going to need to be rebuilt?
You may want to ask John for more images if you are interested, we have posted all that are included with the ad. The owner needs more room in his shop. He claims he doesn’t have the time to restore it or the energy at the end of the day to work on it. The paper work for the truck is clean and ready to go. The truck hasn’t been registered since 1971. John says it will be sad to see it leave, but he needs the cash, so please call or text if you want more information. Any reasonable offer gets the truck. If you would like to see another factory International Harvester factory dump bed in action, watch one in action here. We don’t know if this truck’s dump bed is in working order. There is a good chance it hasn’t been used since 1971.
Motor-on,
Robert
Pre-war K models are indeed pretty rare, ( most were post war KB models) and I believe this has the “Green Diamond” engine ( 175ci or 214) The model is a K-3.( K-1 =1/2 ton, K-2=3/4 ton and so on. There were no K-9’s, a dog of a truck or K-13’s, unlucky) Wiki claims there were 42 models available in ’41, but no mention of a dump, so this could have been added later. Many aftermarket companies did that. Depending on what you wanted to do with it, I’d probably ditch the drivetrain. If you bought a K-3, it wasn’t for road use, and with a gear ratio in the 5’s, top speed is about 45 mph. Cool truck, and I like BF’s coverage of trucks. Thanks, Robert
Hi Howard. Definitely a Green Diamond by the sharp edges of the cylinder head. A 213 for sure but I heard that a few snuck out with the 232 (233?) engine that the K5s had. K6s and 7s used the Blue Diamond (269) and anything bigger used the Red Diamond. A real stump-puller. I’ve got a friend that still uses his KB2 regularly. It’ll do 50 mph but it sounds like it’s about to launch itself into orbit. He’s also got an L120 which doesn’t do any better. I’m sure the dump feature was added afterwards because my information doesn’t mention anything about a hoist either. When I was a kid a lot of the smaller farmers installed hoists under the beds of trucks like this one. Then they put sideboards on top to allow them to haul upwards of 125 bushels of wheat which would add up to a 7500 lb. payload. Those old trucks took it too.
Man I wish this truck was closer as it would definitely be worth a closer look, the dump bed is a cool factor and I agree with Howard to replace the drivetrain with something more realistic for highway use but not hotrodding it.
A change of the rear end would be all that would be necessary. At least get the gear ratio into the 3.XX’s. That would make it roll down the road
Would be a great carrier vehicle for a vintage motorcycle with the dumpbed
Be the hero of your neighborhood: haul everyones leaves to the county composting site!
Imagine the body on a S10 frame (like in the video) 5.3 fuel injected towing a teardrop. Maybe fwd platform to get away a little deeper. Hmmm.