This 1973 International Scout II is sitting out in a field near Gonzales, Texas. It looks like it was just abandoned and the earth is trying to swallow it up. The seller is asking $4,500. The original color appears to be white with a black interior. However, surface rust is slowly enveloping the body. The Scout II does not have a title and is listed for sale here on Facebook Marketplace.
In one of the pictures included in the ad, it appears that the seller has brought in a skid steer or bulldozer to clear out around the Scout II and you can see that the ground is not touching the floorboards. The first Scout was offered from 1961 to 1965 and was called the Scout 80. Many consider it the first SUV but the Toyota Land Cruiser might lay claim to that title since it was first imported to the US in 1958. The second version (1966-1971) of the Scout was called the Scout 800 which was produced in three sub-models (800, 800A, and 800B). The final run of the Scout was known as the Scout II (this one). It had a 10 year production run from 1971 to 1980.
The one interior picture shows that the Scout is really dirty and unkempt. It might have flood damage and the seller does not know how long it has been sitting. While the early Scout 80s & 800’s were equipped with a 152 cubic inch inline 4 cylinder engine that only generated 93 horsepower, later versions of the Scout had V8 engines. The V8 options included the 304 cubic inch and 345 cubic inch engines. There is no information on what is under the hood (if anything) for this Scout II but it does appear to have a 4 speed manual transmission.
There were a lot of Scout II’s built and this one may only be a parts vehicle at this point. The seller may need to offer to pay someone to get it but I don’t think they are going to get anywhere near what they are asking for this 4WD machine. It sure looks lonely sitting out there in the field!
It always makes you wonder why people left these as they were. Someone on the dodge from the law? Or did it break down and on one ever came back for it?
I would like to know what’s under the hood on this one. Overall it looks like it’s in good enough shape to restore. Rust is minimal. A good friend of mine bought one similar to this and has run it ever since. I don’t know how many times the speedo has rolled around but it’s still in service. If it wasn’t so far away…
Hi Geo, how you been, good to hear from you. If I had a “Sinkometer”, it would calculate how far it sunk in the dirt in relation to how long it sat, this couldn’t go much deeper. By the time the Scout ll came out, I think people were pretty much done with the 4 cylinder. I read, IH did offer AMC 258s, but most had the 304 V8. I also read, IH never put a 392 or any AMC V8 in a Scout ll.
I’m trying to not let price upset me, and this looks a lot worse than it is, it’s not a bad find, but I doubt any takers. I see it does have one feature I always liked about IH, they used a full width clutch pedal. Take care, pal.
You are right Howard the 1971 Scout had a 6 AMC sourced engine. I know as I have one bought from the original owner. It has 20,000 miles on the clock. I use it on the farm once in a while. No brakes! Cheers
Been good, Howard. Busy as hell, got daughter up here from Rapids for a few weeks, with grandkids in tow. Loony day yesterday walking among the dinosaurs in the badlands. Got the rest of the weekend off so it’s back to the sane for a few days. Next weekend, more insanity.
Yes, IH did offer AMC sixes in the light trucks and Scouts. The old 264/265 kind of got done in by the EPA but the AMC engine was also considerably lighter weight. People were getting tired of having to settle for only half of the V-8 under the hood and those same people didn’t want the entire engine either so, enter the AMC, which was actually a decent powerplant, even if it came with that “Rambler” stigma. A lot of people, including my dad and his cronies who thought anything AMC was “just another damned Rambler.”
I had a ‘76. I thought it had a 198ci 1/2 a V8 4 cylinder?
They were Junk when they rolled off the factory floor.
Couldn’t agree more, dogwater. Rust buckets due to flawed engineering and lack of inner fenders. IH engines were overly expensive to repair and when done you had…an IH engine. The AMC powerplants were one of the few saving graces. I still do NOT nor will EVER understand the enthusiasm for these; I guess the old car-biz adage of “there’s a butt for every seat” applies. I can only think of the song from Frozen; “let it go, let it go…!”
In just short of 50 years in the repair business I worked on nearly everything that came out of the American factories, plus a smattering of Tokyo Trash Cans. I can’t say that anything rusted worse than anything else. I blame the state governments for that (when I was a kid they used straight sand and everyone drove slower) anyways. Now they’re literally spraying acid on the roads. IH built good trucks (Scouts no exception), and so did Ford, and Chevy, and Dodge, and Jeep. Nothing was ever designed to fail…
It seems pricey to me but I’m not up on Scout values.
If I had a dozer at my disposal, I’d have pulled it out of there a bit for a post-extraction picture.
Hooda thunk it?
https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2022-07-19/volkswagen-says-top-u-s-executive-to-run-new-scout-company
You are so right. They were good trucks. The rust problem is a big deal. The DOT now spreads liquid salt brine from Oil wells to pretreat the roads before a big snow. I know as I own two wells on my property. This is a cheap way for the Oil company to dispose of brine with all the heavy metals contained within. Goes into your drinking water sooner or later. It is also super corrosive on any metals. Any more you need a winter beater to be eaten by the salt.