Longtime Barn Finds fans know I have a real soft spot for that ultimate Lucifer’s Hammer Armageddon vehicle, the International Harvester Travelall. Especially this, the third generation, produced from 1961 to 1968. This one has migrated from Southern California to Northern California and is now located in Chico. It’s on offer from an apparently knowledgeable seller here on eBay, where bidding is only up to $2,200 but hasn’t met the reserve yet. Thanks to Josh for sending out this find!
Here you can see my favorite view of the Travelall highlighting all that glass! The seller goes into a lot of detail on the body, explaining that there’s a rust hole under the gas pedal, some filler in the rear fenders, and that some drainage holes have been cut into the bottom of one of the fenders. They also mention possible filler in the rocker panels.
As a whole, the truck looks straight, though, with good looking original wheels and decent but not perfect shiny parts apart from the rear bumper. The seller has replaced the windshield rubber and notes there was no rust showing underneath it when it was replaced. The truck was originally Omaha Orange, then was repainted blue and later this copper color. The seller thinks a good wax and car would keep the paint looking good enough for 3-5 years; I guess it’s all in the expectations.
Here’s a close up of some of the filler in the fender. Things like this would bug me enough that eventually I’d end up taking it all off to fix what’s underneath. Although the tire here looks like it has plenty of tread, the seller states they are old enough to be transport tires only.
The front vinyl is aged and cracked, although the mid seating position doesn’t look bad. There are provisions for the optional third seat but there isn’t one included with the car. The dash pad is cracked as well.
This is a 304 V8 with a three speed manual transmission behind it. The seller says it runs but needs the twin fuel tanks cleaned out; right now it’s been run off an auxiliary tank. With at least 133,000 miles on it, it might be due for some work, but the seller says it runs smooth with a newly rebuilt carburetor and a light oil drip that is probably from the valve covers. It shifts and stops well, however.
I’d like this truck, but there’s no telling what it will actually go for when the auction is completed. It’s also roughly 3,000 miles away from me. So tell me–would you drive it as is, restore it, or restomod it?
And by the way, in case you don’t know the story, the Travelall is just about the only reason the protagonists excape the disaster in Lucifer’s Hammer. I had never heard of one before I read the book as a child–but have been interested ever since.
These were what serious Airstreamers used as vehicle-of-choice to pull their rigs with, back when it was new.
Ugly
These are great suvs!
Wasn’t the Travelall in Lucifer’s Hammer a 4X4?
I’m sure it was, Rick, considering what it went through.
My brother had a green one called “the Elephant” with the Big 6 and shifter on the column. I wish it was still around. Awesome truck.
Be careful, AMCSTEVE what you call ugly. I love AMC as much as you do, but there were some questionable designs. This seems to be kind of an oddball. I read, most Travelall’s were built on the c110 1/2 ton chassis, but this seems to have the 120 3/4 ton axles. I bet it would still pull an Airstream, but I’d get both tanks working, you’re gonna need it. These got awful mileage. I like this model a lot better than the D series that replaced it. Milwaukee police used these as ambulances in the ’60’s. Not many of these around, for sure. Cool find.
My 1964 c1100 would get 16 MPG with an overhead camper…….the 304 is the perfect engine for this truck. The key is having the correct differintal ratio for what it was being used for, mine had 3.73’s with a dirrect 4 speed. The 345’s used more fuel, my 68 3/4 ton 345 4X4 gets over 12 MPG on the highway, it has 4.10 gears with a 5 speed overdrive transmission. If this travelall has 3.73 gears it will be great on the highway and get good fuel economy. The old IHC 6’s got terrible economy and are best suited for industrial equipment. Most IHC’s came with Positraction whitch made them superior to the other manufacturers products in the mud and snow. All IHC’s were custom specked and had thousands of options so, get one designed for the job you want to use it for and it will be the best truck you will ever own. I have seen pickups with something like 5.54 rear end, the guy that had it was really upset about how poorly it was on the highway………it was not designed for the highway………we studied the history of the truck, it had been ordered by a northern Nevada mine new, was never supposed to go over 40mph but would pull a house.
Art on wheels. I’ve always wanted one. More, I want a three door Suburban.
This truck is a 3/4 ton……..it has the dreaded large bolt pattern 6 lug split rim wheels. You can only mount tube type tires on them, replacement wheels are difficult to find and expensive. I bought a little later parts truck for my 3/4 ton that has normal 8 lug axles to trade out just to get away from them. There are custom wheel makers that will make up a set of tubeless rims for this but they are expensive and only in steel. The brakes on my 1970 axles are also larger. There are many tire shops today that won’t even mount split rim wheels.
LOOK OUT, EVERYBODY, SPLIT RIMS, WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!! :0
I come from a time, when we didn’t have tubeless tires on trucks, and guess what? We didn’t die, and breaking down a split rim was almost a daily deal, weekly, for sure. Don’t get me wrong, tubeless tires almost eliminated daily flats, and we welcomed them with open arms, but split rims were around for a long time, and common sense dictates with these. You have to know what you’re doing assembling them, and NEVER air them up outside of a cage, or a chain wrapped around and through them, at least. I agree, these will be a hassle for someone today, but I’m just saying, split rims aren’t a death sentence.
Howard, I grew up in the tire busisness…….probably changed more split rims by the time I was 20 than most tire guys do in there entire life. I am not afraid of them at all, we never used a cage, but aired them in the corner of the shop with a clip on air chuck and regulator so you didn’t have to be over them while airing. We would commonly change split rim school bus tires and the like on the side of the road……not a big deal. Have you tried to buy a good tubed tire in the last 10 years……..very few available, particularly in pickup sizes……then only one out of 10 shops will mount them for you. Radials are next to impossible to find, tubes are expensive, the tires carry more heat and only have maby 1/2 the life expectancy of a good tubeless radial. It is rare that you can find a deal on them because so few shops stock them, they are usually special order. I used to like them because I could easily change a tire on the side of the road ( like I did one year Elk hunting) with only an air compressor and some simple tools. Even the tools are hard to find today. If you blow one at speed it is toast unlike a tubeless radial that is usually salvageable. We have to check heavy tires closely today, I one of your duals goes flat…..you hardly can tell when driving (unless you are heavy) they just ride along waiting to be repaired. I have never found them particularly unsafe……it is all the other issues that render them obsolete.
Hi Dave, well, no cage or chain is plumb foolhardy, I don’t care how many times you did that. I’ve seen rings come off and bounce all over the place. BUT, that’s history, and you are correct, tubes are getting hard to find, and the ones you do find are these chinese crap. Do you have any idea how many bicycle tubes I’ve gone through lately? Just as well on the tube type tires. Good riddance. That was one thing that made my life as a trucker, a lot easier, was tubeless tires. I’d think the local Walmart may not mess with these, but truck stops or most tire shops will still repair these. You’ll probably get a chinese tube though, so another flat will be on it’s way.
I have posted my friends and the Travellall they are using now to get around in. If maybe one new person sees this and starts following their adventures, it will be worth posting again. They are in New York City now, this link is a few days before, but captures the truck well.
http://www.bumfuzzle.com/route-6/
Very nice, and I was glad to see that it comes with rear doors and not a tailgate. I bought a ’62 TravelAll ambulance in 1972 from the ambulance service in Odessa, TX for $250, fully equipped. It was quite a workhorse and I still miss the old beast!
I had a 72 Travelall years ago. More squarish and not nearly as cool as this one.
Most Internationals in my area were used by state road crews and commercial construction companies.
Also had a 63 International pickup.
Both were workhorses and I absolutely loved them. Fun to drive and could take a beating.
Our family had one of these for a while many years ago. It was very large inside and capable of hauling lots of people and stuff, but as a daily driver, well……
I am guessing that not many owners had them as daily drivers. There is an automotive writer I know who talks about owning a Travelall year round just to be able to register it at summer holiday time and use it to drive the family and all their stuff to their chosen beach holiday destination, and then back again—-a good use for a large, capable hauler like this.
If this one is running OK and roadworthy it would be hard to beat for that kind of practicality per dollar spent.