International Harvester’s ill-fated light truck line was nearing the end of its days when the D-series was designed in 1969. IH had been reaching in vain for the key to this lucrative market, and while the new trucks had the kind of modern, linear styling that customers favored, sales were still not responding. The company spent too many years assuming that its truck customers were commercial haulers, instead of suburbanites flocking to Chevy and Ford showrooms. These customers wanted a car-like interior, a comfortable ride, and a dealer they could relate to. The D-line was comfortable enough, but IH’s dealer network sold heavy-duty trucks – not the kind of place a family was likely to seek out for a truck. Despite the unfortunate end to IH’s light truck line, we are lucky enough to have a shot at this 1972 International Harvester 1210 three-quarter-ton pickup, formerly used for the Richland Township Volunteer Fire Department (of which there are at least four in different states – I counted!), here on eBay. The seller is looking for $25,000 or best offer and the truck is located in Frankfort, Illinois. What a great tip from Larry D.!
This truck is powered by a 345 cu. in. V8, generating about 197 bhp, paired with a floor-shift four-speed manual transmission. This truck is four-wheel drive – by far the most popular configuration though IH did option the 1210 as a two-wheel drive. These trucks have scads of torque and are known for being rugged. Parts are easy to find, with vendors galore including IH Parts America, TravelAll Parts, and many others. The seller says this truck starts easily and has covered only 9300 miles – probably several jaunts to this fire or that, and maybe a couple of pizza runs.
The cabin is in great condition – no dash cracks, superb original rubber mat, spiffy steering wheel, and just a slight tear in the driver’s side seat. Years of climate-controlled storage in a firehouse certainly helped preserve this interior.
Alas, road salt, humidity, and time have conspired to give this handsome truck a mild case of tin worm. The seller also highlights a few dents and another rust hole or two in his ad. The bed is more worn than the glossy body, too – but that’s forgivable. That this truck had a firefighting job is a nifty feature, but I wouldn’t be willing to pay extra for that; in fact, I might be likely to make a discounted offer on this one, strip it to fix the rust, and repaint it entirely. Do you think that’s heresy, or would you agree?
Well, I’ll be a son of a foul mouthed carpenter, the pool of these has simply GOT to dry up soon. I suppose, there’s a lot of little fire houses that still have one of these in the corner. Not sure why, clearly its farm heritage, IH was very popular in rural communities. (sniffing) Ah, I can just smell the gas fumes from here. Logical scenario, this was ol’ Gus’ brush truck, he came in every Saturday to wax it, and “on call”, that rarely happened. Well, Gus went to the big fire station in the sky, and whatever THIS person paid, can go for needed equipment. This truck needs no description, you won’t find a nicer one, except, when the next “ol’ Gus” dies. Bottom of the line here, basic truck and a handful to drive. Always liked IHs full clutch pedal. Lots of “watchers”, but regardless of it’s outstanding condition, its still an IH.
Author gave an accurate account of IH in the 70s, all focus was on heavy duty trucks. Since the Big 3 had the pickup market cornered, the logical decision, was to sink it all into semis, and such. It was a good move at the time, as being a truck driver then, easily, 2/3rds or more semis and straight trucks were IH. And for good reason, they were simply the least expensive, dependable trucks, bar none. They never thought for a minute, a small company that had almost no market here, called,,,VOLVO,,,would literally blow them and its heavy duty market to smithereens. Oh, they tumbled around, and in an ironic twist of fate, IH, or Navistar is owned by VW. Today, its a rare sight to see an IH semi, a far cry from its glory days. Great find.
Want a working 4×4 this is it! Amazing amount of torque on hand to pull or move a load. Seller is asking all the beans and going to take some elbow grease to get it back into proper form. I would have to guess chassis and steering might need some attention as it was probably loaded for fighting brush fires. But it’s an IH and they built trucks! Definitely will put some square bodies from the other manufacturers to shame.
The seller/flipper probably picked this up for a song,
but wants really crazy money for it.Many times these get
sold off at bargain prices.This is a TRUCK,& most people
could live with the realities of driving something like this.
Totally cool,if you have a use for it.
Also surprised they didn’t remove the lettering from it.
It’d be nice to see the department auction this off,with the
money to be put towards a new vehicle,or equipment.
I looked up some fire dept. auctions for pickups. Naturally prices vary. If it’s being sold by the municipality, it’s usually a lot lower than an auction co. or private person. For example, a 1989 GMC pickup ex-brush truck, similarly equipped, meaning basic, WAY more miles, from the fire dept. went for $2,200 bucks. An obscure make like this, I agree, probably half that. I think we’ll see a lot more of this, with someone reaping big rewards. It’s the next “flip” that the losses will mount, eventually, back to the $1,100 bucks of the original sale. In 10 years nobody will want this. Nobody wants it now.
You are dead wrong. Somewhere someone has a gleam in their eye for one of these because Uncle John or somebody had one. They were sturdy trucks. There’s a butt for every seat, Remember that
Nice write-up Michelle. When I saw “Richland Twp. VFD” I thought it might be the fire department from the Richland Township near where I grew up in Ohio… they indeed had rich land (farm country).
So this IH was used about 3.5 miles per week. For a rural fire department, that isn’t unbelievable. A real fire/rescue/accident run once a week (or once a month), plus as Michelle says, a pizza run for the firefighter meeting. And of course the regular pull-it-out-of-the-garage-onto-the-tarmac routine.
I agree, this is a TRUCK. It has one of the all-time-cool shift levers.
Thanks for the compliment, and the mileage calculation. Ross Island Sand & Gravel, near where I live, had a restored 1940s gravel truck on display in their yard, very “streamliner” styling, it was beautiful. But the point is, it never went anywhere. It is possible the fire dept kept the truck around for parade days and Kiwanis pancake breakfasts long after active duty.
Nope. Any car based in Illinois is a rust trap.
This has to be from Rushville Ohio. I drove this truck many times when I was on the department. Would love to have it!
That’s exactly the Richland Township I was referring to.
It’s our old truck. Looks like the wheels are tires were changed. It didn’t have hubcaps either. Had fat 16.5’s on it. Flat spot really bad from sitting. About beat you to death till they got warmed up.
Part of IH’s failure in the pickup market is probably their LACK of rust protection processes on the assembly line. Which may be part of design flaws in the whole D-Series/Light Line trucks. (Another is the door/frame structure, which ensured that large passengers WOULD bang heads on the top of the door entry, entering.)
The village DPW that I worked for, had bought one of these…the supervisor’s truck. The village had a way of honoring its long-term employees – the garbage truck was a Ford chassis, because the one CDL driver they had, was partial to Fords; and the supervisor’s truck an IH, because he favored International. Why, I don’t know – he passed away suddenly, a year after I was hired.
The other trucks were Chevrolets, all, and they lasted…average. Like you’d expect; a little longer, because we didn’t salt streets within the village.
But that International we had, rusted so fast you could SEE it. It was a 1973 and by 1977, the back corners of the cab had rusted apart; the bed-box was so corroded the tailgate was welded-bolted on to keep things together; and big sheets of the box sides (smooth-side box) were coming loose, flapping like wings. It didn’t help that the truck was WORKED – the supervisor was no drone, he pushed snow with that thing on the side-streets. But it was an INTERNATIONAL, and it was supposed to be up for work!
Ford, from 1960, has used immersion electroplating of bodies; and by 1973 had moved it to almost all their lines, including trucks. Jeep and IH, the low-volume people, simply sprayed, haphazardly; and a couple of years in, in snow country, it showed.
Proof here, is the body cancer in a pampered, protected survivor.
Also,a lot of fire rigs were cleaned up after almost every call –
wheel wells scrubbed down,& were then stored indoors,so they
tended to hold up better in the long haul.
Growing up on a farm in Michigan, you needed a truck. My dad had a early 60s international that would haul anything. It worked hard with a v8 and 4 speed. 1st was a granny gear that had enough pull for stumps. Never gave us a problem. Wish I still had it. It was what it intended to be, a working not a luxury vehicle.
In high school I worked at a general repair shop/Gulf Oil dealer/Firestone shop in a small rural western Minnesota town. In 1973 the boss bought a new F250 4×4 for general shop use (himself) and a new 3/4 ton International 4×4 for our tractor tire repair truck. The International was s–t brown so the rust that showed up in the first year wasn’t so noticable. We had a 250 gallon calcium chloride solution tank in the back for tractor tires with fluid in them. Your hands would be IMMEDIATELY frozen if you got them wet on a day like today (13 below Fahrenheit). That old International was tough though, out into the frozen plowed fields to fix tires, bouncing across furrows with 200+ gallons of solution along for the ride. I think it died of rusted frame disease by the time it was 5-6 years old.
Seller paid $1500 max for it at municipal sale, put bigger tires, and wheels on it. Now it’s $25,000. He can’t even get the mileage right. Most all fire department vehicles are low mileage, but high in run hours.
Bloviator stories when he fell out of bed.
I am life time truck mechanic, Mack and Binder and would love to have an old truck as a daily summer driver but besides being above my pay grade I don’t think my 4 wheeler will fit in a step side truck box, so really it’s a great truck but not for me. The old question, what are going to use it for?
I inherited one of these when my Dad passed. Just about the only vehicle that left me hitch hiking to get a tractor to haul it home.
I parked it out front of the barn one day and must have forgotten to set the E-brake because it rolled down the driveway and into the ditch where it caught on fire.
I didn’t hurry to call the fire department.
Back in the 70s IHC used to give farmers a really good deal on a truck if they bought a tractor.
Reminds me of the town that I grew up in IL. The FD there had a mint early 70’s GMC 4X4 that was always sitting inside the fire station I always thought it was a good looking survivor. Eventually it probably got to old and there was money in the budget that year to replace it and somebody probably picked it up for a song at a Municipal Auction and put it to work and it was probably junk within 5 years
You want a Binder? Have I got a deal for you. It’s a one ton, metal bed, PTO winch, powered by V8, granny 4 speed. Not sure of year (1968- 1972) and no title. Will give Bill of Sale. Few small holes where iron worms have eaten. Been several years since it’s been started. I live near Elkhart, Texas. Shoot me a text at 903-922-9751 if you are interested.
I owned one like this in 2005, bought from a local VFD for the sun of $220, problem was one of the locals dropped the front axle atop a concrete manhole cover and split the pumpkin in two,after some time I located a newer (1974-75) axle with the disc brakes but never could get the brakes to work like they should due to hard to find parts,it was a ’71 twin to the featured truck equipped exactly the same way, finally got discouraged with it and sold it a few years later,wish now I had kept it.