One thing you can say about the 60’s International pickups and Travelalls is that they have a very distinctive style (which I happen to like). They have the reputation for being very tough, but not very luxurious. Some even had 266 cubic inch V-8’s, like this one found on eBay in Wilmington, North Carolina at auction with bidding starting at $3,900 with no reserve. And to top it off, the engine’s just been rebuilt!
A very useable 8-1/2 foot “extra load” bed and shiny blue paint highlight the rear of this classic truck, while the only visible issue on the outside is a missing hubcap. I don’t know if the “International” stamped into the rear of the tailgate was originally highlighted, but it looks great in white. The seller states that a few “dime-size” patches have been dealt with using rust inhibitor and patches. The color change is unfortunate, but we will let it slide since this is a work truck anyway.
Unfortunately, there’s no picture of the claimed freshly rebuilt engine, but this International is claimed to have a new exhaust, electronic ignition, new tires, and a working original AM radio. The interior pictures highlight the new door weatherstripping as well. I can’t even see any cracks in the dash, although the interior color has me wondering whether the exterior blue is original. The seat, however, has seen better days. I especially like the worn areas on the steering wheel, and the honesty of the rubber mat over the bare metal floor (although I’m sure the mat isn’t original).
Unusually, the truck comes with the original build sheet and owner’s manual. There’s a new windshield to go with the new rubber around it. A towing package and oversized radiator have me wondering whether I could use this to tow my race car around. A claimed 78,600 miles means there should be plenty of life in Ol’ Blue yet. My wife would probably tell you that it’s a bad sign when I name a car before even owning it. The worst part is that this is less than two hours from my house. I may have to keep watching this auction… care to join me?
such an unfortunate color choice…something a little more subtle would really make me think about bidding on it …
A build sheet is an important thing to have with any International, because the parts and specs can vary greatly between apparently identical trucks. Lots of special fleet orders, some changes in suppliers, some subtle variations.
These are one of my passions…….Graham is exactly right except the build sheet is called a line setting sheet. These can be very luxurious. Each truck is custom built and hand spect’d by a human. There is no such thing as a standard. There were real innovators, some had Perkins diesels, the first power steering 4X4’s, first dual circuit master cylinder, A/C, on and on. The 266 was not as comon in the pickups as the 304, 266’s were more comonely in Scouts. These are real truck engines. The same blocks were used for engines from 266 through 404 cubic inches and used in trucks up to 5 tons. They are very heavy, forged cranks, sodium cooled valves, heavy castimgs and forgings throughout. These trucks were very expensive when new. The key to having an IHC that you love is finding one that is specked for how you want to use it. A low geared farm truck does not work well as a highway truck. There are many parts that interchange with other common vehicles, Holly carbs,transmissions, Delco distributors, alternators, so today it is very important to learn your interchanges. As I rember the points are the same as an old Ford 6 cyl for instance and the parts guys have no idea.
Nice, shame about the coat. First thing I’d do is paint the bumper white or chrome it.
nice work truck in the right price range. but seller does need to post a photo of engine compartment and underside of truck, i have to wonder why they did not. great find
It would look nice back in factory correct white colour ,(sorry chaps!, I’m from the UK!!), er color,…and chrome bumpers? as I heve seen in the original advertising shots (depends on line setting sheet spec of course). Nice condition for nearly 50 years young!.
The dash has no cracks because it’s steel. They used a nice textured pattern that looks like anything but steel. I know this because when I bought my ’64 C1100 I thought, WOW! the dash is perfect and then I felt it and realized why. It looks like the floor pans might have been repaired with riveted panels (cowl leakage and resulting floor rot is a very common problem). The wear on the interior has me thinking that the actual mileage might be much higher than claimed, but the bed looks OK. Not a truck for the highway, but will happily hum along forever on the B roads. Seems like a very nice truck at twice the money, but would insist on underhood shots before bidding.
Interesting comments about the way a buyer could fit out Internationals with different features and builds to suite needs and preferences. That would sound good to to me as a buyer, but I’m guessing it would not have helped International to survive in the marketplace, unfortunately. Most people would likely prefer the lowest price for a work truck that was “good enough”.
That 8 1/2 ft bed is impressive. I had a Ram diesel with the 8 ft bed and that was BIG. But this bed is impressive.
Funny the decisions that people make about paint color (not good) or sell strategy (no pic of the rebuilt engine).
My first pickup like this was bought new by my grandfather in 1963. It was custom done at the factory with a special knotch in the back of the bed and no tailgate so it would accommodate a normal camper. The tail lights were lowered near the bumper, all custom done by the factory. It had a 304 V8 with 373 gears and positraction. It would get 16 mpg at 65 MPH with a 9 foot cabover camper. At about 400,00 miles my wife ran it out of oil so we replaced the engine with a low mileage 266 out of a scout. It ran well but was missing some torque, empty was great down the road. Later on I bought a travelall parts truck with 4X4 and power steering that I used to convert the old truck to a wheeler. The floor pans were replaced with factory panals from the dealer, it had a 50 gallon fuel capacity. Simply a great truck. I have a 68 4×4 3/4 ton now with a factory 5 speed and a 345. The only trouble with the new truck was the wheel bolt pattern was a huge 6 lug that was unusual so, I traded the hubs out to a normal 8 lug wheel that was also used on the trucks.
Dolphin,
You could build ’em any way you wanted which was great, but you’re absolutely right about IH’s survival. They had banked on the loyalty of their mostly rural dealerships and agricultural customers who were also purchasing tractors, combines, etc. While IH did have a fairly extensive urban dealer network late in the game, it was often relegated to mom & pop’s who were medium/heavy truck dealers or small auto dealers who didn’t have a light truck line at all (like AMC, Renault, Fiat, etc). In the opinion of many, IH had spread themselves far too thin getting into too many different lines like refrigeration, gas turbines, steel making, lawn equipment, etc. and had lost touch with their core money-making businesses. A couple of recessions, poor agricultural sales, an aging light truck line and an insatiable desire to show stockholders dividends (and thereby killing cash reserves) spelled doom.
I would venture to say that the deversification of IH was an attempt to keep the company profitable, as agricultural sales began to deminish as independent farmers began selling off their farms to corperations and GM and Ford began to take their own light duty truck business alot more seriously, so IH began to see the “handwritting on the wall” and look for other business that would keep the company profitable. Dependency on small rural dealers began to be a liability by the mid-1960s, when GM, Ford, and Chysler were all offering well-equipt sport truck that were easy to find and and cheap to buy from a large network of well stocked dealers. The big three were able to update their frames, steering, and suspension systems regularly (which smaller makers like Studebaker, IH, and AMC/Jeep couldn’t afford to do), makers quickly learned that making light duty truck drive and ride like a car opened up the market to buyers who would never have considered buying a truck before. Of course IH knew this too, as they were wildly successful with the Scout, until the bigger makers came along with the Blazer and Bronco, beating IH at it’s own game; just like they had done to Studebaker and Rambler when they introducted their own compacts in 1960, srinking Lark and American sales. Sadly, it is survival of the fittest, fed by greed and the consumer’s desire to fill a need at the lowest price possible, and it’s killed alot of good small companies that made high quality products with good customer service, just like IHC.
Brian, you’re right on the money. Other issues for IH during these late years were an aging manufacturing infrastructure (although Springfield was new, all other plants were very old). Labor disputes with the UAW didn’t do the company (or it’s employees in the end) any favors either. Finally, IH couldn’t depend upon the economies of scale that the Big 3 could. IH didn’t make passenger cars and therefore couldn’t share parts across many platforms like the Big’s could. It was very sad to see pickup production end. The Scout was definitely a hit, but in the end wasn’t enough to save the light truck line. RIP IH!
IHC/Navistar is still the largest truck manufacturer on the planet.
Dave, you’re right as well, but International is just a name now owned by Navistar and the old company was carved up and euthanized. International Harvester as a brand was sold to Tenneco/Case and then killed off. Either way, light truck production never resumed under either entity.
When I was at the factory outside Chicago a few years ago, they were very proud of the new lighter trucks designed to compete with the Ford F450. The company still supports the light truck line to the best of there abilities, off course this cab was used in medium trucks long after they stopped the pickup line. International now is so buisy building motor home chassis and engines for other companies along with there own marks…….they will be around a long time. I think there earlier downsizing was like many other businesses, they borrowed money from Guido (the unions) at 20% interest and could not keep up……marketing was another problem as you could always buy a new GM or Ford product cheeper than an IH. Busisnesses change over time, GM does not make any class 8 trucks any more either. It is a shame that we lost the light IHC’s but time goes on. The company survived and thrived in the new guise. I suppose the Ford 7.3 pickups could be called 1/2 international……maby IHC will come back in a smaller line someday but ther seem pretty buisy concurring other markets these days.
I am REALLY impressed by commenters knowledge about these Internationals! I know where I’m going for advice if I ever answer my hankering for one….
SOLD! The auction ended at $4,100 with 5 bids.
My dad had one of these old International pickup a 1965 that he bought used in 1971 or 72 he drove that truck til 1988 when the rear end finally siezed up and broke .. I was taught how to drive in that old truck .. I would love to have one of these again.. one of the best classic trucks around and most durable and btw when that old truck was finally retired it only had 84,ooo miles on it