Long before the term “SUV” entered our vocabulary, International Harvester was busy building the vehicles that would define the category. This weathered 1965 Scout 800 is sitting in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, and is listed here on Facebook Marketplace. It is a rolling reminder of just how far the breed has come. The seller is asking $1,700 (or best offer) as a parts truck and even though it’s rough around the edges, it’s a tantalizing piece of off-road history waiting for a second act. The seller states that they are selling because they have accumulated a small fleet of parts trucks, including another V8-powered Scout.
According to the seller, this Scout the miles are unknown and it wears its factory Harvester Red paint under a white fiberglass top, and rides on its original 4-cylinder engine paired with a 3-speed manual. The seller believes it’s a genuine 1965 model and notes the typical surface rust expected after six decades in the Midwest, plus the usual dents and dings of a working truck. The motor reportedly turns freely and last ran four to five years ago. Unfortunately there is no title and it comes with a bill of sale only. International Harvester launched the original Scout 80 in 1960. It aimed a compact, no-frills 4×4, and it succeeded well enough that IH kept refining the formula. For 1965, the company rolled out the Scout 800. This update traded some of the 80’s spartan character for genuine creature comforts, including bucket seats, an updated dashboard with improved instrumentation, better heating, a fixed windshield in place of the old fold-down design, and relocated wiper controls. An optional rear bench seat and the upscale “Champagne” trim package, with its added carpet, headliner, and door panels, rounded out the more civilized approach.
International sold over 532,000 unites from 1960 to 1980. In its debut year, the Scout 800 carried over the familiar 152-cubic-inch, 2.5-liter four-cylinder as standard equipment, rated at roughly 93 horsepower. Buyers seeking more punch could order an optional turbocharged version of that same engine, one of the earliest turbocharged powerplants offered in any American production vehicle, good for around 111 horsepower. Survivors with that option are scarce today. The bigger 196-cubic-inch four, the 232-cubic-inch six, and the V8 options did not arrive until 1966 and 1967, so 1965 trucks like this one were built exclusively with the four-cylinder.
This example is rusty, incomplete, and without a title, so it isn’t for the faint of heart. But as an example of one of America’s first true SUVs, it’s a worthy restoration candidate for the patient. International’s 1965 through 1969 Scout palette included exterior colors like Harvester Red, White Cap White, Scout Medium Tan, and Terra Cotta, often combined in two-tone schemes with a white cab top, exactly the combination seen on this truck. Who is up for a 6 year project?
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