This 1964 International Harvester Scout 80 is an impressive survivor that is built just the way you want one: factory dual-stick transfer case with locking IH hubs, four-wheel drive with high/low range, fold-down front windshield, and the original 152 four-cylinder engine still installed. The paint is tired but the body appears to be quite solid, and while the seller doesn’t specify where it came from, it’s obvious it was somewhere dry. The Scout wears the sort of cosmetics that the Hollywood set is trying to fake on awful reality shows, and with a no-reserve auction, it makes way more sense to buy the genuine article. It sounds like the Scout still runs, too, and you can find here on eBay with bidding up to $4,050.
I can see this Scout being snapped up by an outdoors company, lifestyle publication, or any business entity with an image that relies on its customers believing they have a deep connection to the great outdoors. This is the look right now that everyone wants, from genuine, dyed-in-the-wool enthusiasts to the sort of folks who just see a truck like this as an accessory. Either way, I wouldn’t be surprised to see bidding heat up before the auction ends Tuesday night. You can use this Scout in as-is condition, and I hope that the next owner doesn’t distort this wonderful patina.
The good news is, despite the aged appearance, the truck really does remain in great shape. The interior is in the sort of condition you can use proudly, without feeling like you’re going to contract an infectious disease by sitting in it. The seats may be tattered underneath that Mexican blanket, but it’s nothing you need to worry about in the near term. Frankly, I’d be way too distracted operating the folding windshield, which came standard on the Scout 80, which was the first generation of this iconic and capable 4×4.
The 2.5L four-cylinder may have been the most basic engine offered in a Scout, but like so many other first-generation models, this was an incredibly pure manifestation of the Scout concept. The removable roof, fold-down windshield, rugged four-cylinder engine, locking hubs – they all combine to remind you that the early days of the SUV were truly focused on the utility factor first, interior comfort second, and style points never. The modern SUV represents a near-total reversal of those early precepts, and it’s a shame – but trucks like this Scout remind us of how things used to be.
Another great find. Yeah, what was the original SUV? We can go ’round and ’round on that subject. I still think it was the Willys station wagon. GM Suburban right up there too. This truck? Like I say, great find, but it’s a ’64, 4 cylinder Scout, not much more than a military Jeep. Scouts, like Jeeps, all led a rough life. They were made to work, and it consumed them. To see one like this, is truly unusual. Great for yard work, BIG yards, but for any kind of highway travel, it’s pretty limited, just like an old Jeep. Being this nice of shape, it begs for a modern update, unless, of course, you have an 80 acre back yard.
Howard A, I put plenty of highway miles on my father’s ’66 Scout. Oh, it didn’t ride like, say, a contemporary Buick, but it was bearable, and not at all bad off-road.
No folding windshield on ours, as that was gone in later years (I think). Or it could have been an option that our “Champagne Edition” (fancy paint/upholstery, rubber floor mats) didn’t have.
What it DID have was the bent-four, which was pretty weak. My brother-in-law and I tried to get permission to drop a SBC in it, but my father said “no.”
Now that I live in the land of snowy winters, I sometimes wish I still had it. I’d still want to go the SBC route, though. And it would surely rust away here, as it eventually did in Sunny California.
It can be done, except “highway miles” in 1966 is a lot different than today. I think this would do 55 with the hammer down, could probably hold that 4 banger wide open all day and not hurt it, it’s just here in Colorado, with all the stupid 2 lanes ( or the suicidal 3 lane), it would be downright dangerous in a vehicle like this. Sure, be great for slow mountain rides, once you get there, that is. At some point, you have to take a busy highway to get there, and that’s the problem. After an hour on the highway with this, you’ll want to go home and kick the neighbors dog.
I think an older small Scout like this would be better with a GM V6 swap over a small block V8. A 3800 is known as a durable engine and would be a great choice due to availability and relatively good power for a vehicle like this. just my .02
I had a 1976 CJ 7 back in the day. I removed the hardtop and tried to fold the windshield down, no luck. After getting nowhere with WD 40 for a week I put the heat wrench to it. It did not help the paint much, but the windshield folded! Drove it 60 miles round trip to work everyday with the windshield up and a Bikini top if it looked like rain. Great times! I gotta agree with Howard, with the Willy being the first SUV.
Drove one of these years ago, my father’s. Had the half cab, rough ride,but the winter in NE Ohio it shined, pushed a plow and that 4 cylinder never whimperd. Was a jewel when he bought it, it was a 64 also this was like 1970-71. Great IH version of the keep.
My second vehicle, after my ‘64Volkswagen was totaled by a Caddie, was a ‘63 Scout. Awesome in winter.
I think the original SUV is a tie between a Willys wagon and a NAPCO converted Suburban, late 1940/early 1950’s vintage. Of course you could probably buy two or three Willys for what a 4WD Suburban cost. My first vehicle (at 16) was a 55 Willys wagon in 1969.
Dad (who taught me to street race with Mom’s 383 Belvedere) figured that I would live a lot longer with the Willys, even though it had the “BIG” 223 Super Hurricane F-head six. It was good for 55 MPH wide open. It was clocked at 61 MPH one time, but that was going down a steep hill with the clutch in. I knew that was way too fast for the steering, suspension and brakes it had, even as a crazy 16 year old. I never did that again.
I remember Mom commenting that it didn’t have seat belts. Dad said “He knows enough not to get hit by anything that says Mack, Grayhound, or Erie Lackawanna (as in a train) so he’ll run over anything else.” Gott’a love the 60’s.
most of the time i get the emails and the auctions are OVER. same day, -_-
We try to get everything out with at least a day left. Are you opening the emails later in the day?
I had one of these in high school, early 80s. Loved it. It had both the full cab and the pickup cab. I remember reversing the leaf springs to above the axle to give it lift for bigger tires… never dawned on me I should get the drive shaft extended… until it fell out one day. It had a granny low 4 speed and would go almost anywhere… until the carb flooded out. It always had carb issues even after installing a new carb. Seems like a good deal on this one, easy to work on and wouldn’t take much to fix it up.
Sergio ,my father had one 1965 back in El Salvador Lots of fun take it to the beach and the mountains convertible and windshield down since there was not law regulations we used to jump 7 or 8 teens the funiest was coming back up at a hill for 40 minutes it had carburetor issues very slow going up but never got stuck great truck.
The motor in this Scout is HALF of a Normal? IHC V 8. If you think it needs more power and want it an IHC V 8 will drop right in. This was done a couple of years later by IHC. What would be fun if you could make it fit would be a 549 HC Gas Motor.
luved the 80s (cept the 4 cyl). Went to buy 1 in 1980 & only found 800 (scout & scout II). Co wuz goin out of business, fed law “gotta make prts only 7 yrs after bankruptcy” so I got the Ford copy ( ’66 bronk I have to this day ).
All ways wondered Y the tail gait on scouts has that big square ‘indent’ as its design. Never found out but guess its for strength, sure is a rust maker…
Yep, no more windscreen fold-dwn early 70s.
I’d say “1st sports ute” the Hudson big boy or even Model T pick up…