If I ever go to a dude ranch, I want to be picked up at the airport or train station or whatever in this baby! This 1958 International Harvester Travelall A110 seems like the perfect people mover for any kind of hospitality business that trades off of the romance of the cowboy west—or a collector’s item for any lover of Americana—and it gets even more so the more you look at it. You can check it out on Hemmings, where it’s on offer from a Chicago-based dealer for a not outrageous $26,500 or best offer.
A quick semantic note: the ad calls this a 1959 and I’m calling it a ’58, with the caveat that I could be wrong. My research shows that the A-series trucks were only made for the 1958 model year (the “A” commemorating IHC’s fiftieth anniversary in the truck business), then slightly restyled and rechristened the B-series for 1959. This may have happened mid-1959, however, so maybe this wagon is a ’59, or maybe it was a ’58 but wasn’t sold and titled until 1959. In any event, this three-door Travelall bodystyle was short-lived, bridging the gap between the last two-door wagon in 1957 and the first four-door in 1961. Note that the competing Chevy/GMC Suburban twins didn’t sprout a third door until 1967 or a fourth until 1973!
In any event, this Travelall, which is claimed to have been bought by the selling dealer from the family of the original owner in Montana, is loaded for bear for the ranch lifestyle. In this picture, see if you can spot the ceiling fan, auxiliary heater, MPG calculator, oil, amp, and altimeter gauges, and sunvisor-mounted accessories including some seriously cool shades—not to mention the swanky patterned carpet and the canvas seat cover! The cover is protecting a worn seat cushion, but both rear benches are in lovely original condition. Additional kit includes a lasso, a snake-bite kit, an axe and sledgehammer, flares, a ceiling-mounted radio, and a built-in coffeemaker.
Under the hood is a 264-cubic inch “Black Diamond” inline six, the largest and most powerful available engine. This is the second 264 to live here; it and its four-speed were swapped in in 1969 to replace the original engine and automatic transmission. The engine was then pulled and rebuilt in 2004, at which point the body was repainted as well in the original white over Raisin Tan color scheme. (I’ve never seen a tan raisin, but sure.) The body is said to be rust-free and the underside looks relatively good, plus there’s an extensive handwritten log of the truck’s service history from new.
Between the truck itself and the indelible marks left on it by its owner over the years, this thing has personality on top of personality. I hope it finds a new owner who can appreciate—and add to—its story. Would you ride it into the sunset?
Nice, but those aftermarket gages on that beautifully painted dash is anathema for purists. Try taking the gages off and selling them on classifieds
instead of announcing that the previous owner got a little carried away on the
add-ons for a truck that came from an era known for few add-ons, eh.
p.s. nice paint too!
Bob
Yeah, if nothing else, relocate them to under dash….
The A-series was built the second half of ’57 and all of ’58 with the B-series for ’59 and ’60. I sometimes wouldn’t blame someone for pulling that Borgwarner automatic but it wasn’t that bad, rather heavy and the response was a bit sluggish, not to mention that performance suffered with the six in front of it. I like this truck a lot although if it came my way, I’d try to get the automatic back in operation. Okay, so I’m a little hypocritical….
Not exactly the best looking front end.
The kinda face that Only a Mother could Love? As we’d say in my neck of the woods, SW Scotland before anyone asks.
So the 4 speed was installed in 1969 but the auto shifter’s still there????
No cop, rollin’ stop. I would love to know where in Montana they found it.
I agree, what an amazing find. Hemmings stuff is always 1st rate. The Travelall really didn’t pick up steam until the early 60’s. These were extremely rare. One rarely saw IH pickups, much less these. That “mileage calculator”, is just a fancy term for a vacuum gauge.( or on a diesel, manifold pressure) I’ve had many. With everything they’ve done, someone drove this truck around to all the gatherings, and probably picked up a new period correct “gee gaw” from the swap meet. If nothing was done to the gearing, it probably only goes 55 comfortably, and an axle change or overdrive, would be necessary, especially, if that’s a “granny gear” 4 speed. I didn’t think that was the original motor, an automatic to 4 speed swap, is a pain, which is why I’m sure they went with the whole swap, and hang a clutch pedal. Really nice ride here.
Hey, Smith.
Why do you identify it as a 1958 and the owner calls it a 1959. Also you referred to it as a Ranch Wagon. I am sure you know that Ford made the only Ranch Wagons. What gives?
Nice ol’ Travelall. As I’ve mentioned before, I owned a standby ambulance service for many years. In 1972 we bought a 1962 Travelall ambulance from Baker Ambulance in Odessa, TX. The owners had brought the truck to West Texas from Baker, MT, hence the company name. We got the old beast for $250, and it was a good worker. However, the rear end went out on it twice and we sold it in 1974. We also had one other Travelall ambulance. It was nationally famous! It was given to us by the owner of Metropolitan Ambulance in Amarillo in 1977. It was famous because it had been used in the production of the Roundup herbicide commercials. It was a good, hardworking ambulance.
For this genre and vintage this truck is just 3 kinds of cool. From the color combination to the accessories to the styling this is one nice ride. Good thing I don’t like large vehicles because this one would be tempting. Nice find.
International often denoted a model year by the sell date rather than the build date, so if it sat on a lot for a while the date could be a year off.
Really like the carpet!
My grandparents pulled an Air Stream trailer all over the US with their Travel-All. They really loved that vehicle.
Jim, do yourself a favor and check out http://www.bumfuzzle.com — they just sold their rig, but until recently were traveling the US and Mexico in their ’68 Travelall and 60s Airstream.
It’s either a late 57, or a 58. 59’s had a totally different grille and stacked headlights, same as a 60. Nice truck, but good luck finding parts.