International Harvester produced three generations of the Scout from 1960 to 1979. The first generation Scout was called the Scout 80 and was produced from 1960 to 1965. By the end of 1964, International Harvester had already built 100,000 Scouts. To celebrate this achievement, International Harvester marketed a “Red Carpet Series” Scout 80 in 1965 which was white with a red interior and had a “Custom” badge under the window on each door. Every International Harvester dealer was allotted one Red Carpet Series Scout 80 to promote the brand. This 1965 International Harvester is located in Caldwell, Idaho and is claimed to be one of the 3,000 Red Carpet Series Scout 80’s produced. The Scout is listed for sale here on eBay with 1 day remaining in the auction. The Scout is rough but not in too bad of condition for a restoration. It is currently bid to $4,000.
The interior of this Scout looks as if the restoration has started. The front seats are recovered in a pleasing color of gray and the dash and controls are painted red. I believe the seats were covered in red vinyl from the factory. These seats don’t look bolted in to me. The glass is intact and the bumpers have been replaced on this 4WD. The rear seat frame has been modified with plywood for a makeshift rear bench seat. A nice example of the Red Carpet Series Scout 80 sold at auction in November 2020 for $15,850.
The engine compartment looks nice and tidy and, while not stated, the engine and mechanical systems appear to be rebuilt. From the factory, International Scout equipped this Scout with a 152 cubic inch inline four-cylinder engine which was rated at 93 horsepower. In later years, International Harvester offered optional engines including a larger inline 4 cylinder, an inline 6 cylinder, a 266 cubic inch V8, and a 304 cubic inch V8 engine.
After the first generation of the Scout completed product in 1965, International Harvester introduced the Scout 800 that was manufactured until 1971. The final generation of the Scout was called the Scout II and was built from 1971 to 1980. This Scout looks like an unfinished project. The tires look pretty good as does the grill. I don’t know what is going on with the orange rusty color paint on the exterior. I don’t see any signs of rot on the vehicle and even the floors look solid or were replaced.
Interesting find. The price isn’t bad for a running driving rust free Scout. Looks like it needs a lot of work, but mostly just cosmetic.
The Red Carpet Edition came with red carpet (missing), a door emblem (I think that’s there), a door sticker which is clearly there, red painted dashboard, gearshift, gearshift knobs and steering column, a red fiberglass dash pad (these are very fragile and hard to find replacements), a red and white headliner, and red upholstery in the front and rear seats. So this one is pretty complete. If rust free, it would be a great place to start!
Someone spray painted the dash and steering wheel. Not a big job but still cleaning up someone else’s mess.
“Hey Maude, I am fixin’ to buy this here Scout and repost it fer $10,000! Seems that be what these old trucks sell fer!’
Does anyone posting a vehicle even know what they are selling anymore? This is the sellers own words as part of the description: “Equipped with the 4 cylinder 152 V8 engine” The author of this Barn Find, Bruce Johnson, apparently knows more about the engine options than the seller does.
Most of the writers do
“Equipped with the 4 cylinder 152 V8 engine” That was the rare 1965 IH Scout WTF.
It’s why Barn Find pays them the big bucks.
It looks to me like the exterior was stripped and what we are seeing is rusty bare metal. Yikes! This thing is cool, but kind of a mess.
There don’t seem to be gas tanks in this one. There should be at least the openings visible and right now, there is darkness. So whatever fuel tank this one has, not original.
It also doesn’t seem to have a gas pedal, which I recall was a heel hinge mounted version.
So more than a few things here are ‘less than’ a running driving Scout.
Nice use of rattle cans. And having an electric fan on the radiator is either a sign something is amiss in the cooling, or they were really going to build a great example, but then didn’t.