Here are some color code names you don’t often see assigned to pickup trucks: Cambrian Coral and Magnolia White. That’s the factory color scheme on this claimed-survivor 1956 International Harvester S-120, which looks fairly rough around the edges but the seller claims was never “…touched up or repainted anywhere.” Find the truck here on eBay with a $5,995 Buy-It-Now and the option to submit a best offer.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader Ikey H. for the find. The seller says the truck has been in Montana for many years, which seems to be a perennial breeding ground for old workhorses like this. The truck was spotted on a friend’s property and rescued, but apparently not much has happened with it since then. The seller claims even the original tailgate was located, which was located “…through a series of very interesting circumstances.” While I’d love to know the story, it sounds like you’ll need to buy the truck to find out.
The interior is surprisingly complete, with an uncut dashboard and original controls all in place. The floors look impressively solid, and while the seat is torn up, I wouldn’t expect anything less in a rough rider like this. Although mostly complete, some bits are missing, including “…radiator & fan shroud, both inner front fenders, one hood side latch, the front bumper, both correct headlamp bezels, the rear window, both side windows, the left side mounted spare tire carrier, the spare wheel and tire assembly, the jack and tools.”
Perhaps one of our readers can explain why the inner fenders were removed, as I can’t pinpoint a reason why at the moment. Sometimes they’re extracted for the purpose of building a low-rider, but that doesn’t seem to be anything the future holds for this truck (thank God.) As a “….model S-120, 3/4 ton, 4 wheel drive, short box, step side, pickup truck,” there’s a lot here to like – but I’m still intrigued by letting the tough guys know my ol’ pickup is a Cambrian Coral survivor.
Hooray,,a truck. (seems like a 1/25 ratio with cars, but I’ll take it) And what a truck. This a rare model, only 1 year. It appears someone either put a different front clip on, and hasn’t finished it, or took most of it apart, and gave up, and just put the front end back on with a few ( new) bolts. Looks like it may have had a column shift ( sawed off) at one time. Most of these 4×4’s came with 4:77 gears, so 50mph, the ol’ 240 Black Diamond gonna be a hollerin’. Great find, a tad optimistic on the price, but try and find another,,,maybe in Sweetgrass,, :)
You are correct, we cut them off with a hacksaw 50 years ago.
Nice truck and seems to be at a good price.
Nice project, but I’d pass on it at this price. IHC 4×4’s aren’t particularly rare. They turn up more often than NAPCO Chevy/GMC trucks for sure. They were reasonably popular out west. Personally I’d hold out for a long bed model. This shorty with those heavy springs would be a handful.
Seems like it was equipped well – for an IHC, anyhow. Has the optional electric wipers. The clue is the two large finishing washers on the top center of the dash. On vacuum wiper models those holes are plugged with interior trim buttons.
Interesting for the inner fenders and radiator to be removed, I wonder what the story is there? I saw a ’50 that had had the grille and radiator removed to get at a broken front motor mount. It’s kind of an odd design, and difficult to access with the surrounding sheet metal in place. Wonder if something like that happened here?
I’d love to see this one returned to showroom condition. Seems unlikely, but would’t it be neat to see in all of it’s 1950’s two-tone glory?
I am pretty sure this was my Dad’s pickup when I was a kid growing up in Bozeman. It had a small slide in camper in it when we had it, which is probably why the tailgate wasn’t with it at for a while. We took that pickup everywhere – summer vacations to my Dad’s family in Eastern Oregon, some times via Canada (I know it was a long way out of our way – especially for that low geared grinding along at 55 mph tops) where three could ride up front and the excess kids in the camper. It was so noisy going down the highway that almost no amount of pounding or yelling from the camper would be noticed by the people in the cab. But the real adventures with that truck were hunting – usually just my Dad and I. Dad wouldnt admit it, but he was a latent four-wheel drive enthusiast, and while he claimed it was all just because he just wanted to get beyond the average hunter’s stomach for risk of wreckage or death, he was a fearless four-wheeler and seemed to enjoy getting out of bad situations. He had a handy man jack, four chains, come-alongs, and good mud & snow tires (just like the ones still on it) we took that truck up many horrifying slopes and sidehills. I remember one friday night heading out to our weekend hunt, I was awakened in the camper by the roaring engine and an impossibly steep hill that ended by loosing traction and sliding and wildly rocking at a quartering angle back down the hill in the dark until we lodged against a tree, with one thick branch exploding the campers closet with a thigh thick hole through the wall. No damage to the truck. I dont remember if there were seat belts in that truck, but there certainly was not any restraint in the camper so I felt lucky to survive the ride. I dont think I want to buy this truck, but I would love to come visit it next time I’m in Colorado. If you know where it is, please call me. Doug Chandler, doug@alliedengineering.com; 406 579-2150.
Cambrian Coral and Magnolia White? And here, all this time, we called it PINK and OFF-WHITE. I saw a 1/2 ton at a farm show a few years back that was painted that color. Of course it was a fairly common color scheme out west. My Dad’s S-120 4×4 was more of a tan color. I might add that the second owner still uses it today.
4×4 was starting to become popular in the mid 50s, and, at least in the Chinook belt, Binder led the way. I would have to say that there were more Binder 4x4s out there than anything else. I would also add that a couple of aggressive Binder dealers helped with that a lot. The ranchers, tired of surplus Jeeps, gravitated to the offerings from Binder many times over the other makes. So there’s a chance that parts and components would be available.
This truck will give you everything you wanted from a 4×4, including a super rough ride but it will take more punishment than the average man could throw at it. Of course the exception to the rule would be Dad’s old ranch foreman who could destroy anything that wasn’t covered with hair; he sure put Dad’s truck through the mill.
Mine is originally all cambrian coral but we added the two tone magnolia white to match the dash. Like this truck mine is camper package truck with the short bed, 4×4 3/4t, 17.5 non split rims, still has the silver diamond 220, one barrel holley, and the 6 volt generator system. At some point it had been converted to a granny low 4 from 3 on the tree. It takes a while but it will run 65+, good thing there isn’t a tachometer
That’s a nice unit you got there. Sure hope you have some good times with it.
that is a beauty! I cant believe they didnt make/sell more of these. We loved ours back in the 1960s with a camper on it.
Doug Chandler
what rims are they?
I feel, part of IH’s downfall in light trucks, is that they appealed to farmers, sold right next to the combine. The trouble was, these farmers usually only bought one, where Ford and Chevy were city bound, at least in my area, and were beat, or rusted, to death, insuring a new truck was on the horizon.
I think you hit that one right on the nose, Howard. In a small rural community you didn’t see much difference in the truck population; it was fairly well spread out, but in the larger centers, the IH truck dealers were also the farm equipment dealers and they were usually over in the industrial park. I’ve seen some truck ONLY franchises, some that are still functioning today. Their biggest problem was that they were concentrating on selling the larger trucks, and left the poor light duty models out in the dust out back. I also saw that with GMC truck dealers. They always concentrated their sales on the larger trucks when in reality, they should’ve taken a page out of Henry Ford’s book: sell a whole bunch of cheaper vehicles to the masses, and THEN see which side makes the most money…
see my reply telling that I think the old truck was my Dad’s – the color was redder than the pink restored colored truck above.