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Travel Top: 1961 International Harvester Scout 80

International Harvester produced the Scout from 1960 to 1980 and over 500,000 units were manufactured over its production run. This example is a 1st generation 1961 International Harvester Scout 80 Travel Top which is the pickup style that included an enclosed cab and bed. This Scout is listed here on eBay with 3 days remaining in the auctions. The auction has currently reached a price of $2,875. This Scout is located in Creede, Colorado. The seller states that this Barn Find Scout has less than 60,000 miles but is clearly in project condition. The first generation Scout 8o was built from 1960 to 1965.

The interior of the 1st generation Scouts was very simple. This brown on brown Scout retains its bucket seats and looks to be in fairly solid condition. We have seen worse here on Barn Finds once the rust worm gets to work. The interior indicates that this 4WD version of the Scout II (yes, there were 2WD models made). Is the steering wheel original or is it aftermarket? The IH logo is missing from the grill. The 1960-1961 Scout 80 Travel Top had removable hard top.

The Scout is said to run and drive. With the brown paint, it is hard to tell what is corrosion and what is paint. International Harvester first equipped the early Scouts (like this one) with a 93 horsepower 152 cubic inch inline four-cylinder engine. Later models could be purchased with a 196 cubic inch inline 4-cylinder was introduced in 1966, an inline 6-cylinder (1967), a 304 cubic inch V8 engine (1968), and a 345 cubic inch V8 engine (1971).

As mentioned at the start of this article, the Scout model was produced over a 21 year period. This model represents the second year of the first generation Scout 8o that was built from 1960 to 1965. The second generation of Scout was called the Scout 800 which was produced in three sub-models (800, 800A, and 800B). The Scout 800 was manufactured from 1966 to 1967 by International Harvester. The Scout 800A was produced from 1968 to 1970 and the Scout 800B was produced from August 1970 to March 1971. The third-generation model of the Scout was introduced in 1971 and ran all the way to 1980. This one is going to need some work but, at the right price, could be a fun project.

Comments

  1. Avatar Harvey Member

    Project?I’d change the oil,coolant,thermostat,gear oils,tune it up and run it on the farm:-)

    Like 6
  2. Avatar Terrry

    From what I can see, there doesn’t appear to be too much rust, especially for the year. Many Scouts suffered mightily from the “tin worm” If this one runs and drives well, then I would use it as a daily driver!

    Like 1
  3. Avatar Howard A Member

    What? A vintage Scout with a believable price tag? I wonder if maybe the seller is drinking the water in Creede? More on that in a sec,,
    It’s a nice find, not very roadworthy and a modern ATV probably does a better job off road, but where’s the fun in that? Actually, modern ATV’s, the ones that destroy the trails, are really the best way to get back in the hills and are a lot of fun. It gets more popular every year and the trails get worse and worse. This truck here, if you aren’t mechanically inclined, will put a new level on the mechanics house. For the backyard tinkerer, if any left, be a great truck to plow the drive, but any other kind of use will be challenging.
    Now, about Creede, CO., neat place, S.Central Co., middle of nowhere. Why would anyone settle there? Mineral mine, one of the biggest. Rich deposits of silver were found, and being in the middle of nowhere, Creede quickly became the place for outlaws to stay. Creede produced an amazing 5 million pounds of silver, and other minerals, but when they struck water, they employed almost as many men to operate hand pumps, AND, the people were getting sick. Turns out the water is poisonous, and water for drinking must be trucked in. They even have a canal system to channel the toxic water out into the plains. ASIDE from that minor problem, it’s a neat place.

    Like 5
  4. Avatar John E. Klintz

    Project? I see a big, likely rusty TURD! For those motoring masochists among you GLWT. I’ll choose to ignore it and attempt to wipe these “deplorables” from my memory.

    Like 1
  5. Avatar Jim

    I remember long ago when I worked at a Chrysler dealership someone traded in a scout pick up like this only green with white top and snow plow we used it to plow the lot and it would really push snow. We had a customer in the next town over who bought a Chrysler Imperial and it would not start so we took the Scout over to check it out and found a broken distributor shaft. So we towed it back to the dealership with a chain hooked to the Scout we got out of town and started up a long big incline hill and I started loosing power shifted into low and went a little further and had to pull over to the side of the road and get the scout in low range and we made it creeping along to the top

    Like 1

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