JP’s A to Z Challenge – I Is For International Scout

In its day, International Harvester was a company with an incredibly broad variety of products. They were big in farm equipment, construction equipment and even made kitchen appliances. And, of course, they were a truck company, offering everything from the heaviest semis to light duty pickups. So it was not surprising when, in 1961, the company offered the first real competition to the venerable Jeep. International called it the Scout.

The Scout was kind of a civilized Jeep, with steel doors, roll-up windows and a variety of hard roof options. In 1971 the company replaced the original Scout with a newer, bigger Scout which it called the Scout II. And International sold a lot of them, because it was possibly the original SUV that could be equally at home on a back woods trail as in a suburban driveway.

In 1976 International offered this longer Scout with a pickup bed, which it called the Scout Terra. This was almost certainly an attempt to fill a hole left when International discontinued its long line of standard pickup trucks. If I seem to know a lot about Scouts it is because they were all built in my home town of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and because I knew several people who owned them.

Sadly, International struggled through much of the 1970s and finally pulled the plug on the Scout line in 1980 and on its Fort Wayne plant soon thereafter. But the vehicles themselves have earned a dedicated group of fans who have restored them and kept them alive long after their manufacturer gave up on them.

There are still lots of heavy trucks on the road that wear the International brand (built now by a company called Navistar) but all of the other business lines were sold and any remaining descendants of the fabled “International Harvester” lines (like tractors) belong to other companies.

The Scout Terra reminds me a little of modern SUV-derived pickups made by companies like Honda, Hyundai and Ford. But in 1976 there was nothing else like it. And apparently the market for such a thing just hadn’t matured yet. Other than a nasty tendency to rust, these were stout, capable little trucks that made decades-long fans of many of their owners.

It seems that Volkswagen has somehow obtained the rights to the Scout name, and plans to sell EV and hybrid versions of the old Scout. So an international version of a Scout (that is not branded as an International). Yes, cars can be confusing. But one thing is clear – a new electric Scout will not be anything like this gnarly old one from 1976.

Photos by the author, taken at a used car lot on the north side of Indianapolis, Indiana, June 23, 2013. This vehicle was previously featured at Curbside Classic (here)

34 thoughts on “JP’s A to Z Challenge – I Is For International Scout”

  1. I’ve always preferred the Scout to anything else like it. They were some bullet-proof old trucks.
    When I was in the Marines, my buddy had (most of) one and we’d cruising around the area around base in it. I’m not going to admit in writing anything that most certainly didn’t happen on those trips, but it would’ve been a lot of fun if it had ever happened. Definitely cemented my love for the Scouts.

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    • My best friend’s dad bought a used one for the family’s kids primary driver, and I spent a lot of time in it. That one was a 6/automatic and was slooow. I always wanted to drive one with a V8 and a stick, but never did.

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      • I don’t think it would’ve helped all that much, to be honest. The Scout wasn’t built for speed — Unlike Lamborghini, I think it truly represented its origins in tractors/farming equipment. You could beat it up and take it anywhere — as long as you had all the time to get there.

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      • I had one ride with a guy who had a really rusty old Scout II. His had the International 345 V8 and a 4 speed. It wasn’t much in the corners, but as light as it was, that thing would scoot pretty smartly!

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  2. We had some IH manufacturing in Wisconsin as well, and as such, there were a lot of employees from the agricultural manufacturing plants here driving around their employee priced Scouts. Worked at a small studio in the 70’s with a commercial printing division, and had a friend that worked there and drove a Scout, so we spent a lot of time driving around in one with the top taken off, it was a hoot. Have to say, they were still being sold new when I was driving, but always considered an “iffy” proposition, as they were considered a brand with one foot in the grave well before they actually pulled the plug, which probably didn’t help sales.

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    • All true, plus their dealer situation outside of farm country was more set up for commercial customers than retail ones.

      I got to experience one with the top removed too, and it was indeed fun. But that roof removal/replacement was a pain, as was the need to store it somewhere.

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  3. Have to admit I’ve always thought of International Harvester as a tractor manufacturer and nothing else, but that speaks more to our rural environs/needs than anything else. Makes sense they’d also produce vehicles for the road. I’ll bet those trucks were as solid as any ever made!

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  5. International offered a full line of trucks – the Travelall SUV (a competitor to the Chevrolet Suburban), the full-size pickup and the Scout. These were more common than one would think at the time. Then again, I lived in a small town surrounded by farms. A farmer driving an International vehicle wasn’t that far-fetched, given the name recognition enjoyed by the company.

    The bright yellow Matchbox “Field Car” introduced in the late 1960s was obviously based on the first-generation Scout.

    Volkswagen acquired the rights to the Scout name and trademark when it bought Navistar in 2021, and plans to produce the retro-styled Scout.

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    • Gbeckenbaugh…when my Dad got transferred to Milwaukee from Chicago, back in 1964, the Milwaukee Police Department was the actual ambulance service as well. Later it was transferred to a mash-up of the Fire Department, where a lot of the EMT’s worked, and private ambulance services, which actually transported the injured (or dead!). Until the Fire Department took over, the Police were using “tricked out” IH Travelalls, I remember them very distinctly, as I never saw anything like that in Chicago! Actually an excellent use for that vehicle, with a low egress at the tail end…

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    • Thanks for the reminder that it is VW and not a Chinese company that is relaunching the Scout name. I have corrected my text.

      I loved Travelalls, and my local FB marketplace occasionally has an old International pickup for sale that tempts me.

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  7. International Harvester makes me think of heavy farm equipment and I don’t know why – did I see TV or print ads for it? I’m sure any logo on a combine rolling through a field as I was driving down a dusty rural road would have too difficult to read. That’s a pretty snazzy color for this truck which reminds me a little of the colorful Splash pickup trucks. P.S. – I always try to guess the next letter post and I was sure you’d write about the Chevy Impala for your “I” segment. 🙂

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    • International Harvester was the source of most of the red tractors, combines and other ag implements in my youth (while John Deere was green and Ford was blue).

      Scouts of the 70s came in a Kaleidescape of colors.

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      • Interesting – I wonder if my grandmother was in the car with us and pointed them out. She grew up on a farm and knew all the farm machinery and implements, a fact I will write about one day as I took her to Greenfield Village and she pointed out every piece of farm equipment, large and small, plus vintage clothing she had worn as a young woman – she had the best time there! John Deere I would recognize with the bright green. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a Scout, but that orange did stand out.

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      • The only thing he would never buy was a John Deere, so all his tractors were red. My mom painted his tractor collection at one time, including his first 1948 tractor with the side seat we kids used to sit on. No one would allow that now!

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      • I remember an old country judge noting that some things just come down to a difference of opinion. He said “That’s why there are red hats and green hats”. I always thought it was a great expression.

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      • HA! Yea I don’t even know why he didn’t like John Deere’s as they were plenty popular in the area. My cousin gave me a classic line to use when you don’t agree with someone’s opinion but don’t wish to pursue it while they try to argue with you. “I don’t have a horse in the race.” It effectively shuts them down. I had never heard of that one before but like it.

        Ah, JP, the house demons are misbehaving again as I sit here waiting for the A/C people to call me about coming back tomorrow. The condensate tubing is discharging into the attic instead of down the side of the house, leading to an intermittent drip of water out of the electrical fixture in the spare bedroom where I store all mom’s art. Kind of like a form of Chinese water torture at night. The Reliance guy who came yesterday didn’t want to go into the attic where there is a foot of insulation, as he said he was allergic, plus it was hot as hell up there, so they’ve supposedly subcontracted it out. Hopefully to a skinny guy, as the attic opening is very small. I remember when it was installed, they made the young apprentice do that part. I suspect the tubing has either melted from old age, the intense heat or some mice got hungry…..It’s always something….

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      • I have a condensate tube in my basement. It is actually a length of garden hose that runs from the discharge pipe to the sump pit. Every 2 or 3 years it clogs up (algae?) and I have to hook the a/c end to a faucet in my utility sink and blow it out with tap water. This morning was the day for that job, because there was water all over the basement floor. I feel your pain!

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      • Well maybe they were tired of causing problems at my house! You mentioned you’d had your share of plumbing/water problems. I don’t have central air as I have hot water heat so I have Slim-Line air conditioners that sit on the wall or in the case of upstairs over the staircase. I should never have let them go through the attic, instead of drilling down through two closets to the basement…..sigh…

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  10. I don’t remember a lot about them but I do know that you get the owner of one mad enough to almost punch you in the nose if you called it a Jeep. Especially after they told you.

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  12. Last I knew, VW owned a majority stake in Navistar so I’m guessing the Scout name was still legally associated with the trucks. It does get confusing, quite rapidly.

    We had a rural letter carrier who used a Scout II for years. He had rigged up a slider system on the seats so he could drive from the left but slide to the right for placing mail in boxes before sliding back again. His Scout was red, although it seems like most were…

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    • I had not known about the VW-Navistar tie-up. Perhaps this is the reason for all the service issues with our newest trucks at work. 🙂

      That sliding seat sounds like a great idea.

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