Junkyard Find: 1973 International Harvester Scout II
Scouts are still pretty commonplace in Colorado, for reasons too obvious to get into here, and that means that some of them are going to wear out and take that final tow-truck ride. This one is a bit rusty, but should have been good for a few more years of farm-equipment-style abuse.
Is there any vehicle better suited for a gold prospector? Other than a wagon towed by mules, that is.
It started life in Colorado, and it will end it here as well.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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That truck sure looks like it could have had what ever was wrong fixed and been good for another decade or so of CO winters. It is interesting the Anything less is just a car sticker makes you think it was owned by a hard core IH guy. On the other hand I see so many $$$$ looking at all those parts. The rare item that sticks out as something I realllly reallly want is the hand throttle. I've got them on a couple of my rigs but always snag those when I find them. The sliding side windows are worth a fair amount. I see hundreds of dollars worth of stuff w/o getting in to the drive train. It is a 73 or at least it has a 73 Deluxe exterior package grille trim. The front drums means it isn't any newer than 73.
You're right, She DOES still look decent to put back on the road, if the right person found her and did what needed to be done. Actually everything about them are pretty easy. IH motors almost identical to AMC, easy enough for a woman to work on. Just restored a 1979 CJ5 (304) that was bought, by my husband, off the showroom floor. Now beginning the restoration of a '74 IH Scout II (345), amazing that so far, everything is identical. Axles torn apart, for now, all frame, tranny, misc parts in for sandblasting, body stored in a barn, doors and hood plus a million parts in basement, topper in garage with drivetrain parts to begin the clean up, then re-build. Drove her into the garage two months ago and decided to give her her life back. Amazing that everything is still original, only two spots of rust (front fenders/floor boards, helps she was in AZ for 37 years) on body, needs some new lines and hoses, gaskets, lenses, just from rot, but she'll be able to keep up with the Jeeps from off roading to car shows! The parts I've needed, I've been able to locate from a couple Scout graveyards and craigslist.. not as much $$ as it seemed, when I bought her and was waiting for her to arrive in WI from AZ. She's a bit of history that should be preserved and she's now become a part of our family of Jeeps!