International Harvester Scout

Check Your Mirrors - 11.23.06 - http://www.autosavant.net

By Brendan Moore

SCOUTS were made by International Harvester from 1961 until 1980. The Scout was a short-wheelbase rugged-use vehicle built as a competitor to the Willys (later AMC) Jeep. The I-H Scout was much beloved by its owners, with an extremely strong brand image, and many people considered it to be a tougher vehicle than the Jeep, with Scout sales exceeding all Jeep sales throughout the Sixties. And a 1977 I-H Scout finished first in the 4WD Production Class in the Baja 1000, a grueling off-road race through Mexico, with the closest finishing Jeep coming across the finish line over 2 hours later. Available in 2WD and (mostly) 4WD, the Scouts came with four-cylinder engines, then sixes and eights, with the four cylinder option making a comeback in the fuel-crisis Seventies. Even a diesel engine (sourced from Nissan) was available in its last years. It was for naught as I-H made the decision to end production in the 1980 model year, citing low sales figures, and their belief that the market for these types of vehicles was slowly disappearing in the face of high fuel prices. If only they could have seen the near future, but of course, they couldn’t. Chrysler bought the rights to the Scout model name a couple of years ago, but hasn’t slapped it on anything. Yet.

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