BUYING A CAR IN 1969...International Harvester Travelall and Scout

Are you just looking for a functional car that lets people know when you drive up that you have just a functional car? Then here, at the Tattered and Lost Car Lot, I've got just what you need. No flash, just function. Think ground meat and beer, not brie and wine.

Click on either image to see them larger.

(SOURCE: Sunset, September 1969)

And yes, the Scout does arrive in pieces via USPS, so don't think of buying it unless you're really good with a screwdriver and I don't mean the kind that comes in a glass...though that might be helpful too.


(SOURCE: Sunset, July 1969)

International Harvester Company (IHC or IH) was a United States agricultural machinery, construction equipment, vehicle, commercial truck, and household and commercial products manufacturer. In 1902, J.P. Morgan merged the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and Deering Harvester Company, along with three smaller agricultural equipment firms, to form International Harvester. International Harvester sold off its agricultural division in 1985 and renamed the company Navistar International Corporation in 1986. Case IH was formed when the agricultural division merged with J.I. Case.

Founding of the company
The roots of International Harvester run to the 1830s, when Cyrus Hall McCormick, an inventor from Virginia, finalized his version of a horse-drawn reaper, which he field-demonstrated throughout 1831, and for which he received a patent in 1834. Together with his brother Leander J. McCormick (1819–1900), McCormick moved to Chicago in 1847 and started the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. The McCormick reaper sold well, partially as a result of savvy and innovative business practices. Their products came onto the market just as the development of railroads offered wide distribution to distant market areas. He developed marketing and sales techniques, developing a vast network of trained salesmen able to demonstrate operation of the machines in the field.

McCormick died in 1884, with his company passing to his son, Cyrus McCormick, Jr. In 1902 the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and Deering Harvester Company, along with three smaller agricultural equipment firms (Milwaukee; Plano; and Warder, Bushnell, and Glessner—manufacturers of Champion brand) merged to create the International Harvester Company. In 1919, the Parlin and Orendorff factory in Canton, Illinois was a leader in the plow manufacturing industry. International Harvester purchased the factory calling it the Canton Works; it continued production for many decades.

One of the company's light-duty vehicles was the Travelall, which was similar in concept to the Chevrolet Suburban. The Travelette was a crew cab, available in 2 or 4 wheel drive. It was available starting in 1957, and was the first 6-passenger, 4-door truck of its time. The Scout, first introduced in 1961,[12] is a small two-door SUV, similar to a Jeep. In 1972 the Scout became the Scout II, and in 1974 Dana 44 axles, power steering and power disk brakes became standard. After the pickups and Travelall were discontinued in 1975, the Scout Traveler and Terra became available, both with a longer wheelbase than a standard Scout II.

IH would abandon sales of passenger vehicles in 1980 to concentrate on commercial trucks and school buses. Today the pickups, Travelalls, and Scouts are minor cult orphaned vehicles. All were available as rugged four-wheel drive off-road vehicles. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

As a pointless aside I must mention that the reason I was born on the day I was born was because of a jeep ride my mother took through a dry creek bed in Carmel Valley the night before her rush to the hospital. I apparently was a little late so the neighbor decided to take my mom for an adventure. I was ready to pop out the next day, just like Tatter's pups.