Tony Jeffs, March, 2, 2013
With great saddness, I post this to let Tony's friends know of his passing. After many years fighting, cancer took him at the age of 27. Tony leaves behind his beautiful wife Kelly, son Owen and another child on their way. I was lucky to have Tony come to visit me in Hope a few times. We were travel mates going to the Binder Bee a couple years ago (with his dad Gord) Tony loved Scouts and restored more in a few years then what most of us would do in a life time. RIP Tony! To my knowledge, he restored 5 Scouts. One went to Norway, Another to Alberta, The 3rd to Ontario. Below are some of the Scouts Tony restored or was working on.
Dale Young's 1980 Scout II
Dale writes to tell me about his 1980 Scout II: 1980 "All Original Survivor Scout II" with 38,000 miles with 345, 727 Trans with Dana 300, Locmatic hubs, 3:31 gears, Cold A/C, Cruise Control, Tilt wheel, Russett interior, very clean package that has been well maintianed all of these years.
Matt Corzine's 1970 Scout 800A
"I have to say right up front, I'm not much of a mechanic at all. And I know next to nothing about Scouts before I bought this one. I saw one driving around for work one day and just fell in love with it. I've searched for the last four or five years to find one that I really wanted and after "missing out" on several, I finally found it. I originally wanted to buy one and restore it myself...well, with help from my dad. He's the mechanic in the family. But, I also wanted one that I could drive right away, so I bought this one. My plan now is to get this one completely ready to drive summer or winter. I won't use it as a daily driver, but I am going to drive it as much as possible. Once I have it how I want it, I'm going to find one that I can begin as a project. I bought a service manual and parts manual for the shop, so we are going to start going through my scout this winter to do the things I want to change or fix." Matt...
Matt provided this info from the previous owner:
This is a 1970 IH Scout 800A with IH 304 V-8 that has been built from the ground up. She has:
Under hood: Professionally rebuilt IH 304 with 4,000 miles, Stans headers, RV cam, DUI electronic ignition, Howell fuel injection (GM based), Power steering with remote mount reservoir, Scout II power steering gearbox, 1969 Corvette master cylinder for 4 wheel discs (below), Airaid air cleaner
Transmission: T-19 4 speed narrow ratio which has the better 3rd gear for pulling. Dana 20 set up as a twin stick independent front/rear axle. Go high 4, high rear, high front, low 4, low rear, low front. Both transmission and transfer case were rebuilt prior to installing.
Brakes: 4 wheel MANUAL disc brakes. This is a dream setup for the 800s and you don't have to cut out your fender.
Axles: Scout II Dana 44s front and rear.
Fuel: Two new plastic tanks built for the 800s
Springs: New spring under springs all way around (about 3" lift)
Tires: New Pro Comp tires
Paint / Body: Painted medium blue. The top is Ford fleet white and has all the glass. Rear hatch works as well. Interior is sprayed completely with Zolatone which is a VERY tough speckled sort of paint. This paint has been used for decades in tough applications like boats, motor homes, etc. Dash pad is a factory pad and has no cracks whatsoever. Seats are original (re-upholstered). Roll bar (fits under hard top).
What else? New wiring harness, new gauges, new marine windshield wiper motors (no more vacuum driven ones!), new electronic fuel switch for dual tanks, RPT motor mounts, new Warn hubs, etc. Pretty much every little (or big) thing I could replace or have rebuilt I did. Even has new rear taillight lenses.
This old Scout will get more waves and thumbs up from other drivers while driving around than a Ferrari (I'm not kidding). People would slow down and wave even back when I was still pulling it around on a trailer getting various things done. I hate to sell it.
Special note on brakes: I've had people ask about the brake setup because a lot of people don't know this type of thing exists. It's 4 wheel discs with MANUAL master cylinder. The discs themselves are Scout II front and a kit rear (GM based). The m/c is brand new and is same model used on big block Corvettes in (I believe) 1969 and 1970. With the long pedal throw of Scout brake pedal these are as smooth as power brakes on a new car. Anyone reading this with a Scout I thoroughly recommend this setup.
I've also had questions about the reliability of the Scout, particularly the motor. My answer to that is that this motor was rebuilt 3,500 miles ago by a professional machine shop and has been highly modernized with Davis ignition, Howell Fuel Injection, etc. If you rode a big yellow International school bus as a kid it likely had a motor a LOT like this one (minus the upgrades). How many miles were on that school bus exactly? Get my point? Consider that if the original owner of this Scout was 45 years old when he bought it in 1970 he'd be 86 years old now. Chances are he's not around any more yet the Scout keeps rolling down the road. 'nough said!
Related to the above is the "can I drive it cross country?" question. In all fairness the Scout will make it no problem. I'm just not sure you will. If you've never owned or driven one of these consider a late 1960s Jeep that maybe a buddy has or something. I'm sure it'll make it too but do you want to drive it that far? If you're 26 and want an adventure then "why not?" Be prepared for hot feet from the floorboard and it's loud inside. That conversation Burt Reynolds and buddies are having in the Scout 800 on the way to their rafting trip in the movie Deliverance had to have been faked (it's a '70 Scout just like this one). Make no mistake this is one of the nicest Scouts you will ever see, but it is a 1970 International Scout, not a 2011 Honda. That said, drive away! It'll go to South America and back. These old Scouts are a LOT tougher than you might think!
Previous month's Article:
Eric Andersson's 1974 200 Series
By Eric,
In 1971 I dropped by the local IH dealer to look over a silver/black 1110 4WD pickup with the 304 engine in it. That was forbidden fruit for a poor, working college student, but I dreamed I could somehow pull together the cash to buy it. It wasn't to happen, and it was another 9 years when I at long last bought my first cornbinder: a 1980 Tahitian Red Metallic Scout Traveller with the Nissan turbo diesel, a close ratio 4-speed, air conditioning, and the pillow top seats in black. I loved that Scout and over the next 17 years I put nearly 300,000 miles on it. In 1998 I bought a Toyota Landcruiser to replace it, and sold that old Scout to my brother Karl in Portland, OR. Karl likes to lead sea kayaking groups around Vancouver Island, and he used that Scout to haul people and a trailer load of kayaks up to British Columbia or the Washington Coast with regularity.
Once or twice a year I would go up to Portland for a visit, and invariably I would drop by Karl's place of employment, Oregon Mountain Community (OMC). Now it just happens that OMC is two lots down from a place that lovers of cornbinders should feel obligated to know about and speak of in quiet respect, namely Bisio Motors. Ernie Bisio was a fabled persona, known far and wide by the Internationalisti of the Northwest. Ernie was only too glad to maintain Karl's old Scout, and like legions of other customers, Karl tended to think of Ernie as a true character and a great friend. Ernie liked that Scout too, because he owned one that was the same color and nearly identical in equipment. Ernie lives on in the hearts and minds of people who knew and remember him.
Self-syled as the last International dealer, Bisio's lot featured a host of old pickups, Scouts, and Travelalls, long after chain link went up all around and Bisio's operations closed. I could not help coming out of OMC, walking down the street, and peering through the fence at all the wonderful yet forlorn cornbinders sitting there, quietly gathering a patina of dust, their presence recalling a time when Bisio Motors was humming with activity. One day, I think it was the spring of 2007, I dropped by to peer through the fence at this marvelous museum, and there sat a 1974 200 pickup with a camper shell on it. Unlike everything else on the lot, this truck was perfectly clean and sparkling. It looked new, as though it had just been delivered from the factory. That truck brought back my unfulfilled longing for that 1971 1110 that never entered my life, and I asked Karl to locate Ernie so I might inquire about it. Karl had no success, he thought perhaps Ernie had fallen ill, and I let that truck fall from my mind.
Bisio Motors
In 2008 I returned to Portland, and there was that truck, still sitting there on the Bisio lot. It drove me crazy, I was wild to find out who owned it and whether it was available, and once again, I had no success. In 2010, my good friend Mat Shelton, in British Columbia, let me know there was a truck for sale in Portland that matched the description of that pickup on Bisio's lot, which by that year was empty of anything with wheels.
I inquired and learned that the prior owner, thought to be the original owner (but I have not verified this), had passed away a couple of years earlier. This old guy had bought the truck when he retired, and must have used it to go fishing a couple of times a year for the next 30 some odd years, keeping it in the garage the rest of the time....and it somehow ended up in the hands of yet another one of Ernie Bisio's friends, who, surprise, also had possession of Ernie's Tahitian Red Scout. Was this the same truck I had seen for the first time, two years before? I cannot know for sure, but when Karl saw it, he was sure it was. It fits the image in my mind, right down to the camper shell.
The origin of the truck is a mystery. It is a Canadian model with the Canadian Safety sticker, yet the line setting ticket says it was delivered to Tigard, OR, in the Portland region, and the IH factory that produced it is not on the label. The Gary-Worth Chrysler/Plymouth of Gladstone, OR, dealer decal on the back of the truck does not make it any clearer as to whether they sold the truck new or used. The Ivy Green/Yuma Yellow paint scheme has worn a little thin in a few spots but has few blemishes and with the dimpleless body it takes a stunning shine with a coat of wax. The inside of the bed looks like it may have hauled two loads of sand in its life, with numerous and random fine scratches in a finish that looks like it could have been new last year, no doubt protected all these years by the period-perfect green shell that covers it. The black interior is flawless, a true time warp to the time it must have sat in a showroom, no feature including carpeting and headliner that might reveal its age. It seems like no one ever actually sat in it. The factory AM radio works well, as do all gauges, and the factory air, long converted to R134a but still using the original compressor, only required a modest recharge to blow cold. After replacing the starter motor, the IH 392 4V starts every time with a quick flick of the ignition switch, and the factory dual exhausts settle into a beautiful and resonant mid-range bass that only these old V-8s seem to produce.
Putting the 727 Torqueflight into gear produces a gentle sense of torque against the drivetrain with no sensation of slop, and the rig accelerates from a stop without hesitation, a smooth delivery of power leading to perfect upshifts, and flawless downshifts upon demand. A quick start on a nearby gravel road reveals the locking Spicer 60 with 3.73 gears still bites responsively, and the big disc/drum power brakes stop the truck quickly, undramatically and with perfect balance. The 7000 lb GVW produces a ride that is only slightly harsher than on my '74 200 with an 8200lb GVW, simply because the lower GVW has a thick single stage stack of leafs, while the heavier capacity truck has fewer leaves in the first stage of a two-stage stack. The front end on the 7000 lb GVW truck, however, is noticeably more compliant.
My daughters scrapped over who got to drive this beauty for the first few weeks after I brought it to its new home in Claremont, CA, until I announced it was going in the garage and only coming out for an occasional party, such as the IH meet in Chilliwack, BC, coming up in August, 2011, where it will be on display. It seems that cruising in a big old IH pickup is cool among young people. I even admit my wife and I dressed up one night to take it out on the town, and it got lots of attention at a local fancy restaurant. Surface rust along the frame rails is little more than a powder, although my buddy Rod MacDonnell of ScoutPluss!! in Hope, B.C., inspected it carefully and discovered two dime-sized spots of emerging body rust in predictable locations, one at the cowl seam in front of the lower right corner of the windshield, and one on a cab seam, both easily arrested. There may be a better survivor among 74 IH's and if there is, I sure would love to see it! There will be no restoration for this rig....preserving it as is will make for far more conversation.
This is an honest, unmolested, 67,000 original mile representation of a great heritage.
Eric
Previous month's Truck owned by Dave Weir:
Dave's Barn Find (as his dad found it) From International with wood deck.
Original Gold Paint
Black Velvet Paint
Custom Wood Deck
Custom Interior
Overhead Console
IHorse Power! Notice Train Air Horns!
Velvet Travelette
THE STORY:
This 1968 international 1200c was made in the USA, and was ordered by leamington International Truck Sales in Leamington Ontario, Canada.
It was sold to the township of Burks Falls of Ontario in 1968 and was used there for a number of years.
An employee of the township whom drove the truck for the roads department ended up in the end, driving it home to his house and stored it in a barn for 28 years and never drove it.
My folks have a custom built home in Hawkestone Ontario, Canada.
The home is covered in "barn board" and my father was looking for old barns, for beams and board in order to complete the exteroir of his home and my sisters northern ontario cabin retreat that was in need of some barn board as well.
My sister had noticed an ad in the paper from the Huntsville Ontario area, and the following weekend headed north to a garage sale that was selling "barn Boards". When they arrived they met a genttleman in his early 90's that was showing the barn board for sale that was stored in an other large barn.
In the corner of the barn standing alone and soilid as the day was parked there was this old truck.
Father had ask "what are you doing with the old truck, taking it with you?"
The old man replied: "Hell no!, you wanna buy it?"
Father replied "what do ya want for it?"
The old man replied "will ya give me ah hundred bucks?"
Father replied "sold"
The next week, back with a gas can, oil, hose and a battery.....she started up and was driven about 75 miles back to its new home in Hawkestone Ontario. Dad parked it in a vented tent for about 6 years with fans running moving the air around to avoid any time to sit and rot while he worked to complete his Dodge Little Red Express truck.
A few years went by, it was looked at and started up a few times, but sad to say he never got to it, he passed away, he was to busy anyway, playing with wood and his restored Dodge truck.
My mother then said to me: "Dave why don't you take that truck up north, and do whatever you want with it, it will just go to nothing sooner or later and I wont need it."
I then had it towed 370km to my place and started working on it asap....even though I was thinking "what and the hell do I do with this now"?
It has only 51,000 original miles, engine, and tranny, I fully customized the interior with a centre console and overhead, using the oak from the original stake bed. New front tires for the old split rims, air shocks, and lots of stuff, such as dual exhaust, new oak bed, sound proofing material, custom door skins, train horn, new heating system, and the list goes on!
Like my girl said "that ......n truck, is an obsession, not a hobby"
In November 2010, was her first road test and I drove it 370km back to show mom, and back home again...740km in all.....60mph and not an issue to be found, other than being found everywhere I went and they all ask "What Is That".......And my reply is "This is my other girl that doesn't talk back"
I have to thank all that help me out in the past 2 years, may it have been hands-on or in knowledge.
Going in I did not know much, or even better, anything, about International trucks. Coming out, you'd think you went to hell and back, and ya know everything about your truck and that's it.
Don't get me wrong, hell, is really is not that bad!
It sure feels nice to be back, and finally sitting in the drivers seat!
Enclosing,
For the gift of talent and the bank of knowledge that you gave me over the years, that has allowed me to show others your toy that you never got to finish with your own talent and shit, we had to use mine cause you were not around in reality but you were there in spirit a few times, it shows! Its me and you!
Thanks Dad!
Dave.
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Original Gold Paint;)
Black Velvet Paint;)
Custom Wood Deck;)
Custom Interior;)
Overhead Console;)
IHorse Power! Notice Train Air Horns!;)
Velvet Travelette