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Scout Motors - Is Nothing Sacred?

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AngliaGT

AngliaGT

Great Pumpkin
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I see where they're going to build a new Scout,as in International Scout.
Unfortunately,it'll be an EV,with an updated design.The company is backed
by VW.
And I'm sure it will be a bargain,like the original was.Scout Motors
 
IH has been dead since 85, and yet the vultures are still picking over the bones. Volkswagen bought Navistar back in 2020, so they have the rights to the name. Anything they build though, regardless of the power plant, won't really be a Scout. They were utilitarian little beasts, and are still widely loved today.
 
This new plant will be 10 miles away from us in what used to be a small town. Talking about hiring 4000 workers and they got over a billion dollars of incentives to locate here. My tax dollars at work.....I have yet to see what the new Scout will look like. An original Scout II has been shown in news clips driving around. Guess I better bring one of my Scout 800's back to life so people around here can see what a real one looks like.
 
Dad had a Scout in the late 70s. Very reliable but it sounded and drove like a school bus. The buses in my area where made by IH at the time so I guess that was normal. No power steering but it had the biggest streering wheel I ever seen.
 
What I don't understand is why any company would think using the "Scout" name is some sort of advantage. This is a brand which hasn't been relevant in the main market in 50 years and was at best a nearly irrelevant player at its prime. Are there really that many people who recall fondly the Scout that they didn't own 50 years ago, probably aren't even old enough to have been around when they were built.

All 12 potential customers who really would like an actual Scout want a rugged simple off road vehicle with all the creature comforts of a WWII jeep - and this new Scout is not going to be anything like that.

Even what is most arguably the most successful reboot - the Mini has made it obvious that people are not looking for a "mini" they have become mid size SUVs...
 
Maybe it's all those wealthy buyers on BringaTrailer that would buy one.
Those buyers will pay stupid money for an original one.
 
70herald said:
What I don't understand is why any company would think using the "Scout" name is some sort of advantage. This is a brand which hasn't been relevant in the main market in 50 years and was at best a nearly irrelevant player at its prime. Are there really that many people who recall fondly the Scout that they didn't own 50 years ago, probably aren't even old enough to have been around when they were built.

All 12 potential customers who really would like an actual Scout want a rugged simple off road vehicle with all the creature comforts of a WWII jeep - and this new Scout is not going to be anything like that.

Even what is most arguably the most successful reboot - the Mini has made it obvious that people are not looking for a "mini" they have become mid size SUVs...
Click to expand...
Our 2007 MINI came with a LSD and sports suspension. There were several nods to the original Mini - the speedometer in the middle of the dash and the switches below that. The tach is in front of the steering wheel; the original Mini didn't have a tach (economy car). Our 2021 MINI is more conventional: speedometer in front of the steering wheel and switches moved to the armrests on the doors. No LSD or sports suspension available. Still have a manual gearbox option. The headlights are much better, the heated seats are nice in the winter and the wife likes the British flag brake lights. Both are 2 door hardtops - no SUV.
 
"This is a brand which hasn't been relevant in the main market in 50 years and was at best a nearly irrelevant player at its prime."

Whoa there buddy. IH was at one time the largest producer of agricultural implements in the world. It was a truly international company with offices around the world, which built dozens of products. Just because the light duty line did not compete with the big three doesn't mean IH was nearly irrelevant during its prime. To this day you can see the remains of IH clearly in Cub Cadet, Case IH, Navistar, and even the Ford Powerstroke, which is based off of an IH engine and produced in a former IH factory.

Okay, my pointless rant about one phrase has now concluded.

I do agree with you that the Scout was a utilitarian SUV that was very adaptable and had a dozen or more options when it came to various implements, but had few creature comforts. This new "Scout" will bare no resemblance to the original.
 
They did make quite a few. Grand dad was a farmer and had a 50s pickup. One of my first full time jobs was in TV repair (another job that is no longer around) We used a IH Travelall. It was a Beast. Similar to a Suburban. And yes, Creature comforts did not exsist.
 
Military pay wasn't much, but I drove an1956 International Travelall from New Jersey to Texas, from Texas to Utah, then to Kansas, and back to Oklahoma. The column shifter would jam on occasion and had to get under the hood to free it up, the step to get into the back was rusted out so I rolled up a blanket and stuffed it in there to keep the cold air out, but it ran great! :p Memories, what would we do without them? :thumbsup2: Oh yeah, there was no power steering and it steered like an old truck! :rolleyes2:
 
If I remember right, The one I drove had a 392ci V-8. 5-6 MPG around town. All the power you would ever want in a truck that size.
Another buddy had one, Had a fire in the wiring. We rewired the burnt part and drove it 3 Hours away the next morning.
 
waltesefalcon said:
"This is a brand which hasn't been relevant in the main market in 50 years and was at best a nearly irrelevant player at its prime."

Whoa there buddy. IH was at one time the largest producer of agricultural implements in the world. It was a truly international company with offices around the world, which built dozens of products. Just because the light duty line did not compete with the big three doesn't mean IH was nearly irrelevant during its prime. To this day you can see the remains of IH clearly in Cub Cadet, Case IH, Navistar, and even the Ford Powerstroke, which is based off of an IH engine and produced in a former IH factory.

Okay, my pointless rant about one phrase has now concluded.

I do agree with you that the Scout was a utilitarian SUV that was very adaptable and had a dozen or more options when it came to various implements, but had few creature comforts. This new "Scout" will bare no resemblance to the original.
Click to expand...

NOW YOU DID IT - You WENT & GOT WALTER ALL RILED UP!!
 
My uncle had a 4th generation Travelall - of course he also had seven children.

One of my dreams is to restomod a third gen travelall with a more civilized interior and more efficient engine. Love love the shape!

1708569324438.png


BTW hijacking the thread a little Mrs JP and I saw an electric hummer a week or so ago - yikes! It is huge

1708569382366.png
 
AngliaGT said:
NOW YOU DID IT - You WENT & GOT WALTER ALL RILED UP!!
Click to expand...
Good thing I live FAAAR away :D

But he proved my point... IH was a big producer of agricultural equipment and 50 years ago there were far more farmers in America - not saying this is good or bad - that is just the way it is. So assuming their market is people who remember IH as a big Ag company you have a audience of 60+ year old ex farmers. A business plan I struggle to understand. Nothing against IH / Scout I just don't understand how using the Scout name will give them any sort of advantage in sales - and I like the original Scout.
 
AngliaGT said:
NOW YOU DID IT - You WENT & GOT WALTER ALL RILED UP!!
Click to expand...
:ROFLMAO: Oh yeah, that's a scary thing to do.

I quite literally grew up in the back of a 66 Travelall. My dad bought it used when I was three and it stayed in the family for the next twenty years. I visited nearly every state in the lower forty-eight in it, learned how to drive in it, and wound up driving it myself for the last couple of years of its life. In the mid aughts I wound up driving it to the junk yard after it developed a really bad crack in the body through the floor and rear rockers. I guess that after the many hundreds of thousands of miles the body flex on such a long chassis created it.

I'm likely the target demographic for this new "Scout." I'm not the 60 somethings that bought the last generation of IH products new and used them on the farm, I'm the 40 something that grew up around these old beasts, and very fondly remembers them. Heck, I have two IHs in the fleet currently, a 46 and a 52.

What this new company is missing is that the thing those of us who have a passion for Binders love how rugged and simple they are. A working vehicle with no pretentions to be something else.

When my daughter turns sixteen she gets my little YJ Jeep. And at that time I'll start looking for a replacement for it. I'll probably wind up with a flat fendered Jeep or a Scout 80 with the 152 Comanche engine. I will not be looking at any new, fancy shmancy thing that you see rolling off of any assembly line today.
 
NutmegCT said:
Walter - replace the YJ? Here's the car of your dreams!

View attachment 96051

altho' my spies tell me to keep it out of the rain ...
Click to expand...

I saw one of these for the 1st time running down the highway on my way to work last week. Just as strange looking in person as it is in photos. It was causing a minor traffic slowdown just because people were slowing down to get a longer look at the thing. Not my cup of tea...
 
A display at the Florida State Fair last week. Fairly sure it is an IH unit.
SS5_4775Gsc.JPG
 
Actually, it's a Farmall by McCormick Deering, but Internationals looked almost the same. My uncle had one like this.(y)
Farmall McCormic Deering.jpg
 
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