Welcome to Part 2 of the series called “Too Big Even For America”, where we explore cars that went out of their way to demonstrate that bigger is not always better.
I’ve read all of the comments you’ve left on the previous installment of the series and…I agree with some of them. The Excursion was not by any means a *bad* car. Far from it, actually, and you could do a lot worse if you needed a heavy duty Warship. It didn’t end up as a complete and absurd corporate sellout merely designed to generate some buzz around celebrities and tickle the sensitivities of people that wanted the biggest of something for absolutely no other reason that to say that they own the biggest.
Oh Hello…
We really have to start at the beginning, the beginning being 1979 when Archie McCardell became CEO of International Harvester in the midst of diminishing profits and increased competition. He was determined to turn the company’s fortunes around and set to work on a plan that would reduce costs and increase revenues as quickly as possible. The plan called for reduced production expenses and eliminating non-profitable model lines, cost cutting and similar measures.
The pickup-light truck line went first, in 1975. IH had been a pioneer in 4×4 double cab pickups, like this 1962 C-120 Travelette, so the CXT wasn’t exactly breaking new ground new in that particular regard.
Then in 1979, the Scout, IH’s only remaining entry in the consumer SUV market, was killed off. We may regret it now but when you look at IH’s situation at the time, the light vehicle division must’ve look like a leech that was sucking some of the meager resources that Mr. McCardell had to work with: selling only one model that dated back to 1971, and that was just an update of the original Scout going back to 1963.
We also can’t argue with the initial results of his plan, his cost cutting and sales push resulted in much increased sales and revenue. Unfortunately in doing so he stepped on the toes of the UAW by wanting some rule changes. They called upon a strike and killed whatever boost he had going on for the company. The Recession of the early 1980’s delivered another punch in IH’s proverbial gut. In 1984 it was all over, and Tenneco bought all the assets to merge them with their J.I case.
By 2004 however, all of that was ancient history. And Navistar International was doing very well for itself. They made their own chassis and bodies and had a full line of commercial and school buses. They had announced their new venture into military vehicles. Really, a new vehicle for the retail consumer seems like a given during the SUV boom. They could make another SUV in the lines of the Tahoe and the Durango. Or they could do the easiest step-down from their established market and make a light/medium duty pickup truck to compete with the Silverado, Ram and the F-Series. A neo 100-series if you will. Instead, they decided to take their international 7300, make it a double cab, refine it a bit and sell it to the consumer.
I would have loved to be in the meeting where it was decided that this was a good idea. “Yes, people would absolutely love to drive this product as a grocery getter or to use on their ranches or to cover the vast expanses of farmland that this great nation has” I don’t say “this planet” because clearly not a single iota of thought was given to any other market but the American one. It’s two feet longer than an Excursion even in its shortest configuration. It’s 16 inches longer and at least 19 taller. Crucially, it weighed anything from three to seven thousand pounds more than the Excursion. Remember how much I beat on the poor thing over its weight problem? Only to turn around and find a car that’s as heavier as it and a Suburban combined. In fact the only reason it’s not heavier is probably because you couldn’t drive it without a specialist license.
The writing on the window was standard. Stay classy International.
Actually, it has a lot of a lot of things in common with the Super-Duty (and therefore, the Excursion), The bed comes from an F-350 pickup (and looks ridiculously tiny in proportion to everything else) and one of the engine options is the same 6.0-liter diesel that Ford was branding as a Power Stroke at the time. The other option is the venerable DT466 (7.6-liter) straight six. Produced and improved since the early merger days of 1984 it produced 220hp and presumably about two and a half million torques. This means that you could tow pretty much whatever you fancied with it.
So who ended up buying them? Well, some celebrities, most notably Ashton Kutcher. And apparently the recently ousted president of Ukraine. This was not a cheap vehicle; $93,000 without any options, according to Truck Trend. If you wanted to use your CXT as a dump truck (For those trips to the recycling center every time you collect about three tons of aluminum? What? It doesn’t happen to you?), that was an additional four grand. I couldn’t find any sales numbers on it but considering they retired it due to low sales in 2008, I’m guessing they weren’t brilliant and everything that was happening in the economy at around that time certainly didn’t help.
The CXT Failed for being literally too big, but there’s times where only being perceived as big can cause problems, as our next example will demonstrate.
Wow, thanks for spurring my memory. I’d completely forgotten about these. It seems gauche now, but I remember drooling over these in middle school when it Popular Mechanics wrote it up, circa 2002
Good article and I have never seen one of these in the flesh. The Ford bed ruins the look and makes this pickup truck look just ridiculous especially how the bottom edges do not match up. I think the SUV version of something like these is better looking, but still silly. There sure are different vibes I am getting from this decade so far compared to the last decade.
Call me crazy, but I rather have a customized school bus if I had to own something this big. Maybe one with a pickup bed though weight over the driving wheels is nice.
http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/archive/index.php?t-75620-p-39.html
I’ll add the obligatory “They were sold in Canada too” comment…
The owner of a local strip club here drives one of these with terrible flame decals on the sides. He traded in his Hummer H1 for one of these. Go figure.
They must’ve been sold in Canada too, because someone not too far from me owns one. I see it driving occasionally. I believe the person that owns it “graduated” from a regular pickup that was jacked-up and had hub adapters to run transport truck wheels.
I’ve seen a couple in real life. The most recent one was three or so years ago at Home Depot. The truck was parked taking up four spots because really, how else could you park it. No, they weren’t towing anything. It was driven by the sort of man who might otherwise drive his Unimog or “deuce and a half” to the bar on Saturday afternoon just because it’s cool.
The crucial difference being that a Unimog or Deuce-and-1/2 would in fact be cool. This? I told you to lay off the steroids, F-350!
I vaguely recall the owner of the local bodyshop down the street from my parents house having one parked out front in my high school years. The real irony given the massive obnoxious nature of them is that they’re entirely forgettable. They look (and are) just the same exact truck you see every day doing work on power lines and construction. Doesn’t even matter when they’re painted in lurid colors like the featured screaming yellow model, just makes it look like an old Ryder paintjob.
Plus the obvious origins of the bed(even the most car oblivious individual could tell what it was sourced from) makes them look like a custom job from an eccentric wealthy individual, which at least would give these some character, but I know when I found out these were actual production trucks they just seemed comical in a sad way.
I’ve been inside one of these–they had two on display at a concours I attended back in 2005 or ’06. The passenger cabin is, predictably, huge, and the display model had leather, a very involved entertainment system, I want to say wood trim, the works. It kind of felt like it should be the forward section of a very fancy RV. Still, I cannot fathom why someone would actually want to drive something that big as daily transportation. The size was simply absurd. Maybe if you *really* wanted to poke environmentalists in the eye, but then I’d also think you’d be a huge target for potential vandals.
I’ve seen something similar involving a Ford medium-duty cab with an SD pickup bed. I wonder if that was a factory response to the CXT, or just a custom job?
http://www.f650pickups.com/black-knight-XUV.html
I’m pretty sure you can’t get an F-550 or upwards with a bed from the factory but I may be wrong. However needless to say a Super Duty bed will blend perfectly with the cab on a 750, and as far as obnoxious useless medium duty daily drivers go this would actually be my preferable choice.
You know these never appealed to me, but reading responses to it have made me realize that it could actually be quite fun to own one just to watch the reactions it gets out of people.
I wouldn’t drive one myself, but I say it’s no more ridiculous-looking than all of these AWD SUVs driving around on 35-series tires . . . that all seem to need to slow down to 0.3mph just to go over the tiniest parking lot speed bump.
One of my fantasy statement vehicles: A 911 on a 4×4 Bronco frame jacked up with 36″ mudders underneath it.
And I’d paint this on the sides: “This makes as much sense as your 4×4 SUV does with race-car tires on it.”
Can’t wait to see the “Bad Boy Muscle Truck” make it here. Compared, the CXT sold like hotcakes. Basic premise from the Hummer H1 applies: Consumers want a tricked out, pimped military vehicle, right? I liked the LMTVs I drove in the Army, but no way in hell would I want a vehicle called a “Bad Boy Muscle Truck”. Sounds a little…well, closeted.
Is that the offspring of a Steyr 12M18 ?
To compete with Hummer and the pickup versions of the Ford F450/550/650/750?
I saw these at launch at the big truck show in Louisville KY back in 2004.
I live in the boondocks on a five acre tract. This would be very useful to me about 3-4 times a year. That’s the problem.
It’s a lot easier problem to solve with multiple trailers and one mid-duty SUV.
I sure don’t need this and neither does anyone I personally know.
I have always thought the older IH travelettes looked awkward, like a commercial truck platform with a pseudo-civilian body cobbled on it…but this is just ridiculous. I wasnt aware these massive trucks were sold to the general public but who could have possible wanted one?
Whenever I see these (not often but there are some out in my neck of the woods), I get flashbacks of driving several Penske 26footers across half the US when we moved ourselves out here and I am astounded that someone actually wants to drive something similar as their regular ride without being paid to do so.
I remember seeing one in Wall Mart parking lot, in Atlanta Metro Area… faaaar away from the main entrance of the building.
Until I read this article I always thought that thing was a job done by some rich and crazy red neck. Never crossed my mind it had been built by International.
I have seen one or two of these locally for some time now, and keep threatening to pull over and get pictures, but I just can’t work up the enthusiasm. They serve as rolling billboards for a locally produced brand of “Ultra Premium” Vodka. Which is something else I don’t get – Vodka is the only spirit that you pay more for so that you don’t taste it.
“Rolling billboard” was probably exactly what most of these that did sell were bought for.
They should come up with a premium broccoli. I’d happily pay more to not taste it.
Didn’t Jay Leno take one of these for a test drive? I seem to recall him pulling up at a stop light and asking the guy in the car beside “So, do ya think I have sexual problems?”
I gotta say though, I’m liking that C-120 Travelette. The name is ironic because there’s not much “ette” about it. Think Chevette, etiquette, Smurfette
I drove a box van for years. It was crude… at best. The only use for this I could see would be to tow a large, large camper trailer, but I doubt that is a large demographic. Out here, the tourists who have a setup like this usually went for the Freightliner Custom Chassis, anyways.
I had almost forgotten about these. I learned to drive for my “Class A” on an International/Navistar truck and can’t imagine anyone in their right mind wanting a “civilian version” as personal transportation. If nothing else I remember the minor controls on these were so UN-car like as to be confusing if this wasn’t the main vehicle in your driveway.
Ashton forgot to order up the optional bench seat! His lady was sitting pretty far away in that photo!
Love the writeup on this obscure behemoth. I believe I actually saw one parked outside of my apartment complex recently and just assumed it to be some crazy custom job. It may be unwieldy, but I doubt traffic jams would be an issue anymore.
I don’t know… isn’t it possible that they just developed these as a PR strategy to sell their commercial vehicles? They appeared several times on TV, magazines, all for free…
The funny thing is that there are still companies doing conversions similar to these.
Most of the ones I’ve seen have had a 5th wheel platform instead of a pickup bed. More often than not they’re Freightliners and they’re pulling a large horse trailer. They still have the luxury interior with power everything similar to the CXT.
These do actually make decent tow vehicles with a 20 ton capacity. I have seen them used as such.
It’s important to note that the CXT was the “Commercial Extreme Truck”.
They also sold the RXT, “Recreational Extreme Truck”, which was a foot lower and targeted to hauling horses and boats.
Then there was the MXT “Military/Most Extreme Truck”, which was mainly intended for off-road use and had 4 wheels rather than 6. It actually looks pretty neat, although I’m not sure what trails it would ever fit on.
In my mind, that MXT looks much better. The bed is at least styled for the truck, and really pulls the whole package together. The Super Duty bed looks like something that was sawzalled to fit after some drinks.
The woman looks Photoshopped in to me (Her arms look like they have an extra bend, and they cut off right at the tire), but that still has to be one large truck!
I looked again, she’s real I think. That’s her wrist bending near the tire as her hand is on it, and the other arm is behind the tire. It’s that big.
Wow! If that’s true, I wonder how they got the truck there! That has to be awfully massive for an offroad vehicle!
Yeah, it looks cool, but I don’t know where you’d use it. Won’t be following the Jeeps, that’s for sure.
The perspective is a bit deceiving as she’s standing downhill a bit and the front suspension is extended down. Still massive, but maybe not quite as much as it appears.
There were pics of A. Kutcher all over magazines and celeb site driving this I-H truck. Seems like they were trying to promote it as the ‘next big thing’ to drive to the nightclubs in LA.
I bet that the truck was ‘loaned’ to Kutcher, like they do for jewelry at Red Carpets to try to sell som.
Having Ashton Kutcher drive one does not alleviate the impression that this is a vehicle driven by douchebags.
(Excepting the rare few who have need of its capabilities)
I want to say that the chassis under this thing is designed more for payloads, rather than towing. That’s a weakness on its part; why get something this huge when a one ton dually tows more, and is physically smaller.
From what I can find the CXT is rated to tow 40,000 pounds. Other versions of the XT are rated lower, but no 1-ton dually comes close to this one.
Hmm… I might be thinking GM’s Kodiak.
I recall these being introduced, and then never really heard about them again. The picture with Kutcher makes it look pretty uncomfortable to drive – like driving with a trailer before attaching a trailer. Not something you’d want to attempt a Burger King drive thru with.
Unlike the Excursion, this vehicle crosses the line where you would not want to use it except for specific towing or commercial concerns. Even though Navistar did promote its as a consumer vehicle of sorts, it appers that few beyond Kutcher were dumb enough to buy in.
Not sure how I missed the news on these back in the 00s but did and really enjoyed reading about them, thanks Gerardo. I bet one in mint condition would be worth a pretty penny today.
Wasn’t there one of these in the basement of the first car museum during the CC meetup in Auburn last fall? I remember some monstrosity sitting among some other, regular IH’s.
It seems Motor Trend or Car & Driver had an article on one of these. They said the payload rating exceeded what the Ford bed on the chassis was physically capable of withstanding. This would be a pretty good tow rig, but beyond that it’s like going fishing with dynamite.
Whoever owns these better plan on an engine overhaul anywhere between 60,000 and 90,000 miles. During my days of being a fleet manager, these DT 466 engines would pop an o-ring around a cylinder liner and flood the crankcase with coolant. It would do it with no warning. I’ve been hesitant with International ever since even though they realized the problem and went to extreme lengths to help correct it.
This doesn’t appear to be a CXT, but may be what you remember. On the other hand, they may have one that I didn’t film.
That’s what people really wanted!
Dan, I think that may be it…I didn’t look at it that closely!
Its only a four wheel truck not very big at all, On one job I had we used our Hino water tanker as a runabout in town with chinese 6 wheeler configuration like a bus it turned on a dime and actually fitted in supermarket parking slaces width wise length wise not so much, I’d have one of these CXTs make mine a flat deck dropsider with tipping hoist thanks all alloy deck to keep the tare down
I remember being passed by one of these towing a huge trailer heading north to go camping. It was just flying past everyone else, and screamed “rich guy”.
Obviously, these were built with absolutely no practical purpose in mind. If one had 100G burning a hole in their pocket, who are we to say they shouldn’t be allowed to have it. Note the yellow hue; any worse than the stereotypical yellow Corvette? BTW, here’s the retro version. Sometimes its just fun to mess with something out the ordinary, you know, like a hobby? Overall investment an order magnitude less than the CXT.
The infamous dt 466, a good engine that could have been a great engine if it had only been installed in farm tractors which is where it belongs. If you’ve ever driven one or been stuck behind one you know what I mean.
It actually was installed in a few of IH’s larger tractors (and maybe a combine or two) in the last years before the ag division was sold off to Tenneco/Case. I know at least one of the “Anteater” (2+2) models had it.
They were used up until the merger. I know that some of the non-anteater IH tractors had the 466. When they merged with Tenneco to become Case IH (Actually “Case International”) back then, a lot of the new tractors received Cummins engines.
It was not a merger, it was an outright sale of the IH ag division.
The 466 was used on many IH tractors since the late 70’s. And yes, it was not a merger but an acquisition by Tenneco. Tenneco was going to close the tractor engineering facility in Burr Ridge Illinois but at the last minute kept it. Case already had the new joint venture engine with Cummins called CDC, so the new Magnum CaseIH tractors had CDC engines mated to IH rear ends and transmissions.
The truck facilities in Indiana and Ohio and the engine manufacturing facility in Melrose Park IL were the sole remaining assets of IH left, but because Tenneco bought the International name IH had no choice but to rename itself Navistar. There was a 10:1 reverse stock split where 10 shares of IH stock was given and 1 share of Navistar returned.
yes i have one share of Navistar as proof. And Archie McCardell only precipitated a decline that started in the fifties. IH kept paying out dividends and propping up it’s Wisconsin Steel division while John Deere and Caterpillar where investing in facilities and product. Read the book “A Corporate Tragedy” for the whole story.
The disposition of the names were that the new Case IH was able to use the man on the tractor logo and IH and International Harvester on AG equipment. Navistar retained use of the name International for trucks and to use the IH, International Harvester, and the man on the tractor logo for historic purposes. They did change the names on the trucks to Navistar and introduced the Diamond Road logo for a very short time but actually replaced the badges on those trucks with Navistar badges with ones that read International and carried the new Diamond Road logo. Yes the parent company is called Navistar but the truck and engine division is ITEC or International Truck and Engine Corp.
“Too fast for the farm, too slow for the Road”.
late to the party here, but back in the 1990s, there was a site I remember in that “dawn of the internet” that was mocking the trend to huge SUVs. well before FUH2 and the rest. that page is gone, but someone thoughtfully saved the content in PDF. and it is startling how close this absurd creation (at the time) matches reality now. attached is the PDF. I cant get the download site to link directly. If the attachment wont show up with this posting, please, please search for search for futuresuv.ps. and choose the MIT site that shows up in the results. waay too funny now.
This is the link: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCYQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mit.edu%2Fafs.new%2Fnet%2Fuser%2Fnocuser%2Ffuturesuv.ps&ei=DJJmVajHEoXJogTdtIPQBQ&usg=AFQjCNG1wA0vuUeZGfFHRPjcjYBNMC10Jg&bvm=bv.93990622,d.cGU
Now, that is funny! I am going to hold out for the Peterbilt, though, beacause manliness….
Wow, this is pretty campy! It looks like something from the Saturday morning cartoons.
Alright, you’ve got me, finally a passenger vehicle I think is too big. I’d completely forgotten the handful of these I’d seen. Or perhaps just blocked them out. This is sort of like the weird circular nature of the political spectrum where Ron Paul and Dennis Kuchinich agree with each other but don’t agree with anyone between them on the spectrum. I would place this and the Smart car in that same type of light, from my perspective.
I’ve seen these used for work a couple times – there is a local boat repair and moving company that has a yellow one I’ve seen around a few times, and last year I was at an auction for an electrical contractor that went bankrupt, and one of the buyers was loading his purchases into a trailer that was being towed by one of these.
No Vehicle that is built and designed as a class 5-8 Truck is going to be suitable as a daily driver.
IIRC Mercedes flirted with offering the Unimog to the US market around this time as well.
Even at the peak of SUV mania in the late 90s early aughts this was a bridge too far. The ubiquity of this truck in Towing, P&D and other vocational applications undermines the whole SUV fantasy. Its hard to daydream about what a cool uber-dude you are when the tow truck and u-haul in the next lane has the same cab.
I’ve spent some time driving the related 8600/TransStar daycab semi tractor and its not a bad truck. Not something I’d buy with my own $ if I were an O/O, but as a company driver I had no complaints.
Until the whole MaxxForce fiasco International held the majority of the medium weight truck market.
Today you can still get a 1.5 ton equivalent TerraStar in 2wd & 4wd, but the only engine is the awful MaxxFarce(aka the 6.4 Powerstroke).
it was a snow plow truck they sent to a customizer. they never built them on the line. and they are still building them every day. No more DT engine it now takes a cummins.