On a recent drive through the redwoods of Northern California, after passing the Drive-Thru Tree and the One Log Cabin, I slowed down to check out the World Famous Tree House. But something closer to the side of the highway caught my eye.
As I thought for a split second whether I should pull over, having passed by quite a few inviting CC Outtake opportunities over the last few days, my wife made up my mind by saying, “Hey, do you want another truck?”. And when I slowed down, I realized there was far more to see than just the 1930-ish flatbed.
A large collection of International Harvester trucks, all with For Sale signs. Plus a Dodge. And a small utility vehicle of some kind. But first, the star of the show – and the World Famous Tree House. Believe it or Not!
The bold hood badge confirmed it was also an International, and the For Sale sign gave the date as 1931, and suggested that the price was 17500, or perhaps $7500, as the writing was just squiggly enough that the numeral 1 could have been a $ sign. A peek inside showed it to be clean and serviceable, but extremely cramped; this is one truck that could have used a wider cab, forget about extended or crew cab.
I wasn’t sure if I had seen the three diamond logo before. The one on the Forest Service green truck looked more familiar, though I thought it was missing the “I”. Turns out it isn’t an I-H, it’s a Dodge. I wonder if this was an inspiration for Jeep’s “Trail Rated” badging?
Quite a few generations on display, here, though the rest were quite a bit newer than the black ’31. I’ll let the I-H experts here fill in the details of model names/numbers and years.
The Tree House was open, “Enter Through the Gift Shop” then $2 admission to go inside the tree, but the cafe in the background looked about as working as this pickup. Behind the cafe was a good collection of more modern CC’s, none of them I-H, from the 1970’s and ’80’s, but I didn’t feel it was OK to go back there.
I had to look it up, but these “Dualmatic” hubs locked and unlocked by unfolding and turning each of the two blades, rather than with a simple twist like a Warn hub. There was another similar design known as Cutlass hubs, due to the blades. These radials were the most modern tires on any of the trucks.
The utility vehicle was a ’58 Cushman, “Runs”, and was probably the bargain of the lot at $950. The cab looked more spacious than the ’31’s.
How could you tell which position the Dualmatic hubs were in? For that matter, was there any way to ensure they weren’t left in the half-in/half-out position (which I’d assume would unduly strain the axle)? (Edit – I see from other pictures on a GIS that each “cutlass” had FREE and LOCK stamped into the side that faced out in that position)
I’d assume it was an attempt to design around Warn’s patents and once they expired this design faded away, although the company (merged with Bestop, a maker of replacement Jeep tops) survived at least into the early ’80s.
The DualMatic hubs were not know as Cutlass Hubs, I have a set of Cutlass hubs in my collection of early locking hubs and they look like this. http://jeepwillysworld.com/blog/2015/01/22/1968-cutlass-locking-hubs-brochure/.
The DualMatic hubs are interesting in that how they drive is through the pieces those levers turn. They are essentially a semi-circle, in the unlocked position the missing portion of the circle faces inside so the portion attached to the axle splines can turn. When you spin it 180 degrees the solid portion fits in a semi-circle in the center portion which then locks them together.
There is a reason that the Warn design endured as they were much easier to operate and once they switched to a spring loaded engagement you didn’t have to get things all lined up to engage.
That forest service green truck with the Job-Rated badge is not an IH, it is a Dodge. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&channel=cus&q=dodge+job+rated not sure what the H is about but when IH used IH as an emblem or markings it was the “man on the tractor”. And it looks like this https://www.carlogos.org/Car-Logos/International-Harvester-logo.html
The rest of the trucks are 60’s and earlier Internationals.
Oops, now that I look more closely I do see that it’s a Dodge. Ironically, I saw a nice black Dodge pickup of that style elsewhere on the same weekend trip. I didn’t look closely at the green truck when I was there, but I guess the H on the side made me “assume” it was an IH with a missing I. Thanks for the correction! I updated the post.
Thanks also for the elaboration on the Dualmatic hubs. One site I looked at said they were known as Cutlass hubs due to their design, so I assumed (there’s that word again) it was correct. Aside from ease of use, I read that if you only flipped one blade, the torque capacity of the hub was essentially halved, leading to early failures.
Interestingly today I was at the San Antonio Zoo and they had a Willys Pickup with a set of locking hubs I’ve not seen before but that obviously used the DualMatic method of engagement though no built in lever, just a slot for a screwdriver.
Yes you are correct that if you would have significantly reduced torque capacity if you only had one engaged. It would actually be less than half as the the fact that they are opposing they do cancel out some of the forces.
None of the early hubs were easy to use and the DualMatic and ones that use the semi-circle drive pin were by far the worst. The part connected to tha axle shaft had 4 semi-circles and they had to be lined up pretty close to be able to spin those pins. Off a couple of degrees and you may have to turn the first one clockwise or counter clockwise to get it to turn. So yeah you may have to reach under and turn the drive shaft a bit or move the vehicle back and forth.
The dog clutch styles like the early Warn were a little better because they had tapered teeth and a whole lot more positions where it would line up. However they too could be in a place where you are back reaching under and turning the drive shaft or moving it back and forth a bit.
It wasn’t until Warn’s later spring lock design was there a hub that you didn’t have to worry if things were lined up. When you turned the knob you loaded springs to push on the dog clutch. Then when everything lined up it will pop in and engage. You also didn’t have to worry about getting the bind out of the axle to disengage as turning them to unlock again preloaded springs.
I had heard of the ‘Cutlas’ hubs years ago, but just now learned that the spelling differs from that of the Pirate accessory. And of course the mid-sized Oldsmobile.
A cool selection, especially the way that 1931 IH is carrying the tree for the treehouse on its flatbed. 🙂
I have always wondered why those Dodge Job Rated trucks did not sell better than they did, or at least have not been preserved at the levels of some others. It seems that they are no more common today than IH and Studebaker.
And ooooh, I wish you had given us some good shots of that white Travelall. I think that was my favorite IH truck line through the years and generations.
Sorry I missed the Travelall. They seem common enough that it didn’t really catch my eye. But come on out to California and check it out for yourself. Here’s more info on the Tree House, excuse me, “World Famous Tree House Believe it of Not!” : https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g32882-d1857170-Reviews-World_Famous_Tree_House-Piercy_Mendocino_County_California.html
No mention of the trucks in any of the reviews. Maybe they’re a recent addition, in an attempt to get more people to stop.
This is purely anecdotal but the vast majority of trucks from that era were viewed as tools, nothing more, nothing less, they were typically used until they were completely used up and no longer economical to keep running. My grandfather worked for our town’s street department for more than 30 years and they for sure kept their trucks going until total collapse, usually from rust. This was in small town Kentucky and the way that the town dealt with snow was to load the bed of a pickup with rock salt and send a couple of guys out to shovel the salt at the major intersections. It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out what this would do to a truck from the forties or fifties. I don’t know what the actual sales figures for pickup trucks was from this era but I suspect that Ford was first (by a comfortable margin), followed by the Chevrolet/GMC “twins”, with Dodge, IH and Studebaker fighting over the scraps. More Fords and GM trucks were sold so more have survived.
Ford’s truck reign is relatively new, so in a lot of years Chevy was the #1 selling truck, and of course Ford was up there too a good chunk ahead of the next tier of IH, GMC and Dodge who all pulled in a 3rd place finish at one time or another.
I love that last IH pickup. That thing is just fantastic. I’ll take it and the hemi out of the Dodge, please.
I should add the real find here are the lights on the 1200 at the end. They are Per-Lux one of the early aftermarket light suppliers, but also supplier of the lights offered in the IH Neccessories catalog. So something that was almost certainly bought at the dealer when the truck was almost new. The stainless bodies are almost indestructible, unfortunately the louvers are rusty being painted steel.
The hubs are Warn on that one but are, most likely a find too, as they are likely marked IH and would have been available factory installed or in that same Neccesories catalog.
I’m surprised that the Moto-Meter hasn’t been stolen off of the 1931 IH, but then again, most thieves wouldn’t know what they were looking at.