If daydreaming were currency, I’d be rich. In my vernacular, it’s “spacing out,” and my lovely bride is forced almost daily to reel me in with a quick utterance: “Snap out of it.” Some, if not most, of my spacing out time involves buying cars – the only limit to my idle reveries is the number of 1950s-1970s cars available, and there’s something out there to fit almost every need, including this 1966 International Travelall.
My real life purchases are almost exclusively impractical and space-inefficient hardtops and convertibles, but a capable and spacious tow vehicle has always rumbled around in my head space for the following reason: Like many nature-loving novices, my wife and I hate camping in a tent in the rain. I don’t want to store a big RV for a couple of weekends of use a year, and I don’t want an inefficient daily driver just so I can occasionally tow something. Therefore, I’ve been dreaming lately of post-retirement classics that could also tow a pop-up camper so my sweetie and I can get back to sitting around the campfires of America. I may have just found it.
Mrs. Aaron65 and I are not yet of retirement age, but my recent thoughts have turned to the ubiquitous Suburban. In a perfect world, I’d find a ’74 GMC, simply because I like the grille design. Unfortunately, America currently has Squarebody Fever, which means that even diecast toys resembling said trucks immediately vanish from department store pegs for inflated prices. The adult world is no better; therefore, my finding a slightly crusty and usable Suburban for a reasonable price is beginning to be a daydream in itself, which brings us to our featured Travelall.
We recently took the three-hour drive down to Auburn, Indiana, to visit the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum and NATMUS, which features a large collection of International Harvester products in the basement of its campus. I always enjoy ogling Cord 810 Westchesters and Auburn Boattail Speedsters at the A-C-D, so I felt almost guilty calling this Travelall my “best in show” that day. It’s not perfect, but it’s not rusted into the ground. It has a 304 V8, so it will tow a light load. It’s not too big, so it would fit in the garage. It’s perfect for hauling a pop-up camper. Sadly, being a museum car, it’s not for sale (and I hope it never will be…NATMUS is a fun place to visit – give it a try if you’re in the Midwest).
I don’t think the Travelall gets the recognition it deserves as a forerunner in its field. One could argue that the Suburban created the big family wagon genre, but it didn’t get four doors until the 1973 models were introduced. The Willys Station Wagon came out earlier, but it was much smaller than the Travelall and most of the ones that I’ve seen are two-door models.
As I mentioned above, the museum’s 1966 Travelall would be a perfect fit in my garage, given the limited amount of information I could find in my personal library and on the internet. Overall length comes in at just above or just below 200 inches, depending on the wheelbase. My ’53 Buick and ’63 T-Bird are both a tight squeeze at 205 inches long, so the Travelall should fit surprisingly well.
A fun quirk about the Travelall is its fuel filler location on the passenger front fender, as the tank is located inside the passenger side rocker panel. My Corvair has “fender fueling,” so it wouldn’t take long to accustom myself to stopping short at the pump.
The unkempt interior of the museum car made my lovely bride grimace, but I can do a little sleuthing about the truck nevertheless. The eight spark plugs on the tunnel aren’t a promising sign, but the tacked-on air conditioning (factory or otherwise) would be refreshing on a hot summer day. This Travelall appears to have an automatic, based on the indicator on the steering column and the lack of a clutch pedal; if so, it should be the Borg-Warner unit. If the museum placard is correct, this truck has an International 304, which produces 193 horsepower and 272 lb./ft. of torque, plenty of power for towing a small camper. Maintenance shouldn’t be a problem with a rugged, lightly-stressed International V8.
This Travelall has apparently covered 204,000 miles, which is quite a record for anything from the 1960s, so it must be tough.
The Travelall is handsome in a utilitarian way; even the badging has character, as it does on most 1960s American vehicles. What a cool truck. If I decide on a someday International, however, I need not be limited to a 1966 model.
NATMUS has several alternatives in its vast basement, and the Travelall wasn’t discontinued until 1975. This square-rigged, woodgrain model from 1973 (I believe) would make a fine alternative to an earlier model.
This 1973 pickup with an American Motors 401 and a cap on the back would also perform camping duties admirably.
My heart and dollars, however, lie with this humble 1966 model. International stuck with this body design from 1961-1968, so anything in that age range would fit neatly into my daydreams. Now, I simply have to keep my fingers crossed that “Travelall Fever” doesn’t hit America before we’re ready to begin our camping adventures again.
I bought a well worn (289k miles) but completely rust free ’06 Suburban 1500 (LS, 4WD, 5.3) last summer with this same “universal family camping/towing rig” in mind. It replaced a very well kept 1996 4Runner Limited that had previously filled that role. The 4Runner was invincible offroad (which 99.5% of the time was irrelevant) but fell short as a highway mile eater and towing. Haven’t tried sleeping inside of the big Chevy yet, but there is certainly plenty of room for it by the look of things. The Chevy has taken some effort to sort out, mostly smaller neglected maintenance type of jobs, I’ve been very pleased overall. Fuel economy has been entirely palatable.
I’ve slept in the back of our old ’98 Tahoe when we moved halfway across the country, it was surprisingly good (with the rear seats folded). It was in the parking lot of a Denny’s in Reno, which was perfect when we (I took my daughter with me on that particular trip of many) woke up at daybreak, a solid if unhealthy breakfast to fortify us for the next 900 miles…and more importantly a bathroom.
Your Suburban will be just fine in that regard.
Starting in 1967 i sold International Trucks. My first International as a ’65 Travelall. After it got creamed on Third Avenue in Manhattan sometime Christmas morning of 1968, i bought a 1968 Travelall with factory A/C just as you see in this picture of the ’66. The engine can do more than “light towing” because it is designed to haul up to 24,500 pounds GVWR and was the standard engine in the Loadstar 1600 medium-duty International. The flaws of the Travelall before the new 1969 models include four-wheel drum brakes, albeit large and the lack of adequate insulation such that at 5 degrees Fahrenheit the vehicle would just not warm up. And that was with the Super Capacity Heater and Defroster, which was IH’s heaviest service heater. Wet days required pumping the brakes to stop. Now let us talk about the PLUS points: You ride high, wide and handsome. Plenty of room. Comfortable bench seating but nothing fancy even in the top of the line models that I drove. Metal that is very strong. I enjoyed driving the Travelall and as a single man, driving with friends to go to dances amongst other uses. No problem folding the second seat and loading whatever one wishes into the vehicle for which I have several stories. A problem for the 304 V8 in the Travelall is that with daily driving the engine never was used to its potential, which caused carboning on the piston heads. A two-hour drive at speeds over 60 miles per hour would always cure the problem. I would come off a high-speed road with the engine purring. So, Aaron, you can see that I enjoyed my Travelalls very much. Of note, the mirror brackets were truck oriented. They were adjustable in a radius by unfastening the bolt that whose head was at the front of the bracket. So, I replaced each flat mirror with three-inch IH convex mirrors that were optional for dual west coast mirrors. The result was excellent peripheral vision on both sides for rear view.
Sounds like a winner, Thomas! Thanks for the first-hand experience. 🙂
Thanks for the tip about NATMUS — I’ve never heard of it (though I’ve never been to the other Indiana auto museums either), and it sounds great.
I’m with you on the daydreaming; I find it just as hard to stop daydreaming as it is to make them all come true. In my ideal world, I’d have a vehicle like this, a vintage Airstream or Avion, oh… and the knowledge to actually take care of them.
Just last week I was browsing Google StreetView in Wyoming in advance of (hopefully) a summer trip there. And what did I find? Well, a white Travelall similar to this museum find. Looks like a nice one, and if I happen to stumble across it in person, I’ll certainly stop to look closer.
I hope it’s still there if you make it out to Wyoming! Back in ’04, we camped up in the mountains outside of Douglas in June. It was way colder than we thought it would be; we were using beach towels as blankets. Grazing cows were hanging out just outside our tent, and I got sunburned worse than any other time I can remember.
Fun trip!
This Travelall isn’t too far away from Douglas; it’s in Buffalo (I think 150-odd miles is considered ‘around the corner’ in Wyoming lingo). Hopefully I’ll get to see it this summer. We’re not camping though, but rather staying in cabins, so the cold temperatures won’t be quite as… invigorating.
The main fuel tank is in the driver’s side rear fender. That front tank is the optional one and it is located under the cab, the same place where the main tank for a pickup is located.
The early model pictured is a 1000 series truck which means it has IFS. The plus of that is that it rides like a dream and you can use parts from the later trucks to convert to disc brakes. The minus is that the center link is obsolete so you have to get a rebuilt unit from Rare Parts and they aren’t particularly cheap. The odd thing about the TRW IFS is that the shocks are reverse acting since the lower mount is fixed and the upper mount is on the control arm. That means the shock extends as the suspension compresses and when the suspension droops the shock compresses.
The later truck is a 1973 the way to distinguish between the 72 and 73 which use the same grille is by the woodgrain. The 72 is just between the wheel wells and doesn’t extend above them.
I haven’t had to buy anything from Rare Parts yet, but I’m glad they’re out there, because there’s going to come a time when there’s nothing left for old cars (or at least nothing left worth buying).
Is that the only difference between the 1000 and, say, the 1100/1200?
The 1000 is an entirely different frame to achieve that low stance. It is a welded box frame for much of its length that is almost as wide as it is tall in the area between the wheels. The 1100/1200 frame on the other hand is C Channel the entire length. The difference in frame height is at least an 1″ and maybe 2″. So stock 1000 next to a stock 1100 and the 1000 is definitely lower.
As far as functionality the 1000 and 1100 are both “1/2 tons” and the 2wd 1100 had the same base and optional GVWs. Same tow ratings, at least with the same engine, trans and axle ratio. Speaking of axles the rear is the one part that is the same on both. The 1200 of course is the “3/4 ton” version. The 1000 is of course only available in 2wd while 4wd was available on the 1100/1200. I don’t think either of the 5sp trans,nor the diesel, were available in the 1000 series.
Now as far as how they are equipped, the IFS truck was the one that was sold to the person that wanted a station wagon that was roomier than the car based wagons w/o sacrificing a car like ride. So finding those with a V8, automatic, air, ps, pb, the nicer interior and exterior packages is more likely in a 1000. The 1100 was the one that was sold on price and truck like toughness, so more likely to find one without the “frivolous options”.
Both were sold for towing so finding either with the equipment already there and the truck spec’ed for towing, which depending on the exact model meant increased cooling, larger alternator, max GVW ect.
Wow, that seems like a lot of development money for two trucks that looked similar on the outside. I wonder if production numbers warranted it.
From my understanding the IFS was developed by TRW on spec (to try and sell to Ford for their cars???) and IH was the taker. They did use the same basic design from 61-73. I don’t know what the take rate was but 1000 and 1010 Travelalls are pretty common. 1010 Wagonmasters are out there too. In pickups though the 1000/1010 versions aren’t too common,
For me the IFS is the 2wd Travelall to have. For 4wd I prefer a 1200/1210. And that isn’t just because that is what I have/had. Ok the 1210 had a 50 F-1 body sitting on it.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-cornbinders-of-a-lifetime-part-four-1972-international-travelall-1010/
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-cornbinders-of-a-lifetime-part-one-1972-international-travellall-or-1950-ford-f1/
“…its fuel filler location on the passenger front fender…” Just like a Porsche!
Can’t tell ’em apart! 🙂
I got introduced to Travelall Life when I made a new friend in the fall of 1972. His mother’s daily driver (and the family travel vehicle) was a 71 model with woodgrain, air and cloth seats. It was a really nice rig and I still have a big fat soft spot for Travelalls up to this day. I will confess that the 69+ model is my favorite.
I have to admit that for family travel, the 1973 Doge Royal Sportsman van that replaced the Travelall was a superior vehicle, if only because six people didn’t have to sit three abreast in both seats. But that won’t be a problem for you.
NATMUS is a great place, as is the ACD museum nearby.
That’s one of the few cars I haven’t ever gotten a bee in my bonnet for – an old van. If I did, I’d probably sing “Chevy Van” by Sammy Johns everywhere I went, and then I’d be riding alone. 🙂
We pack pretty heavy though, so we may end up pulling the back seat out regardless of what we get. 🙂
The 3rd row is pretty rare and what you have behind the 2nd row is pretty good and it does of course fold down.
I think there’s an interesting parallel to be drawn between this piece and Paul’s Rambler piece from earlier today. What I mean is that I-H kept itself in the light-truck game to a certain degree by building things other truck manufacturers wouldn’t build.
As a young child I rode in several Travelalls. They were used in my world as sort of miniature school buses. Door count aside, they were much more like station wagons than the Suburban was.
International also built, LONG before today’s trend, a 4-door, short bed pickup. And the Scout civilized the Jeep CJ idea 6 years before Ford built the Bronco. I believe that I-H was also building their own 4WD pickups while the Big 3 was still contracting out conversions.
All of this was enough for I-H to maintain a positive reputation long after the Big 3 started doing all of these things. Sort of like Rambler/AMC did, the reputation kept them viable for quite a few years after the Big 3 caught up.
I actually saw a Travelall painted as a school bus for sale back in the fall nearby. It was pretty run down and I’m not really in the market right this second, but I thought about it for a day or two.
They had a school bus package for them in the 69-up trucks and probably had one for the earlier ones too.
Some more IH firsts
5sp trans, actually two, a close and wide ratio.
Diesel they offered the Perkins 6 in the pickups and T-all for a while in the 60’s
Wagonmaster, the Chevy Avalanche of its day.
Diesel again with the Scout II in the 70’s
3 Row “compact” SUV, in the Midas packages.
I like it. Although I think I’d go for a newer one like the basement examples on the principle that you always buy the newest and best example that’s available. And since it’s an I-H even the newest one will be plenty old for you and will give you plenty of opportunity to use that Sun Performance Analyzer thing you own. 🙂
And both of those museums were a CC meetup destination years ago, the NATMUS was surprisingly good.
I do love to get the Sun Machine out of the corner, even when everything’s running pretty well. 🙂
I sold my 1973 1010 Wagonmaster to the Malamut Auto Museum last month. Their intent is to drive it occasionally.
Nice.
I had this Car as a Playmobil from Matchbox in Europa. I dort know to this Time what it was. So i know it 40 Jears later..
These IH V8’s are wonderful engines. Tough as nails.