Whoa! So this thing pulls up!
So I’m driving south on State St, Rt 89, in Salt Lake when this Scout II pulls up along side of me. I’m not a big Scout fan, but this thing was pretty sweet.
Fire Orange paint and optional white panel decals. The wheels are period correct American Racing.
Options up the butt
Let’s not get carried away. Western mirrors, sliding windows in the second row, and a roof rack. The white decals on the side had cracked and separated indicating that they were original.
Nice shot of my steering wheel
Scout IIs were manufactured from 1971 through 1980, and from what I can tell, the bodywork remained unchanged during this run.
Scouts would appear to have an international (no pun intended) fan base. A quick search of Google Images turns out immaculate examples in the Netherlands, Spain, and the Philippines.
What year is this?
Sweet. Optional chromed bumpers. Dualies indicate that this had either a 304 or a 345. Glad I started packing my mega megapixel 2.0 in the glovebox.
Wow, if this isn’t JPC’s youth day. First, a Pinto that mirrored those of two friends, and now a Scout. I grew up in the city where Scouts were all built (Fort Wayne) and they were everywhere in the 70s. I do have a large soft spot for these.
My car-mentor Howard bought a green 74 from a friend for his kids to drive. It used the AMC six mated to the automatic. It was very, very slow. Each of the 3 kids wrecked it, and after the first two, the tailgate was the only original piece of sheetmetal on it. Which was certainly one way to stay ahead of the rust.
Eric VanBuren will jump in with more info, but IH also built the Scout Terra, which was somewhat larger than this Scout II. It was sort of kind of supposed to replace the Travelall, but was only a 2 door. I always figured that a 4 door Scout Terra might have given the Wagoneer a run for its money, but we will never know.
The Terra was a regular Scout with a pickup cab, The Scout Traveller was longer than the regular Scout and had a fiberglass top. I have had 4 (3 running) and would love to have one as clean as the one in the photos, but their prices are starting to go wayyy up.
The Terra was an extended cab, extended wheel base Scout II Pickup. It was built on the Traveler’s 118″ wheel base and has a 6′ bed. The CabTop was the original Scout II Pickup built on the 100″ wheel base with a 5′ bed.
You can’t really tell by the small size but my Avitar is a picture of my 73 CabTop.
Yes, I got the Terra and Traveler mixed up. Frankly, when the Terra and Traveler came out, I sort of got the sense that IH was trying for something but not hitting it. The Scout II had hit a sweet spot in the market but neither the Traveler nor the Terra seemed to get much traction, from what I recall. I considered the Traveler a poor substitute for the Travelall.
You are correct that the 18″ stretch to produce the Traveler was intended to fill the void created by the discontinuation of the full size vehicles. Thanks to the aftermarket they were even available in a 7 passenger version built by Midas who also did van conversions.
Sweet truck, and great find! There was a time that these were manufactured in my home town of Chatham Ontario.
Only the Scout 80 was built at the Chatham factory, all Scout II were built in Ft Wayne.
Thanks, good to know!
Love it… nice, clean example in a very period correct color combo.
The white rims are a welcome sight. Ahhh, the ’70s – when rims were rims and tires were tires. Not the rubber bands or mega doughnuts seen today.
You are correct that none of the basic exterior sheet metal was changed during the SII lifetime. The grille/grille finish did change every year though.
The “panel” style stripe was introduced for the 1974 model year and disappeared after 1976. However it was available in the Neccessories catalog so in theory it could have been installed after it left the factory, actually I should say after it left the Truck Sales Processing Center as that is where the stripes that were ordered with the vehicle were installed.
The TSPC was also where certain other options were installed like winches.
Those mirrors are not stock those are aftermarket Ford style. The Scout II emblem on the tail gate is also not factory installed, it is one from the quarter panel that someone has placed there.