1970 U.S. Army International Harvester Scout?

[viking73]

Hi,

I visited a friend of mine today who runs a local machine shop. He buys and fixes up old cars occasionally and since he knows I love all things military, he showed me his latest acquisition. It is a 1970 International Harvester Scout, in complete but faded U.S. Army markings. I didn’t even know that the army used IH Scouts so I was pretty blown away.

Here are a few photos.

Overall shot (looks like the front hub cap is original?):


Here is a shot of the data plate below the dashboard:


The faded “U S ARMY” on the driver’s side door:


Can anyone here provide me with any information on the army use of these vehicles? I did some searching online but haven’t come up with much of anything. Are they rare? What was their military designation? What where they mainly used for? I’d sure like to find some period photos of these type of vehicles in U.S. Army service. Basically anything you have to share would be most appreciated! I’m trying to talk my buddy into restoring it back to its former U.S. Army glory and if I could find some information on this 1970 Scout, it just might help me make up his mind.

Thanks in advance!

-Derek

[oldfireguy]

I can't tell you a lot about them but I remember seeing them on Ft. Lewis along with Ford Broncos. I remember the MP's and fish and game using them.

[gwb123]

Interesting. I honestly cannot remember seeing these in service, but you have all of the evidence right there.

 

I scanned the internet the best I could, and came up with a photo of an IH Scout driving past Ft. Stewart. But you cannot tell if it is military or civilian.

 

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullRecord.asp?id=57856&qstring=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wisconsinhistory.org%2Fwhi%2Fresults.asp%3Fpageno%3D135%26keyword1%3Dtruck%26search_type%3Dbasic%26sort_by%3Ddate

[viking73]

Interesting. I honestly cannot remember seeing these in service, but you have all of the evidence right there.

 

I scanned the internet the best I could, and came up with a photo of an IH Scout driving past Ft. Stewart. But you cannot tell if it is military or civilian.

 

http://www.wisconsin...ic&sort_by=date

 

 

Hi Gil,

 

Yes, this is all I came up with also, drat. I just joined the Steel Soldiers website and I'm going to post this topic there as well. This might be kind of rare? I sort of hope not since if they are rare, there's probably not going to be much information or documentation out there? Hopefully someone knows all about this IH Scout and can school me on them (fingers crossed).

 

Thanks too for your comments oldfire guy. MPs and fish & game make sense. That's a start at least! Do you think the "US ARMY" on the door would have been painted in white or yellow? And there might have been some numbers also painted underneath that? Excuse my ignorance, my "expertise" lies in military aircraft, not trucks!

 

-Derek

[gwb123]

During 1970 it would have been typical to have the vehicle with a dark OD green finish overall with white lettering.

 

Taking a second look at the dataplate, it is remarkable in that there is no standard military model assigned to it.

 

It simply says "Truck, Utility" and then Make and Model International "800A",

 

At first I thought that the A might have been a contractor designation for "Army", but that was actually the civilian designation.

 

"1969 saw the introduction of the 800A, which replaced the 800. Improvements included more creature comfort options, a slightly different front end treatment, drivetrain upgrades (heavier rear axle and quieter Dana 20 transfer case) and the options of: 196 4-cyl., 232 6-cylinder, 266 V-8,or the 304 V-8. The Light Line of pickup trucks received bodywork similar to that of the Scout in late 1969.

The 800A could be ordered with the SportTop (a slanted sporty top made of canvas or fiberglass) and Aristocrat, Comanche, SR-2, and Sno-Star packages."

 

http://en.wikipedia....Scout#Scout_800

 

It is just odd that the military use of this vehicle just appears nowhere on the internet. The closest I have come is a few refurbished vehicles that were claimed to be ex-US Army or ex-USAF.

 

Getting back to the model number and nomenclature, these were probably purchased "off the shelf" with few if any military modifications for use as administrative vehicles. The military at some point figured out it was cheaper to use commercial vehicles for mundane tasks such as range patrol rather than putting miles on tactical vehicles such as jeeps. I am also willing to bet that most of these probably saw use stateside rather than overseas.

[patches]

Could it be a limited purchase for Army use? Kind of in line with all those civilian sedans used in Military of the day, these sedans were not made specificaly for the armed forces, just aquired by them. Could this be verified by the the lack of a FSN number on that tag?

[Third Herd]

When I was in Korea 1970/71 the Air Force Advisory Group had Broncos and Scouts scattered around the country. I worked with ROKAF and we would borrow what we could after we flew to a base. Maybe they used those since they looked more civilian.

[paul_bish]

They are mentioned in fred Crimsons book, US Military Wheeled Vehicles, as being in use from the early 60s. There is a picture showing a new vehicle in 1963. It looks dark green with white lettering, US Army on the door with serial number underneath. Looks like it has chrome round te door frame.

 

There is then a picture of a 1971 version in use by the Military Police at Ft Story.

 

They were then trialled against the Ford Bronco, Dodge Ramchargers, AMC CJ5 and Chevy Blazers as a vehicle to replace the M151 in certain uses in 1975

 

Hope that helps

[hbtcoveralls]

The IH Scout was also in use by the US Postal Service at that time, so they must have really had good government procurement people.

Tom Bowers

[notinfringed]

I have seen several International "travelalls" here in Alaska that have faded out Air Force markings. All of them seem to be from the early seventies.

[ikar]

The A.F. operated some of these in various squadrons along with CJ-5 jeeps. For the most part they were used by squadron commanders but occasionally one or two would end up in other people's hands because of shortages of other vehicles. We even used a couple for police work. The M-151 was much better for our purpose, but not as safe.

[J_Andrews]

In RVN, ICTZ at least, 1970-1971, IH Scouts were the hallmark of CIA. IIRC all had white tops and VN plates, with the bodies in beige, a mint-olive green and maybe an icy blue. I do not recall them driving them outside the urban areas.

 

The USAF had IH "Travel Alls" at Danang airfiled. They were called "Froggies" due to the appearance of their odd, bug-eyed front end. Most were AF blue with yellow door markings and white top. Some had police lights on the roof and a big siren on a fender. IIRC the USAF EOD on base had oen or two with red fenders and tailgates. There were also some all-white ones that the USO and/or Red Cross had; these may have been surplussed off to them by the USAF.

 

Ford Broncos were operated by the Navy and/or MTMS around the port. ??? Memory is unclear, but those may have been gray.

[Salvage Sailor]

This make, model and year was used by the Armed Forces in Vietnam

 

NAVSUPPACT SAIGON USN Salvage Officers - December 1971 from this photo archive http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/197309-navsuppact-saigon-1971-welcome-to-vietnam/

[easterneagle87]

A lot of odd vehicles were used with the US Army Corps of Engineers. I remember the neighbor driving different vehicles home. I was just a kid in the early 70's, but always thought, "that's not an army car." They were stenciled US ARMY on the doors, but was painted that pukey lime / light green and not OD.

[phantomfixer]

Here is my 1975 USAF CJ-5...purchased by GSA in 75, used at Dover AFB as a general purpose vehicle with no Military designation

 

 

[DustyDavid]

On 11/30/2012 at 9:19 PM, viking73 said:

Hi,

I visited a friend of mine today who runs a local machine shop. He buys and fixes up old cars occasionally and since he knows I love all things military, he showed me his latest acquisition. It is a 1970 International Harvester Scout, in complete but faded U.S. Army markings. I didn’t even know that the army used IH Scouts so I was pretty blown away.

Here are a few photos.

Overall shot (looks like the front hub cap is original?):


Here is a shot of the data plate below the dashboard:


The faded “U S ARMY” on the driver’s side door:


Can anyone here provide me with any information on the army use of these vehicles? I did some searching online but haven’t come up with much of anything. Are they rare? What was their military designation? What where they mainly used for? I’d sure like to find some period photos of these type of vehicles in U.S. Army service. Basically anything you have to share would be most appreciated! I’m trying to talk my buddy into restoring it back to its former U.S. Army glory and if I could find some information on this 1970 Scout, it just might help me make up his mind.

Thanks in advance!

-Derek

 

[DustyDavid]

Howdy.  I'm new here so everything I find in here is new, even if  years old, like this post. Yes, the U.S. Army used  Scouts. And not just 1 year. When I was at Ft. Irwin in  1970, we used 2 Scouts to lay out a night orienteering/map reading course. One was the early scout with the  sliding windows (1961?)& a 4 cyl.. The other was a later  Scout with the roll up windows.  They were both my first Scout experience and first off-roading experience.  When we went to pick them up at the motor pool, there were about 6 of them parked in a row. I also remember seeing in a Jane's book on military tactical vehicles a pic & write up on a Scout II used by the U.S. military. Although the pic was in B&W, it was clearly painted in a  woodland camo pattern.