This is a compilation of more than three-dozen articles from auto buff magazines such as Car Life, Four Wheeler, Mechanix Illustrated and Motor Trend.
A big part of the value in this series of books, which is offered on a wide range of American and foreign nameplates, is that you get a flavor for what the automotive press was writing when a given vehicle was new.
International Scout Gold Portfolio 1961-1980
- R. M. Clarke; 1995
- Brooklands Books, Surrey, UK
“One basic body style (in any of six colors) is used for the Scout, an open pick-up with the wheel-arches extended forward to form inward-facing benches, beneath one or both of which a fuel tank of 11 U.S. gallons capacity is accommodated. The tail gate can be lowered completely or held horizontally as an extension of the 60-inch body floor. Either a three-seat all-steel cab or a full-length roof can be added to the body, or for rough service the windscreen can be folded flat and the sliding glass side-windows removed from the front doors.”
— Motor, May, 31, 1961 (p. 12)
“The Scout is particularly well designed for rough going, as nothing hangs down below the reinforced welded steel box frame. It is interesting to check how many of the newer 4-wheel-drives have their transfer case, transmission or crankcase mounted where they are extremely vulnerable to rocks and high crowns. You can usually add special skid plates, but this amounts to covering up a failing, rather than eliminating it in designing the vehicle. The Scout’s gas tank is fully enclosed and mounted outside and above the frame, giving it better protection. The radiator is protected in front by a steel frame crossmember, and underneath by a steel flange.”
— Off Road Fun Vehicles, 1970 (p. 59)
“Today’s Bronco is a hobbyhorse, the Blazer has all but given up the trail for life on asphalt, and the Ramcharger’s been dehorned. Manufacturers have wethered most of the hard-boned crankiness from their trucks to make them attractive to the vast throngs that love the macho look as long as it’s comfy. So if it’s a genuine, solid-axle, strong-like-dirt truck you’re after, your choices are limited. AMC’s still in the business with its basic Jeep products. And there’s International Harvester, the one and only light-truck builder that has no car division to cloud its thinking and hone down hard edges. IH’s Scout II is a truck the way they used to build them, which is in no small part due to the fact that, even though the original has sired a junior, the II’s been screwed together pretty much the same way for more than nine years. It’s noisy, crude at times, never luxurious in any sense of the word, but very good at being a truck.”
— Car and Driver, February 1980 (p.160)
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