A Multiple-International Harvester Home Is a Happy Home: Members’ Rides

What’s better than one classic International Harvester SUV? Two International Harvesters, duh. Autopian member Bill Dugan is living the dream with both a Scout of many colors and a shockingly clean Travelall, plus—until recently—a couple of trusty Honda dailies.

(Welcome to Members’ Rides. This is the weekly feature where we look at people who became members of the site by signing up here and parting with a little of their hard-earned dough to keep The Autopian going. Our plan is to do these every week! Today it’s Bill’s turn!)

Sadly, Bill’s Honda Accord got Torchinsky’d hard by a deer—sorry, Torch, your bad luck with deer means you’re a verb now—and he’s looking to replace it with a midsize pickup or SUV. Fortunately, his family’s Honda CR-V is still truckin’ along, as reliable as ever.

Here’s Bill to tell us more about what’s in his garage!

Tell us a bit about yourself! How did you get into cars?

My name is Bill, and I live outside of Baltimore, Maryland. I’m the creative director an an environmental NGO [non-governmental organization—Ed.] in Washington D.C. (yeah, I know, it’s a dichotomy, but life is short).

I’ve always loved cars, and I used to stay up Friday nights to watch the one-two punch of “CHiPS” and the “Dukes of Hazzard.” When I was 12, Dad bought a repossession agency and I worked as the lot guy (starting cars, moving them around, keeping things running, getting them out for the banks and lessees) until I went away to college. Bought a Scout in 1997 and apart from a six-month break, have had one ever since. I wrote a bunch of Cars of a Lifetime (COAL) articles for Curbside Classic.

What’s in your current automotive fleet?

• 1976 International Harvester Scout: Nicknamed “Peer Pressure.” A harlequin of different body panel colors, painted purple by the previous owner over gold flake metallic. It’s my second Scout—two of my friends convinced me to buy this right after my daughter was born.
• 1963 International Harvester Travelall: My 2023 project, and it doesn’t have a name yet. Bought out of the back yard of a guy selling it for his brother—no, not sketchy at all. Not running, with no title. I got it through the Vermont Loophole mere moments before they shut that down. I’ve been working on it all year, got it running, cut a whole bunch of rust out of the cowl this summer and replaced it as my first welding project.
• 2006 Honda CR-V: One of two family haulers. It’s a manual—the wife prefers stick. 160,000 miles, runs like a top. Solid, dependable. I wish I had another.
• 2009 Honda Accord: Gray, reliable, automatic, boring. Recently taken out by a suicidal buck two days before Thanksgiving. I am currently on the hunt for a new vehicle.

What got you into Scouts (and International Harvesters in general)?

The shortened version of the story—my roommate in college drove a Traveler (a longer wheelbase Scout, like Andrew Collins has) back to college from spring break and got me hooked. I had always loved ’60s and ’70s trucks, but there was something about an orphan brand with a completely removable top that I really liked, and I drove his Scout a fair bit while we were in school. I was driving a Mazda B2000 at the time and when I got an adult job after college and had some disposable income, I bought my first Scout. I will say this: the old-school IH community is like no other. There are so many amazing folks involved in running and fixing them who would give you the shirt off their backs.

Another good story about the gap time between Scouts (which is actually more like a year now that I look at it): My first Scout was rusting in the driveway while I threw all my money and time into our new house. My wife works from home and had some clients over for a meeting, and they were talking about logo inspiration. One of the clients mentioned maybe using an old truck like a pickup or Scout, so my wife asked if he’d seen the Scout in our driveway, which he hadn’t. He was ready to buy it on the spot, but his wife told him they should probably wait, as Christmas was coming up.

The next day, she called me and asked if she could buy it for him for Christmas. I told her to bring a mechanic to look it over, and whatever they said, I’d honor that price. We made a deal and she surprised him with it. He spent the next year or so redoing the whole thing with his dad and it was better than it had ever been. Along the way, we got to be great friends, and he and another friend convinced me to take a chance on my new Scout at an auto auction. This is why it was christened “Peer Pressure” (being purple, I think I dodged a bullet there).

So, how did you end up with the Travelall?

I’ve had Scouts for 25 years, and I’d been looking at something different but related for a while. I had the opportunity to jump on another cheap Travelall about eight years ago and an IH pickup a little after that, but the time wasn’t right. Coming out of COVID and itching for a project, I started looking at cheap trucks up and down the Mid-Atlantic. I couldn’t find anything that wasn’t overpriced or completely rotted out for a year or so, and then this Travelall showed up. It looks a lot worse than it is—the lack of rust on this truck is kind of astounding considering it sat in a backyard in Maryland for six-plus years. It checks almost all the right boxes—manual, V8, four doors, and no rust. Future plans include air conditioning, power steering and a brake upgrade to a dual master cylinder with front discs.

What are you looking for to replace the crunched Accord?

I just got the settlement check in hand. We’re between a midsize pickup (Ranger, Tacoma or Maverick) and another CR-V or intermediate SUV of some kind. I really want a quad-cab with an exterior bed, as we’re looking at life changes and need a hauler pretty soon. But I also want something with reasonable gas mileage, which rules out the Ranger, Tacoma and Ridgeline.

Cars of a Lifetime is such a cool series, too—and shares a lot in common with this column, come to think of it. What’s your favorite COAL article?

Of mine or someone else’s? I think Paul Niedermeyer’s (the original site editor) pieces were great, and the articles from a fellow named Aaron, but there have been a lot of really good series there. I find the best ones often aren’t about cars at all. The one I liked writing the most, I think, was about my old VW bus.

Lastly, what would be in your dream garage?

That’s a tough one. I’d love to have a ’68 Mustang Fastback, a Ferrari 246 Dino—hey, a guy can dream—a ’60s Vespa 150, an airhead BMW…the list is long.

Thanks, Bill! If you’re a member and want to be highlighted, please check your email for a link to a survey you can fill out. If you don’t want to be featured, that’s also fine. Go here and join today!

All photos credit Bill Dugan.