im not that old but i dont ever remember an international harvester dealership? any pictures or info would be mucho appreciated!
I disagree. I've had thirties and forties IH pickups that were VERY traditional hotrods. There was a very large dealer in Flint, Mi. C&S Motors
My Gramps, Cohocton Valley Garage, Cohocton NY- he was in it through the '50's and early '60's, sold Letter Series, Number Series, up to the '06 Series, IH trucks, and Chebbie cars and trucks in the '50's. Also had a few farms and a lime spreading business, we had a pair of M's and a TD6, for a long time, kept the first 706D Demonstrator, got another 706D the next year, 91 and 93 combines, R190, S160, A160, Loadstar 1800 and Fleetstar 2010 (with a 549 gasser, fast truck) IH trucks, and a bunch of REO's including 3 M35 deuce-and-a-halfs as limespreaders. Lots of loader tractors for the lime, late 8N Ford, a couple Fergie TO-20's, a 340 Utility, and a Fordson Major Diesel with big front tires and manual steering that got cussed with every load That 8N was a "hotrod", had the "big-bore kit" that consisted of leaving out the sleeves and using Mercury pistons, and a straight pipe- I plowed snow before the schoolbus with that little beastie for years, and was my first experience with one of those 8-volt batteries that some "experts" will tell you won't work- it would spin fast and start right up from under a foot of snow We had a '53 Chebbie ton truck with a 235 that we delivered coal with, also with an 8-volt, also started excellent in the winter and had lights like a 12-volter- nice and bright
You saw more International dealers in small towns than in big cities. Especially if there was a lot of lumber cutting, farming etc in the area. The Hudson dealer in Port Hope (Pop 6000) became an International dealer when Hudson went out of business. They sold a lot of tractors, farm machinery and light trucks. There was a big International dealer in Peterborough (Pop 25000) that seemed to sell mostly big trucks. Now that I think of it, there used to be International dealers all over the place in towns as small as 2000 population. In the 80s they changed the name to Navistar. I think by that time they had closed or consolidated most of the small dealers. So you might not have seen any International dealers at all, for 20 or 30 years.
Bisio motors here in Portland was one of the last IH dealers. He closed his shop about 5 years ago. It was a sad day. Read the story of Ernie Bisio. Good stuff! http://www.oregonlive.com/window-sh...io_who_sold_cars_until_he_was_90_died_in.html
Son, it's very obvious you've never been around a bunch of old farmers at a plowing demonstation or "real tractor" pull LOL- I learned how to mess with a governor on a Farmall M long before I had my first minibike with a Briggs & Stratton Brought back a good memory- that first minibike was a "Lil' Indian", 3hp Briggs, and my first hop-up- I pulled the head off, ground about 1/8" from the sealing surface, cleaned it up with a big flat file, and put the head back on (we don't need no steenking new head gasket!), and the straight pipe exhaust got a LOT louder
While this is most likely true, I've always thought that the 1957 Travelall was one of the better 'factory customs' of the era:
Yep, that's an "A" model, our '60 A160 looked like that, but with vertical quad headlights. One of our pair of '56 S160's had been the dealership parts truck, and had those big IH decals on the doors Seems like this is an interesting thread after all, eh?
beautiful trucks...but im bias since i have a 61 pickup. i fell in love with them when i saw zmans in bare metal years and years ago. they just look like no bullshit trucks
My Aunt and Uncle owned H.B. Duvall IH in Frederick MD. next to the fairgrounds. My uncle opened the dealership in 1947 and sold both tractors and trucks. It is still open under the same name but my family is no longer involved. I have quite a bit of memorabilia from the dealership that my aunt gave me before she passed.
what side of the bed did you get up on?-I"ve been hot roding mine for the last 40 years, suppose you have a belly button car, or do you realy have anything besides a negative opinion?
If you can imagine that travelall with a 4 dr. pickup body and a very short bed. I had one! IH built them for the military and the railroads. Mine came from USAF base in Texas and was mint. Found it in a Michigan boneyard. 57 Truck Travellette. It had never been regular titled. I used it to haul my drag car back in the day. "SHE AIN'T MUCH FER PURTY, BUT SHE'S HELL FOR TOUGH"
I worked for IH from '92-96 (when they folded)-great Company, they just lost their direction(bad Management)-
I went into my IH dealer the other day looking for parts and identificiation on my 66 S model truch. I asked the counter man if I could look at the parts books. he said what are those? I then asked to speak the oldest machnic there. He knew where the books were and was also knew what type of distruburator and carb I had!
I did a 2N Ford big bore kit about 15 years ago.No tin sleeves,.125 over Flathead Ford pistons .I I live in western NY state and the 6 volt system started the engine no problem in the winter. Just need a starter in good repair and proper sized cables.Also same results with a 46 Chevy 2 ton and the 51 Willys truck in my garage right now.8 volts on a 6 volt system is unecessary.
my great grand father and grand father were both ih dealers. he is my grandfather's dealership (started 1940) in wheeler texas. picture from 1945 the store burnt a few years ago and my uncle gave the rubble to me so i built a clone in my house/barn with same brick.
I worked for the local IH dealer in the late 80's when I was in high school. "Berg Implement" in Seguin, Texas. There were definately some ol farm hot rods around that place.
always have liked the old IH trucks a buddy of mine used to drive an 50s pickup to school in the late 80s coolest ride at the local high school! came from a family dealership called Jeffers Truck Sales the original building is still being used as a International Dealership of course just big trucks now
Man that is so cool! Nice job. Here's an NOS 50's dealer sign I picked up last year... and one of my '54 "hotrod"
If anyone's not familiar with the story of this IH logo, stare at it for a few seconds and you'll understand why it's referred to as the "man on a tractor" logo.
It's on my bucket list to get some pics of the old IHC dealer that was about 1/2 mile down the road. I went there frequently in the '80's for service,,,know 2 guys who spent their careers there as mechanics starting in the '40's,,The building was torn down and the dealer ship moved to a new location with none of the history intact. I took this pic of my truck parked at what was once the IHC transfer depot on the Kam river for farm equipment destined for western Canada..the logo is still legible at the top of building