[Montanan]

Just a quick note to introduce myself ... my name's Mark, and I've volunteered to do a little setup and maintenance work here at the Scout forum. (I've managed one of this site's companion forums for many years, one devoted to the Subaru Crosstrek.) I've been eagerly following the revival plans for the Scout, and am excited to be part of this community.

The old Internationals were great vehicles, and the new Scout Motors has some big shoes to fill. I learned how to drive in a 1965 International Travelall, and there were many great adventures in that thing. And a buddy of mine is in the process of restoring a '61 Scout -- that's the one in my avatar. It should be back with a new paint job in a couple months.

Anyway, I'm going to be doing a little site organization over the next few weeks ... so if any of you have any suggestions, please speak up. One thing that we'll definitely add is a forum section devoted to the classic IH vehicles. I know that the Scout Motors company has its own forum, too, and that's a great thing ... but I think it's also important to have a discussion site that's independent of the manufacturer, and that will be even more important once the new vehicles start to be produced. So I hope we can build up a good community here.

Looking forward to getting to know you guys!

 

[VeeDub]

Welcome to the forum @Montanan, glad to have you help out here.

Would love to see more of that 61' Scout, feel free to start a thread on it!

 

[Montanan]

Hey, thanks! We've got a long wait for the new Scouts, but it's going to be fun to watch the process unfold here, and talk about some legendary vehicles in the meantime.

I'll talk with my buddy about getting some more pics of that '61 ... it's been a super-interesting project. He bought it close to a year ago -- engine turned over but it hadn't been driven in years, and somebody'd spray-painted the thing purple. A lot of the major stuff is done -- he's got it running and is just finishing up the bodywork so it can go to the paint shop in a couple weeks. A million little things to do after it comes back, but I'm trying to convince him to take it off-roading in Utah after that. That would be a blast!

 

[Harvester]

Hey @Montanan welcome to the forum! That's amazing you learned to drive on the Travelall. Do you have any specific things you want to see the new Scouts have? I really hope they stick to the idea of making the Scouts purpose built off-roaders.

 

[Montanan]

Same here. I want to see the new Scouts live up to the legacy of the original -- tough and off-road ready, meant to be well-used and maybe get a few battle scars along the way. Something that's maybe not super-fancy, but that people will actually use to take out on adventures. It seems like the EV truck/SUV market is heading towards glitzy, over-the-top rigs that cost close to 6 figures, and are mostly going to be used by trust-funders to make their Costco runs. I think that's unfortunate, and I'm hoping the Scout will be a good counterpoint to that. So far, at least, it seems like VW is putting out the right messaging.

Anyway, I've added a couple forum categories here for the classic IH vehicles ... give us something to talk about while we're waiting for more news on the EV. I'll try to dig up a few pics of that old Travelall, too ...