Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Alameda has a fair number of International Harvester vehicles (we had a Favorite DOTS IHC poll with the last one, and the 1948 KB-2 pickup won), most of which seem to get regular driving time. Today we're going to check out a no-frills truck that's eager for the collapse of civilization, at which point it will become more valuable than all the Rolls-Royces and Lamborghinis in the state put together.

Most of the time, when I see a jacked-up 4x4 with big mud-slingin' tires in a context as distinctly urban as this, it strikes me as a silly vehicle. Not so with an International Harvester!


This Scout might not be a '72, but the grille is a '72. No doubt some parts have been swapped here or there, so there's no telling at a glance.


If it is a '72, the available engines were a (non-AMC) 304 V8 and a 196-cube four-cylinder. Base price with four-wheel-drive was a mere $3,340, midway between the $3,588 list for a Bronco wagon and the Blazer's $3,145 price tag. I'm pretty sure the vacuum gauge dangling from dash was a non-factory option.