Yahoo Autos Volkswagen is resurrecting the Scout as an EV. But what was the Scout?
Volkswagen confirmed an improbable rumor when it announced plans to dust off the long-dormant Scout nameplate and use it on a pair of electric off-roaders. By "long-dormant," I mean that the last International-Harvester Scout was produced when Blondie's "Call Me" was at the top of the charts and before Apple went public. And yet, the Scout remains a highly respected off-roader in the enthusiast community.
Here's a look at what was just un-mummified in a Volkswagen boardroom.
The original Scout
Let's dispel a myth before it's cemented into a fact on social media: Scout has never been a brand. It was a nameplate, much like Golf or Mustang, and the brand that marketed it was International-Harvester. While the firm was better known for building farming equipment, it made a dizzying selection of products including freezers, lawn mowers, vans and trucks. Its pickups were never as popular as the Big Three's, but they earned a reputation for being tough and innovative; International-Harvester notably gets credit for making the first four-door crew-cab pickup, which it named Travelette and launched in 1957. It's with this experience that the firm jumped into the SUV segment.
Released for 1961, the original Scout was a forward-thinking off-roader that was arguably the Jeep CJ's first direct rival. Sure, the Toyota Land Cruiser disembarked on our shores in 1958 but only one example was sold that year and it remained a relatively obscure truck by the time the Scout began arriving in showrooms. Like the CJ, the Scout was envisioned as a simple, go-anywhere trucklet that could be put to work on a farm or taken on a long Memorial Day fishing trip. International-Harvester offered the first-generation model (called "80" internally) with several removable top options including a vinyl Cab Top, a steel Cab Top and a steel Travel Top. The first two made the Scout a pickup, while the latter turned it into a wagon. Regardless, the Scout came standard with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine (which was essentially a V8 cut in half) rated at 93 horsepower and 135 pound-feet of torque. Rear-wheel drive came standard, and four-wheel drive was optional.
With excellent off-road capacity, a practical design, and a friendly face, the Scout quickly won over buyers. Pricing in 1961 started at $1,771 for rear-wheel drive and $2,139 for four-wheel drive, figures that would today represent around $17,200 and $20,700, respectively. In comparison, that year Jeep shoppers could drive home in a CJ-3B for $1,890 or in a CJ-5 for $1,980 (about $18,300 and $19,200, respectively). Both came standard with four-wheel drive, but their 2.2-liter Hurricane four-cylinder engine was rated at 70 horsepower and 114 pound-feet of torque.
International-Harvester made numerous updates to the Scout during the 1960s to keep it competitive. Roll-down windows became available as an option in 1962, while 1965 brought an improved model called 800 internally (shown above) and characterized by a new-look front end and a longer list of standard features, among other changes. Buyers who wanted more power got their wish granted in 1966, when the list of options grew with the addition of a V8 and, believe it or not, a turbocharged (!) 2.2-liter Comanche four-cylinder rated at 111 horsepower.
These updates carried the original Scout and its derivatives through the 1971 model year, but a lot had changed in the automotive landscape since its unveiling. SUVs were no longer an eccentric niche for farmers and hunters. Jeep CJ sales remained strong, the Toyota Land Cruiser had established a secure foothold in the United States, and the Ford Bronco and the Chevrolet Blazer were stealing the spotlight.
