I first learned to drive a Scout 800 when I turned 16 so not too long ago I aquired a 1970 Scout 800 short cab for my son out of Bickleton. Shortly after I received a call from a guy in Redmond who saw a want ad I had placed in the nickel and so, last summer during a trip to Seattle for my daughter's volleyball tourney I took a trailer and brought back the 67 Scout 800 Sport Top which turned out to be a parts rig due to the amount of rust. For some reason I was still looking at Scouts on Craigs list last winter and ran into one in Benton City... of course I had to buy it too. For some reason my wife went along with it and didn't dig in her heels!?! This one I decided would be for me; a runner which I lifted with shackles (poor but works). The short cab was to now be a project for my son and I to rebuild/paint/re-wire, etc.
Unfortunately/fortunately (depending on who you ask; my wife or myself) I once again was on Craigslist (what an evil place!) and saw a cool '72 Scout II
with quite a bit of work already done to it. I showed the pic to my son who thought it extremely cool and soon we were on a trip to Idaho at the end of December to check it. My son didn't know the real reason we were going to this guy's shop because I had lied and told him we were looking at some Scout 800 doors for sale (I could still use a set). He walked right up to the Scout and didn't even see it one foot from him as he scanned the place looking for doors. How he missed the one of a kind air brushed skeleton heads and flames on the rig I'll never know... quite amusing though when I pointed out the truck to him! We bought it too. Can you believe I have no $ now and owe??
Two weeks ago Steve, my son, was driving the SII and the rear posi, Dana 44 axle chew itself up (or he chewed it up) and I found myself once again road tripping it back to Idaho to pick up another 73 Scout II parts Scout the same guy still had.
Let me tell ya my wife can think of many other things I could be doing/spending money on. I'm pretty sure for the $13 - 15k I've been putting into IH stuff I could have bought something pretty reliable. But what would the fun be in that?
Anyway, this site/club looks pretty great... although I'm pretty certain if I jump one of my scouts like Grumpy shows on his member picture at a dune, I'll have more issues/repairs than I really want
I can only assume he had a lot of repairs after that or has some serious after market suspension on that beast.?.
This weekend the SII should be back on the road. The only other task I need to perform is to weld up a new gas tank to replace the leaking 19 gallon! Soon after this, my 800 will also be on the road with a newly rebuilt 232 installed, new/used bucket seats, and body bushings to replace the virtually non existent ones from 1970.
My son and I look forward to joining and going on a 4x Peak Putter in the near future!
