Re: IH nicknames

[tsm1@domain.elided (Tom Mandera)]

>Not to get the list up in arms and have motions made for me to be banished,
>but my truck driving freinds (big rigs) have shared thier opinions of IH
>big rigs with me before and they were never very favorable.

I was going to chime in, too....

My stepdad's currently driving a '99 Navistar Eagle... (pfffbbbttt!... we
used it to "chase parts" during my motor swap.. when we bought the Century
230amp stick welder, we strapped it to the rear deck of the Eagle.. how's that!)

It seems, for some reason, the Navistars are not held in high regard by most
drivers... I don't remmeber what the complaints are... too slow?  too
something....

But, my stepdad was talking to a friend of his, or his stepdad (someone,
anyhow)... and the guy was a Navistar "friendly"... he simply stated, "Have
you ever seen a Navistar broke down on the side of the road?"

Don (stepdad)'s previous truck was *not* a Navistar... he nearly quit
working for his current employer because it was always undergoing repairs..
and/or breaking down at an innoportune time... 

Upon thinking about this statement, Don had to concur.. he's never seen a
Navistar broke down on the side of the road... Petes, Macks, Fords,
Freightliner, Kenworth... but no Internationals.

So.. I'm not sure *why* some drivers don't seem to like the new IHs... but
at the least they seem reliable, and Don seems to like his new Eagle. :-)

Speaking of which... I was drivng around town last week (taking a friend to
examine a '79 Bronco) when I came upon... an.... 85 International.  This
truck has a van body on it, diesel motor, roll-up rear with hydraulic
tailgate/lift setup, with "20,000 GVW" on the side.

$5k OBO.

Driving the Scout by, I nailed the brakes and jumped out to look at this
thing... my younger friend said, "What are you doing??!!  You don't really
want that, do you?  You could never take it anywhere!"... poor kid was still
thinking "4x4" and not "tow-rig"!

I immediately jumped on the lift, and paced off the width of the roll-up
opening... then jumped back down, climbed on the hood of the Scout, and
repeated this procedure.

!!!  It's wide enough, tall enough, and long enough... that, with a pair of
ramps... I could simply *DRIVE* my Scout up inside!

I'd still have room inside for a small work bench and mini-shop... PLUS, I'd
add a receiver hitch to the back, and I could *still* tow a flatbed or
lowboy with another rig on it.

Too bad it doesn't have a sleeper cab...  and I don't have $5k lying about. :-(

I haven't found a site to describe to me these medium duty IHs, how to
figure out what it is, what motor it should (or could) have, etc.  Just
curious about what I would find under the hood, and what I could expect from
such a rig...

It *would* make a great tow-rig...hmmmm....

-Tom Mandera, Helena MT
http://www.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout
'72 and '77 Scout IIs