Junkyard Find: 1975 International Harvester 200 4x4 Pickup
The last time we saw an IHC vehicle in this series was all the way back in 2020, when we admired a 1959 Metro-Mite step van at the Denver U-Pull-&-Pay. Today, we're returning to the very same boneyard and one of the very last full-size IHC pickups ever built.
The International Harvester Corp. began selling light trucks in 1907 and continued building them until the final 1980 Scouts rolled off the line.
IHC had a pickup version of the Scout known as the Terra, which stayed in production until the end. However, this small truck wasn't a direct sales competitor against the full-size pickups from Chevrolet/GMC, Ford and Dodge.
IHC did offer sales rivals to those huge-selling Detroit pickups, which were the Ford F-Series, Dodge D-Series and Chevrolet/GMC C/K-series from the 1960s forward. These were the International C Series through 1968, and its D-Series successor for 1969 through 1975.
There wasn't anything especially revolutionary about the design of the International D-Series pickup, which also served as the basis of the Travelall proto-SUV. It had similar features and pricing versus the products of the Detroit behemoths, but "The Other Pickup" struggled to find buyers.
Only 6,239 International D-Series pickups were built as 1975 models, all at the plant in Springfield, Ohio. This one was assembled on Halloween 1974.
It's a ¾-ton short-wheelbase model with four-wheel-drive. The one-ton version was discontinued after the 1973 model year, so the 1974-1975 D-Series pickups were all ½-ton and ¾-ton trucks.
The naming system for these trucks changed a couple of times during the 1969-1975 period. At first, they were badged as 1000Ds, 1100Ds, and so on according to weight rating. For 1971-1973, they became 1010s, 1110s, etc. That must have seemed too complicated, because the 1974-1975 models got a 100/150/200 system.
The MSRP for the 1975 200 4x4 with 132-inch wheelbase was $5,173, or $33,274 in today's money.
For 1975, engine choices for this truck would have been IHC V8s in three displacements: 304, 345 and 392 cubic inches. This one, which may or may not be original equipment, has a four-barrel intake manifold (with a carb adapter plate on top), which means it's probably a 345 or 392.
IHC made a four-cylinder engine that was essentially half a 304, which meant that the same valve cover could be used on the I4s and the V8s. The drawback to this money-saving parts-sharing was that the cylinder used for setting timing differed between the two types and a message explaining this had to be stamped into the cover.
A three-speed manual transmission was base equipment, with a four-speed manual and three-speed automatic as options. This truck has the automatic, which cost $287 ($1,846 after inflation).
Air conditioning was available, but the original buyer of this truck passed on that $540 option ($3,473 in 2026 dollars).
This genuine factory AM radio cost $77, or $495 now. It's a safe bet that the original buyer of this truck preferred country music, and 1975 was a fine year for that genre.
How many miles do you think it really has?
This handmade steel bumper looks serious.
The floor on the passenger side rusted out and was fixed with sheet metal.
There were some field expedient modifications done to this truck during its final years. I'm not sure what the point of the wood inserts under the hood could be.
The original bench seat must have gone bad, and so a not-so-sturdy mount was fabricated for a random junkyard bucket.
There's a lot going on here, including a frighteningly high seating position and rebar inside the seat back. Maybe this was just an extremely temporary rig so the truck could be moved around a yard.
This half-century-old ice scraper was with it at the end.
Likewise, the original owner's manuals.
I was hoping I'd find an interesting EV conversion when I saw this grille badge.
1975 IHC 200 4x4 in Colorado junkyard.
1975 IHC 200 4x4 in Colorado junkyard.
1975 IHC 200 4x4 in Colorado junkyard.
1975 IHC 200 4x4 in Colorado junkyard.
1975 IHC 200 4x4 in Colorado junkyard.
1975 IHC 200 4x4 in Colorado junkyard.
1975 IHC 200 4x4 in Colorado junkyard.
1975 IHC 200 4x4 in Colorado junkyard.
1975 IHC 200 4x4 in Colorado junkyard.
1975 IHC 200 4x4 in Colorado junkyard.
1975 IHC 200 4x4 in Colorado junkyard.
1975 IHC 200 4x4 in Colorado junkyard.
1975 IHC 200 4x4 in Colorado junkyard.
1975 IHC 200 4x4 in Colorado junkyard.
1975 IHC 200 4x4 in Colorado junkyard.
1975 IHC 200 4x4 in Colorado junkyard.
1975 IHC 200 4x4 in Colorado junkyard.
1975 IHC 200 4x4 in Colorado junkyard.
1975 IHC 200 4x4 in Colorado junkyard.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Hagerty and The Truth About Cars.
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The local Springfield OH International Truck Plant was just sold to a defense contractor thus ending International's 120 year presence in Springfield. The last vehicles I saw produced there were trucks for GM - GMCs and Chevrolets - under contract. It was the city's largest and most important employer for most of its existence. Lots of history there particularly with its union and the whip-sawing with the Fort Wayne plant for jobs as well as other things. Oh, and that rust you see on this truck was a no-cost option added at assembly with the empty beer cans zipped up in fenders and gravel in the tires - all added by the kids I went to school with - that came with union contract times.
This is one strange IH pickup. The VIN plate clearly shows it to be a late 1974 model 200 pickup, but the whole front end is a 1971 model 1210. The grille is the 1971 one-year-only plastic egg-crate grille. The hood is no newer than 1973. The 1974 and 1975 IH pickups had different shaped hoods that would not fit on a pre-1974 model pickup...