I think its safe to say we have a bit of Scoutmania right now here at the Autopian. Especially our Editor-In-Cheese David, who was actually at the event, saw the pre-production cars, and even plopped down his own cash as a deposit on one! He’s smitten, and his enthusiasm seems to be infectious, just like his pink eye was a couple months ago. I’m not immune to either Scoutmania or pink eye, so I’d like to take a moment to remind you that the original Scout had some incredible examples of the sorts of cars we call Glorious Garbage.
International Harvester, as its name suggests, wasn’t really a carmaker, even though they did make cars. Well, trucks and SUVs, but still, you get what I mean. Their core business was agricultural machines like tractors and combines and that sort of thing. So they weren’t always the most adept at selling and marketing cars, and sometimes their attempts lead to some strange, half-assed and desperate solutions. Like the Shawnee Scout.
And, yes, Shawnee in the name refers to the Shawnee Native American tribe, and yes those are tomahawks and feathers on the rear quarter graphics, and yes it’s the most crude sort of stereotyping and appropriating and commoditizing of a people as you can imagine. It was the ’70s, nobody was particularly thoughtful about this sort of thing. That’s not to excuse anything, but just to give context.
The Shawnee Scout was the result of International Harvester realizing in the late ’70s that things could be going better, so they got an ex-AMC bigwig, Jim Bostic, to help them out. Bostic was smart enough to realize that it was unlikely IH would be able to sell a bunch more Scouts, so instead they needed to make the Scouts they did sell higher-margin things. Less basic, farm-spec Scouts, more high-profit Scouts, whatever they are.
Bostic’s idea of a more appealing, higher-profit Scout seems to have come about in part from what was likely his work at AMC with Hurst, where they partnered to make the popular SC/Rambler special edition fast rambler.
Hurst stepped up again with the Shawnee Scout, though this time there weren’t really any notable performance enhancements, just some mildly questionable body modifications.
What’s amazing about the Shawnee Scout was how much of the Scout II metal was removed and replaced with a combination of plastic and air. Here’s what the big modifications were for the Shawnee Scout, according to the text on the back of a press photo:
“Shawnee Scout” was developed in cooperation with Hurst Performance Products as unique high style street and off road performance four-wheel drive vehicle. The two-passenger Shawnee Scout has a distinctive targa-styled roof with integral roll bar and removable roof panel. The rear storage area is protected by a lockable tilt-up molded tonneau cover.
The Shawnee Scout in some ways seems like an experiment in how leaky Hurst could make a Scout II. The roof is replaced with a targa-style hoop and removable panel that almost definitely would leak, the doors, most comically, were replaced by these fiberglass inserts that allowed the use of flimsy canvas Jeep-style doors, also prolific leakers, and the rear of the car, freed of any seats, now had the truck bed area covered by a plastic hinged tonneau cover that I suspect, if given the right amount of rain and a chance, leaked too.
The whole thing is pretty fun, I have to admit, and as ridiculous as I find those inserts that allow for decent doors to be easily replaced with crappy doors, I kind of love them, too. The changes all do allow the Scout II to become as open and bare as any Jeep CJ of the era, and it does seem like this could have been a flashy something to get people to remember the Scout exists.
The predicted cost for the Shawnee Scout Package would have come to about the equivalent $15,000 in today’s money, though, kind of a hard sell as it also significantly impedes the utility of the Scout, if you make the grave error of looking at it rationally.
In the end, only three were ever built, two of which are known to still exist today, and you can see one of them in this, holy crap, hour-long talk about them:
I’m not sure a three-off really counts as Glorious Garbage because I usually like to say that to qualify for this important honor, it needs to be a production car, but what the hell, I’m feeling magnamous.
In that same sense of magnanimity, I’ll loosen up the Glorious Garbage gates and tell you about some special edition Scouts made by an outside company instead of the OEM: CVI.
CVI, or Custom Vehicles Incorporated, a company that seems to have come from another company tellingly named Good Times, Inc, made what appears to be a bewildering variety of special-edition Scouts. Part of why they got into this business may have to do with their location, which was right by the IH factory in Fort Wayne, Indiana. They were almost all just decal-and-paint kits with a variety of stick-on plastic things, sometimes including center-console coolers, = but they were undeniably fun.
Take the Hot Stuff edition, for example. Vivid red paint, lots of hot-color stripes, a blacked-out hood, and $6 worth of 2x4s acting as wooden bed rails. Silly, sure, but, again, fun.
There was also one called the Shadow, and another one almost indistinguishable called the Raven, and these were imposing black-painted Scouts with silver stripes and, most excitingly, some of the biggest window louvers I’ve ever seen. Look at those things, covering the whole long rear quarter windows!
Also, that model has to be the least well-paired with that car of almost any press or brochure photo I’ve ever seen. A suburban mom with a Dorthy Hamill haircut just isn’t what I’d expect the target market of a murdered-out black SUV to be, but what do I know? Am I a late-’70s/early ’80s midwest focus group market analyst? Not even close. At least not yet.
Okay, one more of these, and I saved the most bonkers one for last. CVI wasn’t the only company out there making special edition Scouts – a company called Midas Van Conversion made a bunch, too, and they would sometimes do small runs for special clients. Clients like the most famous ginger ale maker, Canada Dry.
I’ve seen different numbers for how many of these were made in 1979, but it seems around 20. These had Canada Dry livery, with ginger-ale colored stripes over a forest green base, with the Canada Dry shield logo on the rear quarters. Were these used by the company? Were they sold to hardcore ginger ale and tonic water freaks? I’m honestly not sure.
Midas also made a lot of Scouts that were all sorta-luxuried out, with wildly thick shag carpet that would swallow your feet up to the ankles, and more coarse-tecxtured plaid couch fabric than a thousand church rec rooms. Also, check out the twin pop-up roof windows! And, even better, this astounding installation of a digital clock:
Just look at that thing: the angled VFD numerals, all the buttons, the thick fabric it’s encased in, the olive-quilted panel above it – wow.
There’s extra glory in this garbage, my friends, and I hope you can all really drink it in.
I’m wondering if the Canada Dry thing was for a giveaway contest of some sort, like those Schweppes Edition BCW Ascots (Chevette based MGTD replicas) that were done in the ’80s
All of these special editions look like they were designed by folks that spent their youth indoors playing with Colorforms while normal kids were outside playing in the dirt and building up healthy immune systems. Perhaps, even immunity to these kinds of vehicular graffiti, which might account for the low production numbers. I do kinda like the Canada Dry version, but don’t let that get out.
Welp, I know how I’m wrapping my Scout when it comes out Canada Dry here we come!
You know, if the new Scout revived some of these graphic treatments there would be NOBODY confusing it with a Rivian. Not to mention plaid seats and headliner. Just sayin’
I suspect “right amount of rain” was ANY rain, and probably morning dew, when it came to that tonneau cover leaking. Certainly my great-uncle’s regular Scout had great difficulty keeping water on the outside, even with proper doors, windows, and a roof. All of which leaked.
Given the propensity of Scouts to be absolute world-champion rot-boxes, I am surprised Dave Tracy has only just now discovered the brand. Perhaps they can make a Rust Edition of the new one just for him?
My great-uncle actually loved that Scout (the only NEW vehicle he ever bought) so much he spent some absolutely stupid amount of money (family rumor is six-figures) having it restored to a level of perfection the factory never, ever achieved after he retired. Still has it, never leaves his barn other than on the very nicest of days. I suspect it still would leak in the rain.
What’s the cutoff point between leak and flood, ‘cause I’m thinking some of these Scouts came pretty close to allowing the latter?
A leak requires a repair.
A flood gets you a new title.
Great Uncle shoulda got the Canada Dry version.
Because that would have stayed Dry – It’s says so right there on the doors!
I see mention of the Midas editions, but the discussion isn’t complete. Swivel seats, added a third row, and the most amazing plaid and leather interiors ever produced. Pure 70s Gold. I love them. You need more pics for that Midas stuff. I truly hope to rebuild my 71 Travelall interior using HEAVY inspiration from those interiors.