There’s something funny about rare cars. It’s always wonderful to see one in great condition, looking as shiny as it was the day it left the showroom. But it’s often more intriguing to see one that was left forgotten, having spent many forlorn decades being battered by the elements. This rare “Spirit of 76” International Harvester Scout fits that bill nicely.
This rare find was brought to our attention by Joe Ligo. You’ve probably heard that name before. He’s the man behind The Last Independent Automaker, a sprawling documentary series on the rise and full of American Motors Corporation. Joe has a great eye for classic American steel, and particularly for products outside of the Big Three.
The Spirit of 76 is one of those top-tier trim packs that became iconic as soon as it was released. They were manufactured in quite limited numbers, and remain prized on the classic market today. Let’s examine what made the Spirit of 76 special while taking a closer look at this beleaguered junkyard example.
Can You Ski?
As covered in the International Scout Encyclopedia, the Spirit of 76 came about when the company decided to build Scouts for the US ski team headed to the Winter Olympics, in Innsbruck, Austria. It started with 17 Scouts built for the team. The mix of Travelers and Scout II Traveltops wore red and blue stripes over Winter White paint, as well as special US Ski Team decals. All examples were four-wheel-drive, with V8 engines paired with automatic transmissions.
An example of the livery used by the US Ski Team Scouts in 1976. Note the team decal on the front fender.
The handsome vehicles caught plenty of attention. They effectively ended up spawning an option package for regular customers, whether they could ski or not. 1976 was the bicentennial of the United States, and the Styling team at International was looking to build a special edition to celebrate the milestone. The red, white, and blue scheme from the ski team trucks were perfect, merely requiring the deletion of the US Ski Team decal for civilian use.
Customers could order the Spirit applique option on Scout IIs in Winter White, but only on 100-inch wheelbase models with the Traveltop delete. Customers got the decals, a blue interior, and a color-matched roll bar. The trucks also featured blue soft tops, and could be had with any of the existing drivetrain combinations.
International would also eventually offer a hardtop version known as the Patriot in both 100- and 118-inch wheelbase versions. Otherwise, it was largely the same. There was also the Sno Star, which was basically a Patriot with a luggage rack and ski holder as standard.
All in all, International built just 369 Spirit of ’76 models. Production records suggest a further 42 Patriots and 6 Sno Stars were built as well. With over 500,000 Scouts produced by International Harvester, the special ’76 models are some of the rarer examples out there.
Worse For Wear
The distinctive nature of the decals made this an easy spot in the junkyard. Joe picked it out from the crowd immediately amidst a broader collection of other rusty International products.
This example has apparently been languishing in Pennsylvania for some time. On the surface of it, it appears to be a genuine Spirit of ’76 build from the factory. The seller claims the Scout II was parked in the woods, Joe says, noting “It looks like it had leaves on it,” and adding “According to the registration sticker, the Spirit of ‘76 Scout was last on the road in 1986.”
The owner claims this has a V8 engine with air conditioning, along with the factory AM/FM radio and alloy wheels. They state that the body needs “extensive sheet metal work” but that “the frame appears to be good.” You’d be best advised to use your own judgement.
It’s obvious that there is little to no structural integrity left in the body. Just about every panel is full of rust holes and generally falling apart. Save for the front and rear bumpers, which appear solid, shiny, and chrome.
Inside, the basics are all there—the dash, the steering wheel, the shifter and all that. Don’t get your hopes up though, as the seats are trashed, and there are real questions about whether there’s enough metal left in the floor to support the weight of a driver or passengers. We’re told that there are only 53,736 miles on the clock, so it seems most of the body damage is down to the ravages of time, rather than excessive use.
Fundamentally, buying this thing is one step above buying a VIN plate off a burnt-out shell. Perhaps you could save a body panel or two, but most of it is probably beyond repair. If it’s legit, you might be buying a real Spirit of ’76 Scout II, but you wouldn’t have much left of it by the time you were done restoring it.
If you want to snatch this up, it’s currently being sold for $4,900 on Facebook Marketplace. That’s a fair chunk of change for a vehicle in this state of decay. However, if you’re so patriotic that only a factory-spec Spirit of ’76 will do, you might not have any other choice. Just plan to rebuild pretty much the entire body, given that rust has claimed so much of what was once there.
Image credits: Joe Ligo, Facebook Marketplace, IH, FILMIX via YouTube screenshot, IHScout.com
Should’a left it in the woods.
Anything can be fixed, I’ve seen full on bodies handformed. Just the starting price is ridicules even if it was free..
Its actually extremely well-preserved, I’ll bet that rust was exactly the same in 1981.
This reminds me of the 1972 Sprint Mustang (AKA USA edition) that my old man brought home one day in the late 80’s. Similar to this Harvester, Ford released a bunch of “Sprint” packages for Mustang, Maverick, and Pinto – basically it was a white car with a USA shield on the rear quarter, blue rockers and a thin red stripe separating it from the white. They also had a very 70’s interior combo of medium blue vinyl seats, dash, and carpet with white panel cards. Like most of his finds, he bought it because someone he knew needed money. It sat around for a while until he figured out that he had no interest in actually owning it. At that point, the thing was about 15 years old, had some questionable modifications done (like replacing the grille in lieu of black steel mesh), and it didn’t like to stay running. I drove it once – didn’t feel the need to do it again. These things were fairly rare, but it’s not the kind of rare that most people actually care about.
[piano music] Let it gooo, let it gooo…
And nothing of value was lost.