International Scout Terra

Introduction

During the 1970’s the American adage that “Big is Beautiful” usually held true, but there were a few notable exceptions.

Ford had proved this with their top selling Bronco, small by US standards it was able to go places the bigger 4x4’s simply were unable to go, mainly because of their sheer size!

International followed suit with the Scout Terra, but in the process stole a march on the opposition by producing it as a pick-up which was smaller than other 4WD pick-ups on the market.

It proved an immediate salesroom winner for International, putting the company into a market segment it had never previously tapped.

But by Australian standards the Terra was far from being a mini pick-up. It may have been considered small when compared to US Ford and Chevrolet iterations,  but for Australians it was still huge – it using the forever imposing 2997mm wheelbase and chassis of the Traveler, giving it an overall length of 4674mm.

Once again the bullet-proof 5.6 litre V8 was carried over from the Traveler, although you could option the smaller 5.0 litre V8 along with a 3.2 litre 4 cylinder engine. In-between was a 3.2 litre six cylinder version manufactured by Nissan, it featuring a turbocharger manufactured by AiResearch.

Any engine choice could be mated to one of three transmission choices, the standard 3 speed manual, the optional 4 speed manual or Chrysler sourced TorqueFlite 3 speed automatic transmission.

Other options included a trailer towing package and the Suntanner convertible top for the rear load area. It didn’t sell particularly well, but was an accomplished no-nonsense utility, featuring rugged good combined with equal strength and durability.