International Harvester was founded in Chicago, at first concerned with the manufacture of agricultural machinery and construction equipment. It came about as the result of a 1902 merger between the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and Deering Harvester Company, along with three smaller agricultural equipment firms: Milwaukee; Plano; and Warder, Bushnell, and Glessner (manufacturers of Champion brand).
The first major product from International Harvester was the Titan 10-20 and 15-30 tractor; then in 1924 came the “Farmall” tractor, a smaller general-purpose iteration designed to fend off competition from the Ford Motor Company's “Fordson” tractors. In automotive terms, International Harvester is best remembered as a maker of relatively successful and innovative “light” line of vehicles, competing directly against the Big 3. The most common were pickup trucks, the “Scout” models being the most known to Australians.
The Scout started out as a small “Jeep” style 2 door SUV, then in 1972 came the Scout II, and from 1974 onward “Dana 44” axles, power steering and power disk brakes became standard. The Scout Traveler and Terra were released in 1978, they being longer than a standard Scout II. International Harvester would abandon sales of passenger vehicles in 1980 to concentrate on commercial trucks and school buses. Today the pickups and Scouts are minor cult orphaned vehicles, although they are rarely seen on Australian roads today. |
