Category: Inspiration

Hagerty released its 2020 Bull Market List, a wrap-up of classic vehicles they predict will rise the most in value in the coming year. Smack in the middle of that list is the 72-80 Scout II. Some takeaways:

• They say the usual dumb stuff—”parts can be difficult to find.”
• Also: “Gen X is 56 percent of the quotes, and if Gen X likes it, the values are going to go up.”
• “American rivals such as the Ford Bronco and Chevy Blazer have out-appreciated the Scout.” Really? I don’t see Chevy Blazers anywhere. Early Broncos are everywhere, but I fail to believe a second-gen squarebody Blazer is more valuable than a Scout. Maybe a mint condition K5.
• The comments are divided, but I see more than one person saying they’d only take the Scout and the Ferrari from the total list of 10 vehicles.
• I’ve owned two of the other vehicles on this list: the Honda CRX and the Jeep Cherokee.

It looks like Scouts are popular on Instagram; my feed was topped with Peer Pressure this year.

Hey, would you look at that! Scrolling through the Instagram feed of a Scout acquaintance, I noticed he’d taken a picture of a magazine spread about the 2018 IH Nationals in FourWheeler magazine. He’s the fellow grilling lunch on the front bumper of his Scout.

But if you look carefully behind him, you might notice a particular purple-and-red-and-yellow Scout.

I’m going to order a back copy of the magazine just to say I’ve been in FourWheeler.

This thread on the Binder Planet is amazing: a guy in Pennsylvania bought a roached out Scout II and decided he was going to rebuild the tub one part at a time. He started in September of 2018 and he’s already got the tub bedlined and in the middle of sanding and blocking. His metalwork skills are superb. This makes me want a full shop and a couple of months of spare time SO BAD.

Well, hello there. Four of my dash lights, which have been dead for about three years, suddenly woke themselves back up during a beer run this evening. The contacts on the back of each of these gauge pods (temp and oil are in one pod, alt and fuel are in the other) are finicky, and thus not reliable at 40 years of age.

I haven’t had a working speedo light in about 10 years, so I’m hopeful that one will wake up too.

Well looky here: Hagerty released its list of 25 hottest collector vehicles for this year, and the 72-80 IH Scout II is 17th on the list. (The list is based on vehicles quoted by the insurer, along with auction and private sale results). At the top of the list: the Jeep Wagoneer and the Ford Early Bronco. This tracks with what we’ve been seeing in the Scout market over the past 10 years—demand is rising.