I went into the project convinced I was going to be a ace wrench in no time, though. Surely, even a clumsy and sheltered city boy like myself could learn how to repair and maintain a machine as basic as a tractor.
Andrew Collins over at Jalopnik totals up what a year cost him to own a Scout that he traded for a high-mileage Toyota Tundra. I’d say he made out pretty good.
I thought I might get out and shoot a couple of pictures of the Scout with the changing leaves in the background before they all got blown away. It was a good thing I did, because they all got blown away today.
Amazon just delivered this huge tome to the house: the International Scout Encyclopedia, co-written by the owner of Super Scout Specialists, the preeminent IH Light Line dealer. I’ve skimmed the first chapter so far, and it’s a trove of amazing pictures, history, and trivia.
Here’s an excellent article on how to use a Hi-Lift jack for all kinds of things from the Overland Journal. When I bought my Hi-Lift I knew how it worked but there are a lot of little tips the author includes that make it essential reading.
Bill Caswell was internet famous a couple of years ago for buying and rallying an untested E30 in the Mexico leg of the World Rally Championship. He came in third.
Apparently last year he quietly bought a race Scout from Facebook and parked it at a friend’s house, and just now got to telling the world about it. This promises to be very, very good.
I did some minor fooling around with the Scout today while the weather was warm. One of the easiest things to accomplish was swapping out the windshield wipers. I used ANCO 5913’s, which come with a bolt and nut ready for mounting (Thanks, Mike Moore!). All I had to do was pull the old blades and grind the rivet off with a multifunction saw, and bolt the new blades on. Make sure your kits have the nut included; one of mine didn’t. I had to use a 1/2″ 14/40 bolt and a locknut from my bench stock to hook up the second blade.
Then I pulled the dash bezel off to try and get the radio working again (turned out it was the ground wire, which we had disconnected when we were diagnosing the fuel sender issue back in the fall). Wile I was in there I pulled both purple-painted light bars out and replaced them with clean spares.Then I tried getting the speedo out to replace some bulbs, but couldn’t get it to come through the dash cutout, so I gave it up and put everything back.
A couple of years ago, when I was in between Scouts, I rode along with a neighbor of mine to a Land Rover meetup at a restaurant in Columbia. We hung out, talked trucks, and then walked inside for some lunch. It was a real easygoing way to meet new people.
Recently I got to thinking about all the guys with Scouts who I’ve met over the years who don’t know each other or haven’t found the Binder Planet, and thought I might try to get a group together for the same kind of gathering. I started emailing folks in the Baltimore area and soon the word was out.
We met at the Famous Dave’s in Columbia this morning, and by noon we had about 15 guys with 6 trucks in attendance. First to arrive were Erik M. and Stu S., followed by Stephen G. with a beautiful red 6(6?) 1200 pickup. Next was Brian T., coming in from the Eastern Shore with his Scout, and Jesse A. from Annapolis came in with his Scout right after noon. We also had a bunch of guys who have trucks in the shop– Jason H., who is doing an engine transplant and bodywork, my neighbors the Dunmires, who have a Scout II in the middle of bodywork, Brian H., whose Wagonmaster is currently with Mike Moore in Virginia, and Pate M. from the Eastern Shore, whose Scout II is also in the middle of serious surgery. Carl B. came in from the west side of town as we were finishing up lunch, the victim of some overheating issues.
We hung out in the parking lot for a couple of hours with our hoods up shooting the breeze, and every once in a while someone would slowly cruise past and stare at our trucks. We even got a nod of approval from a guy in a lifted diesel Ford.
Then, we went inside for some beer and barbecue. (I took no pictures inside, sorry).
When we walked back outside, gray skies had turned sunny, and we stood out in the lot for another hour or so talking trucks.
I had run into the Target before everyone arrived to see if they had a couple of Matchbox Scouts, meaning to give them out for stuff like “rustiest truck” and “farthest distance driven”. This guy got one just cause he was cool.
All in all, it was a great day, and I hope everyone had a good time.
A couple of weeks ago, I started thinking about a Land Rover meetup I went to with my neighbor, who (at that time) owned a Defender 90. We met at a barbecue restaurant in Columbia, parked our trucks in a corner of the lot, and spent the next two hours shooting the shit. It was friendly, informal, and fun (I was Scoutless at the time), and I thought it might be fun to gather the IH guys I’ve met in the area for the same kind of day.
I sent out a big email to everyone I could think of, and within two weeks’ time I’ve got fifteen people committed with five trucks (many are immobile due to ongoing restoration efforts) and possibly more. The cool thing is that there are people I’ve met through the weblog and parts gathering who don’t know or haven’t met the other guys, so it’ll be good to get everyone together in one place. I also suggested doing an informal swap meet while we’re together, and hopefully there will be some horsetrading happening too.