International Scout to resurrected as EV's

[Todd780]

This is interesting:

Volkswagen Is Reviving the Scout as an Electric SUV and Pickup

Yes, you read that right. America's long-dead SUV brand will be returning thanks to... Volkswagen?

www.roadandtrack.com

 

[Paddler Ed]

The IPO approach I think aligns with how some other manufacturers are scaling up and the spinning out a different sales model for EVs - for example, look at Geely with Volvo and Polestar. Polestar was the performance bit of Volvo once Volvo bought and brought them in house, but it was decided that it was better as a separate entity moving forward with the next vehicles. These are still built on the EV platform, but are now distinctly different.

 

[SDDiver5]

Could be cool. I've owned numerous IH vehicles and currently have a 1970 800 SR2. Scouts are legendary in my opinion and I am not sure how I'd feel about it. But would be cool to get one in orange and take a side by side picture!

 

[Martinjmpr]

Hmmm..."Let's market a "New Scout" to people whose grandparents barely remember the original?" Doesn't sound like a good business plan to me.

This is like a "gritty reboot" of a movie that wasn't that good in the first place.

And I say that as a guy whose first two vehicles were Internationals (a 1957 Travelall I bought in '79 and a 67 Travelall I bought in '81.)

 

[SDDiver5]

Hmmm..."Let's market a "New Scout" to people whose grandparents barely remember the original?" Doesn't sound like a good business plan to me.

This is like a "gritty reboot" of a movie that wasn't that good in the first place.

And I say that as a guy whose first two vehicles were Internationals (a 1957 Travelall I bought in '79 and a 67 Travelall I bought in '81.)

I bet that 57 looked pretty darn awesome tho!! I loved that front end. Classic American 50's style.

Most people have forgotten about them but once they remember them, there's always a story or memory.

 

[Hopeless Diamond]

Well, let's hope they do a better job than Chevy's reboot of the Blazer.

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

There were a few in Oz.
This one was at Kalumburu in 2006-8, in fact I reckon he had 2?
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[Martinjmpr]

I bet that 57 looked pretty darn awesome tho!! I loved that front end. Classic American 50's style.

Most people have forgotten about them but once they remember them, there's always a story or memory.

Well, two sad things about that old 'Binder:

1. Being a dumb kid, I didn't really know how to take care of it, never changed the oil in 2 years, and it had constant intermittent electrical problems even after I had some of the wiring redone at considerable cost (around $1000 in 1981 which would be like $4k today.) It was actually in pristine condition with no rust and except for the gas gauge, literally everything else worked on the truck. It would be so cool to have a truck like that now!

2. For some reason, even though I owned a camera, I have very few photos from that time in my life (ages 18 - 25.) So I actually have no photos of the truck. About 25 years ago I saw an almost identical truck in Charlotte, NC and took photos of that. It was definitely not my old truck but it looked very similar to it.

Regarding point no. 2: When I was in that age, my late teens to early 20's, I didn't take pictures because I wasn't really thinking about trying to preserve any memories for the future. I was too busy living in the moment. I have to say there are times when I miss that kind of spontaneous approach to life.

 

[plainjaneFJC]

Were the originals good vehicles? I know nothing about them, just curious

 

[Maddmatt]

OK, I'm jumping on the real thread - duh. They were great for the purpose they were built for, but no rust proofing. Absolute tanks, drank gas like water, leaked oil like Harley's but nearly always got you home. When I traded mine in as a dumb kid (for a '79 RX7, so not really a bad trade) they had to page us - the service crew couldn't figure out to start it - clutch to the floor, gear shift in neutral, pump the gas one and a half times, then slowly lean into the gas pedal as the engine started to catch.... what's so hard about that?

Mostly I just like seeing these other SUV EV's coming to the market, more selection will start bringing prices down and charging places up, and battery technology will continue improving....

 

[ricoisme26]

I have always loved the scout II, never owned one, if I could build a family beach cruiser/sunday driver a scout II is near the top of my list above the original broncos and blazers. I'd settle for a bronco or blazer only because they seem to be easier to find in salvageable condition.

Maybe the new EV Scout will be my first foray into EVs, currently scoping out a hybrid pickup for around that time frame but will likely go full size, maybe the wife will need a new car around that time and I can coax her into one of these

 

[gkieser92]

Maybe it's my latent boomer genes, but I hate when a car company slaps a classic name on a new model that has nothing to do with the original spirit of the model. Like the Mustang Mach E. A SUV should never be a Mustang and a Mustang can never be a SUV. Scouts are the antithesis of the sanitized, soulless EVs of today. I've long thought there could be a market for an EV that could produce the mechanical feel of a ICE with the noise, vibration and character we grew up with. I want an 80-series that just happens to run on electrons instead of petrochemicals. Maybe the EV Scout could be that, but given what I've seen from Volvo lately, it will resemble an elegant dishwasher more than an old-school Scout.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Were the originals good vehicles? I know nothing about them, just curious

Eh, they were OK. No better or worse than any other vehicle of that era.

Compared to modern vehicles, ALL of the 1960's trucks and SUVs were overweight, underpowered, undersprung, noisy, slow, thirsty, polluting, poorly handling, unsafe, and unreliable.

Anybody who says otherwise is either looking backwards with extremely rose-tinted glasses or has never actually owned one. I've owned 3 (the 2 International's previously mentioned, plus a 1971 Blazer.)

Remember that cars used to come with 5 digit odometers for a reason. Also remember that until the 1980s it was common for most roads and streets to have a nice slick of oil from all the fluids dripping down from vehicles. Take a look at any photos of highways or streets from the 1960s or 70s and you'll see what I'm talking about.

The Scout II (introduced in 1971 I think) was also made of the cheapest steel that could be found and they are hideously prone to rust, particularly in the underbody, rocker panels, fenders, etc. My brother had one that you could see the highway through the floor as you drove because of rust holes.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Were the originals good vehicles? I know nothing about them, just curious

At the risk of jumping into the "generation wars" that seem to light up social media there seems to be a weird trend among baby boomers and Gen Xe'rs (and I say that as a young boomer, born in 61', so really right on the cusp of the boomer/X era) to try and imbue the things of their youth with magical or supernatural qualities of value or performance. You will hear people extol the awesomeness of, say the original Mustang or the GTO or the Jeep Wagoneer or the Early Bronco. They will speak of them in hushed, reverential tones as if they were a relic of some ancient advanced civilization we'll never understand. "That car was so fast I couldn't believe it" they'll say about the Mustang. "I could go anywhere in that thing!" they'll say about the Bronco.

In reality, you could smoke an original Mustang with a cheap Hyundai. The Hyundai is quicker, faster, more reliable, quieter, safer, and more comfortable than that old Mustang will ever be.

In reality, that Early Bronco was a pig. It handled like a grocery cart, drank gas like a wino, and if you got 40,000 miles out of it without a major repair, you were lucky. Ditto for that International Scout or Blazer. Even the early Land Cruisers weren't that great compared to today (although the Japanese quality control made everybody in the automotive industry up their game, and we're all the better for it.)

What is happening, of course, is that people are confusing their fond nostalgic memories of the past with an actual vehicle and trying to impute the youthful, carefree freedom of youth onto the vehicle itself, all filtered through a heavy-haze of rose colored nostalgia about a past that wasn't all that great, if you look at it objectively.

Unfortunately, car companies know that people who think like this have lots of $$ to spend, so they devote a lot of energy to selling these middle aged dreamers something that promises them a return to their youth.

But just like a re-make of a so-so movie or TV series, it's never going to have the impact of the original, because the impact of the original was that it was new, unique and we experienced it when we were young and innocent.

You can re-create the 'Stang, or the Bronco, or the Wagoneer, but you can never re-create that youthful innocence no matter how hard you try.

 

[Jupiter58]

Were the originals good vehicles? I know nothing about them, just curious

You can’t ask that question on this site! Anything made before 1980 with 60 hp, drum brakes, bias ply tires and a front seat like a park bench is a million times better than anything made today!!!!!

I don’t remember them as well as some others but I had a 60s Land Rover that had a top speed of about 50 mph and the scouts I do recall seemed similar, very utilitarian and rugged but some what more dependable. not quite as road worthy as a bronco back then.