61scout80's '61 Scout 80
Tell us about your Scout:
TLDR; guy is obsessed with his rusty hunk of iron for nearly two decades and depreciates his nice neighborhood by dragging it home. You can relate? Good. Read on.
Back in 2001 I learned about rock crawling. I was just out of school, living with my parents, not making much money but had to have something. A friend's uncle passed and they didn't want anything to do with his '61 Scout 80. I did. They sold it to me for $150.
I was thrilled. "Straight axle, I could afford it and it wasn't a Jeep like everyone else had!". I had no idea that that Dana 27s were weak, the 4-cylinder weighs as much as an SBC with none of the power, and overall it was meant to be a little runabout at best. Didn't matter. I LOVED that Scout even if I didn't know they existed before walking in that garage.
My friend's Uncle Bob bought it new in '61. He drove it from Bear Creek Pa to Maine once a year for a week of fishing. When he got older it became his plow truck, then it sat. For years. The door hinges were rusted solid. It was so rotted they still opened but where the fender meets the nose became the hinge point. The doors would lay flat on the ground while attached. But hey, it's a one-owner 40-year-old 'truck' with 33k miles. And I don't care about rust, I'm going to cut it up and wheel it! It's awesome!
It took me two years. Bought it 10/10/02, and got it reasonably mobile in '04. Only had one hospital visit due to a lung infection from all the rust dust. I think I had at least 3 Scout 80's and 2 scout IIs torn down for what little was salvageable to get this mobile. I learned a lot, spent as little as possible and it was nowhere near what I wanted it to be, but driving it was so rewarding.
It was an amazing summer. I met an awesome girl who became my wife a few years later. I changed jobs to make a bit more money, moved out of my parent's place into an apartment with the girl and we took a trip to Phoenix. I saw pics online and had to see the place in person.
We ended up loving Phoenix. We were determined to move there by any means necessary. When she became a paramedic we did. Jobs were plentiful and they would cover the move. I backed the Scout into my parent's yard, we scrimped and saved, a couple of months later we moved to Arizona. I was determined to come get my scout as soon as I could, even without a job lined up before heading out.
We rented for 2 years, found a suburb we liked, and in 12/2007 signed a contract on a new construction house. The mortgage was less than our rent so we thought we were set. Things were great. Saved up some money, and had a place, it was time to get my Scout.
No it wasn't. The housing crash came. My wife lost her good paying full-time job and couldn't find anything. Ended up working as a per diem tech at a hospital for half her previous hourly rate. She had an hour and a half commute on a good day while most were 2 hours each way. I started getting furloughed for weeks at a time. We burned through our savings, and had weeks, sometimes a month of no income. I was told by the manager at Jack in the Box that he wouldn't hire me because I would leave when my job picked back up. He wanted long term employees. There was nothing I could do. We were in trouble, lost everything. Closed a short sale of the house with $85 to our names.
That lit a fire in my wife like I never expected. The world would never take from her again. She went from paramedic to associate nurse, to bachelor's nurse then into the absolute hell of grad school for anesthesia. My shy and quiet wife was determined to teach the world that she isn't to be messed with. The whole time she told me she was buying me that diesel truck I've dreamed of for my entire adult life, then we're taking it to get the Scout. She was motivated by that so I went along, never believing a word of it.
It was a lot of years, a lot of misery. 4 interstate moves and she got her first job administering anesthesia here in Louisville. We bought an incredible log home on 5 acres with a shop. SHE required a shop for scout. SHE insisted we buy my truck. In may of 2020 she said "fuel is cheap, no one's on the road. Let's go get your Scout." I couldn't believe I might actually get my Scout.
16 years had passed since I parked my scout. Even I didn't believe myself when I said I'd get it someday. I figured it would be nothing but dust that fell apart when I tried to move it. Turns out the plucky little international was waiting patiently and isn't much worse off than when I parked it.
I can't believe it. My beloved 'someday' rotted-out little truck is actually in my driveway and I've since started on the restoration. I never thought it would happen.
I dreamed about just getting the thing for so long that I was not even sure what I want to do with it. One thing's for sure, I'm going to be quite choked up when I get this nearly forgotten piece of American history brought back to life and we get to take a ride.
Since bringing it home I was able to get started on the restoration, which is going as slow as expected. I've also snapped up another Scout. The second is rust-free from California. I paid $750 for that one, and roughly $4,000 in fuel, food, and hotels taking the trip to pick it up. I guess that's love?
Back in 2001 I learned about rock crawling. I was just out of school, living with my parents, not making much money but had to have something. A friend's uncle passed and they didn't want anything to do with his '61 Scout 80. I did. They sold it to me for $150.
I was thrilled. "Straight axle, I could afford it and it wasn't a Jeep like everyone else had!". I had no idea that that Dana 27s were weak, the 4-cylinder weighs as much as an SBC with none of the power, and overall it was meant to be a little runabout at best. Didn't matter. I LOVED that Scout even if I didn't know they existed before walking in that garage.
My friend's Uncle Bob bought it new in '61. He drove it from Bear Creek Pa to Maine once a year for a week of fishing. When he got older it became his plow truck, then it sat. For years. The door hinges were rusted solid. It was so rotted they still opened but where the fender meets the nose became the hinge point. The doors would lay flat on the ground while attached. But hey, it's a one-owner 40-year-old 'truck' with 33k miles. And I don't care about rust, I'm going to cut it up and wheel it! It's awesome!
It took me two years. Bought it 10/10/02, and got it reasonably mobile in '04. Only had one hospital visit due to a lung infection from all the rust dust. I think I had at least 3 Scout 80's and 2 scout IIs torn down for what little was salvageable to get this mobile. I learned a lot, spent as little as possible and it was nowhere near what I wanted it to be, but driving it was so rewarding.
It was an amazing summer. I met an awesome girl who became my wife a few years later. I changed jobs to make a bit more money, moved out of my parent's place into an apartment with the girl and we took a trip to Phoenix. I saw pics online and had to see the place in person.
We ended up loving Phoenix. We were determined to move there by any means necessary. When she became a paramedic we did. Jobs were plentiful and they would cover the move. I backed the Scout into my parent's yard, we scrimped and saved, a couple of months later we moved to Arizona. I was determined to come get my scout as soon as I could, even without a job lined up before heading out.
We rented for 2 years, found a suburb we liked, and in 12/2007 signed a contract on a new construction house. The mortgage was less than our rent so we thought we were set. Things were great. Saved up some money, and had a place, it was time to get my Scout.
No it wasn't. The housing crash came. My wife lost her good paying full-time job and couldn't find anything. Ended up working as a per diem tech at a hospital for half her previous hourly rate. She had an hour and a half commute on a good day while most were 2 hours each way. I started getting furloughed for weeks at a time. We burned through our savings, and had weeks, sometimes a month of no income. I was told by the manager at Jack in the Box that he wouldn't hire me because I would leave when my job picked back up. He wanted long term employees. There was nothing I could do. We were in trouble, lost everything. Closed a short sale of the house with $85 to our names.
That lit a fire in my wife like I never expected. The world would never take from her again. She went from paramedic to associate nurse, to bachelor's nurse then into the absolute hell of grad school for anesthesia. My shy and quiet wife was determined to teach the world that she isn't to be messed with. The whole time she told me she was buying me that diesel truck I've dreamed of for my entire adult life, then we're taking it to get the Scout. She was motivated by that so I went along, never believing a word of it.
It was a lot of years, a lot of misery. 4 interstate moves and she got her first job administering anesthesia here in Louisville. We bought an incredible log home on 5 acres with a shop. SHE required a shop for scout. SHE insisted we buy my truck. In may of 2020 she said "fuel is cheap, no one's on the road. Let's go get your Scout." I couldn't believe I might actually get my Scout.
16 years had passed since I parked my scout. Even I didn't believe myself when I said I'd get it someday. I figured it would be nothing but dust that fell apart when I tried to move it. Turns out the plucky little international was waiting patiently and isn't much worse off than when I parked it.
I can't believe it. My beloved 'someday' rotted-out little truck is actually in my driveway and I've since started on the restoration. I never thought it would happen.
I dreamed about just getting the thing for so long that I was not even sure what I want to do with it. One thing's for sure, I'm going to be quite choked up when I get this nearly forgotten piece of American history brought back to life and we get to take a ride.
Since bringing it home I was able to get started on the restoration, which is going as slow as expected. I've also snapped up another Scout. The second is rust-free from California. I paid $750 for that one, and roughly $4,000 in fuel, food, and hotels taking the trip to pick it up. I guess that's love?
