1975 Scout II LS
Tell us about your Scout:
Purchased new by my uncle Jeff fresh out of dental school in '75, this Scout was pushed hard through the decades. Jeff didn't have any kids of his own, so my brother and I were lucky to be the chosen co-pilots for many adventures in his old rig. Between weekly trips to the stables and jamming Christmas trees through the tailgate with the Boy Scouts (the record load was 17), our most memorable experiences were chugging up through the Sierras for our summer pilgrimage to Lake Tahoe. Pulling into the unpaved cabin driveway, dashboard littered with In-N-Out wrappers and leaf springs straining under the weight of the horse trailer was our ascent to heaven.
Good times roll in waves - Jeff fell into ill health over the years, and I ended up inheriting his Scout in 2017 (a point of contention with a very distant relative apparently, years later we nearly fought upon meeting on a wedding dance floor). At that point the Scout had been sitting for a decade, and continued sitting for five more years while I hopped jobs, got married and bought a house in need of a remodel. With its clapped-out motor, tired suspension and swiss-cheese floorboards the Scout was in need of a serious overhaul, and I had neither the bandwidth nor experience to take it on. With an eye towards future plans that required a truck, in 2021 I made a decision to ship it off to the good dudes at Anything Scout. I will be forever grateful for all their hard work and attention to detail on the project. It now has the reliability of a modern vehicle, but maintains the rough & ready aesthetic of my childhood memories - down to the original duct-taped vinyl bench seat, and of course original paint.
In 2023, I fulfilled my lifelong goal of moving up to Tahoe. Rumbling up into the Sierras with the Scout's short bed stuffed to the headliner with my possessions, I gazed into the rear-view and couldn't help but imagine my uncle Jeff - his trademark Stetson, aviators and gold-crowned teeth smiling at me from the back seat.
Couple of pit stops on our inaugural road trip home from IA -> CA
Good times roll in waves - Jeff fell into ill health over the years, and I ended up inheriting his Scout in 2017 (a point of contention with a very distant relative apparently, years later we nearly fought upon meeting on a wedding dance floor). At that point the Scout had been sitting for a decade, and continued sitting for five more years while I hopped jobs, got married and bought a house in need of a remodel. With its clapped-out motor, tired suspension and swiss-cheese floorboards the Scout was in need of a serious overhaul, and I had neither the bandwidth nor experience to take it on. With an eye towards future plans that required a truck, in 2021 I made a decision to ship it off to the good dudes at Anything Scout. I will be forever grateful for all their hard work and attention to detail on the project. It now has the reliability of a modern vehicle, but maintains the rough & ready aesthetic of my childhood memories - down to the original duct-taped vinyl bench seat, and of course original paint.
In 2023, I fulfilled my lifelong goal of moving up to Tahoe. Rumbling up into the Sierras with the Scout's short bed stuffed to the headliner with my possessions, I gazed into the rear-view and couldn't help but imagine my uncle Jeff - his trademark Stetson, aviators and gold-crowned teeth smiling at me from the back seat.
Couple of pit stops on our inaugural road trip home from IA -> CA
