The Big Bang of the Scout Universe happened on December 1, 1960. The first pinpoint of light was a Blue Metallic Scout 80 Cab-Top. It wore the chassis number FC501. International Harvester always started the sequential numbers of their equipment with "501" and it was no different for Scouts. Sixty-three years later, that Blue Metallic Scout returned to it's home town, looking much like it did six decades ago. The freshly restored Scout was unveiled at the 2023 Harvester Homecoming, an event held annual in Fort Wayne, Indiana. While it looks as good now as it did when it rolled off the line, sadly only about 15 percent of the original Scout remains. How it was found and saved is a long story for another time and venue but when the resurrection project began in 2019, all that remained of the original Scout was the chassis bearing the "FC501" stamp, the front axle, springs, transmission, radiator support and a few other parts. The engine it had when it left the line is no longer with it, but a replacement engine installed during it's time as a factory test unit was still there. FC501 had a hard life after it was finally sold by IH but when noted collector and well known Scout parts guru Phil Coonrod found it, he recognized it as a treasure and squirreled the forlorn Scout away for the right time. That time was 2019 and shortly after the pile of parts was shown at the first Harvester Homecoming, a dedicated team of volunteers took on the challenge of putting it back to as close to as-built condition as possible. Among a plethora of other things, a very rare early production body was found and with a many hours of work, put back into shape. An early date code rear axle was found to replace the missing original Dana 27. The repair crew had further challenges because no period pictures of FC501 have been found. Reproducing a standard early production Scout 80 would be hard enough, but before it left the factory floor, the First Scout had been given a number of modifications. Fortunately, the Line Setting Ticket (a.k.a. the build sheet) detailed those modifications but in a few cases, the restoration team had to make their best guess as to exactly which non-standard pieces were used. FC501 was retained by the factory for quite some time, first going to the Inspection Department for a thorough going over and serving as a learning tool for perfecting the assembly line. Like many of the first Scout 80s, we know it also did PR duty of some sort before it was finally sold off. It's hoped FC501 can be enshrined in a Fort Wayne Museum celebrating International Harvester's long history building trucks in the community. You can help make that happen. Go to the Harvester Homecoming website to see how: https://harvesterhomecoming.com/
The FC501 Project as it started in 2019. Yeah....
Fast forward a few years. if you attended the 2023 Harvester Homecoming, you got to see the first Scout built on December 12, 1960, and the Last Scout built October 21, 1980. The Last Scout was graciously brought by owner Mike Bolton all the way from Iowa to celebrate FC501's resurrection. There was a lot of history made between those two Scouts.
FC501 was a 4x2 Cab-Top, a trade name for the Scout pickup. The standard issue 4x2 tires were street treads up front and mud and snows in back. Among the things added during the original factory build that were not normally part of a Scout 80 at the time, were chrome bumpers (not available until '64), chrome mirrors and whitewall tires. The 4x2 Scout 80 Cab-Top had a very modest 400 pound payload in it's five-foot bed due to the four lug wheels and light axles. The 4x4 Scouts were more beefy with an 800 pound capacity.
Three of the history heroes that brought FC501 back to life. On the left is Phil Coonrod, who once worked at the Scout plant and when it shut down, became a nationally known parts source. Phil was one of the Scout torch carriers in that time when Scouts were languishing in obsurity as an orphan model. To his right are Mike Henry and Terry Martin, who each did lions shares of work finding the missing parts, making them like new again and putting them all together. Not seen in this picture are Jerrod Parker, who did the painting, mechanic Sam Elliott and Ryan Duvall who facilitated the work in countless ways... all the while being the Harvester Homecoming showrunner and organizer.
The FC501 Project as it started in 2019. Yeah....
Fast forward a few years. if you attended the 2023 Harvester Homecoming, you got to see the first Scout built on December 12, 1960, and the Last Scout built October 21, 1980. The Last Scout was graciously brought by owner Mike Bolton all the way from Iowa to celebrate FC501's resurrection. There was a lot of history made between those two Scouts.
FC501 was a 4x2 Cab-Top, a trade name for the Scout pickup. The standard issue 4x2 tires were street treads up front and mud and snows in back. Among the things added during the original factory build that were not normally part of a Scout 80 at the time, were chrome bumpers (not available until '64), chrome mirrors and whitewall tires. The 4x2 Scout 80 Cab-Top had a very modest 400 pound payload in it's five-foot bed due to the four lug wheels and light axles. The 4x4 Scouts were more beefy with an 800 pound capacity.
Three of the history heroes that brought FC501 back to life. On the left is Phil Coonrod, who once worked at the Scout plant and when it shut down, became a nationally known parts source. Phil was one of the Scout torch carriers in that time when Scouts were languishing in obsurity as an orphan model. To his right are Mike Henry and Terry Martin, who each did lions shares of work finding the missing parts, making them like new again and putting them all together. Not seen in this picture are Jerrod Parker, who did the painting, mechanic Sam Elliott and Ryan Duvall who facilitated the work in countless ways... all the while being the Harvester Homecoming showrunner and organizer.
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