Re: IH nicknames

[n9ads@domain.elided (Howard R Pletcher)]

On Tue, 27 Oct 1998 11:28:51 -0500 tsm1@domain.elided (Tom Mandera) writes:
>>
>
>It seems, for some reason, the Navistars are not held in high regard by
most
>drivers... I don't remmeber what the complaints are... too slow?  too
something....
>
>But, my stepdad was talking to a friend of his, or his stepdad (someone,
>anyhow)... and the guy was a Navistar "friendly"... he simply stated,
"Have
>you ever seen a Navistar broke down on the side of the road?"
>
>
A lot of it is an image problem that IH & Navistar have been fighting as
long as I worked there.  Over the years the IH's became known as a fleet
truck because of their popularity there during the 40's and 50's.  But
fleet trucks weren't particularly popular with their drivers because they
were usually the minimum equipment needed to get the job done. 
Independent drivers had Macks, Kenworths, etc. with lots of lights and
chrome.  This was "class".  Ever seen some of the Peterbilt ads?  The use
a model in a formal gown with a truck on a bare set with basically one
word and their name in the ad.  The word--class.

The Eagles were the premium truck that IH introduced to appeal the the
owner-operator and fight the poor image.  In most ways they are the
equivalent of any of the others, but probably no matter how good they
are, the folklore will say they aren't.

I'd have to assign the breakdown theory to the same folklore, perhaps
also originating 40 or 50 years ago when IH engines and components may
have had some superiority over some of the others.  Other than Navistar
engines in the medium duty field and Mack, Volvo, and soon, Mercedes, 
engines in heavy duty trucks, most of the trucks on the road are all
assembled from the same components:Cummins, Detroit, or Cat engines,
Spicer, Fuller, or Eaton transmissions, Spicer, Rockwell, or Eaton axles.
About all the manufacturer controls is things like the fit and finish,
the ride, and the appearance, so there's little reason for a difference
in mechanical reliability any longer.
>
>Speaking of which... I was drivng around town last week (taking a friend
to
>examine a '79 Bronco) when I came upon... an.... 85 International.  This
>truck has a van body on it, diesel motor, roll-up rear with hydraulic
>tailgate/lift setup, with "20,000 GVW" on the side.
>
>
>I haven't found a site to describe to me these medium duty IHs, how to
>figure out what it is, what motor it should (or could) have, etc.  Just
>curious about what I would find under the hood, and what I could 
>expect from such a rig...
>
Have you got Crismon's book?  If not, why not? (Tom, you do know how to
use a book, don't you?)  It's probably the best catalog of almost
everything IH ever built with pictures of everything.  I've only found
one light truck he missed, the Canadian C-99 pickup which was a
predecessor of the C-900 and I didn't know about that until the Nationals
in '97 when I met a Canadian Dealer who has one.

What you saw sounds like an S-Series 1600 or 1700.  In '85, the engine
would likely have been a 6.9L or 9.0L (the successor to the DV-550). 
Over the years the 1600-1800 series have had almost every engine from the
V-266 up to the DT-466 available in them.  

Howard Pletcher
Howteron Products Scout Parts

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