RIDE-CT – Classic Cars Celebrating Classic Cars in Connecticut
WATERBURY, CT – It cost only $500 and, as Mike Semanoff of Waterbury succinctly declared, “It was worth a shot.”
Semanoff was talking last month about the 1972 International Harvester Scout II that he’s owned for approximately eight years and driven cross-country three times, visiting 42 states. He regards his purchase as a risk, and would have preferred buying an old Jeep instead of a long mothballed Scout.
“You never know what you’re going to have ’cause these things, they rust bad,” he said, “but it turned out to be very good. We basically pushed it across the street, filed the points, hit it with some ether, (added) the battery and it started right up, and it’s ran ever since.”
The “we” referred to his son, David, also of Waterbury, who My Ride wrote about back in June with a story on his 1974 Plymouth Barracuda. It was the younger Semanoff who provided the tip about the Scout and its story was too interesting to ignore any longer.
The elder Semanoff recalled how he heard about and acquired the Scout. “My son saw this being towed into the house across the street from him, and they closed the door and it never reappeared. It was in there for years and years,” he said. Eventually, “the house was foreclosed on. He comes home one day and the people from the bank were cleaning it out.”
David inquired about the off-road model. “They basically said, ‘Make an offer.’ Making an offer on a Scout you never saw is a very dangerous proposition. So I made an offer, they accepted it and that’s how I got it,” said Semanoff, whose backyard features portions of two other Scouts.
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See the 1972 International Harvester Scout II in action in this YouTube video…
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International Harvester built the Scout from 1960 until 1980. It was basically a sport utility vehicle long before the description came into common use.
Semanoff’s Scout II may be 52 years old but finding parts for it hasn’t been difficult, whether purchased or purloined from donor Scouts. “The thing’s really simple for the most part. People question about parts and stuff but International, they used mostly off the shelf stuff,” he said, reporting that his vehicle came with a Chrysler transmission and Dana axles.
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“It’s got a 345(-cubic-inch, V8) International engine. That is unique to it… It’s a medium duty truck engine. I’m not going to wear it out in this thing.” The only downside is that it only gets about 14 miles per gallon.
Despite this, Semanoff enjoys it. “It’s been great. It fits me perfectly. We’re both a little rough around the edges, maybe a little bit overweight, maybe eat too much. We’re similar in a lot of respects,” he said.
And it has proven durable.
“I’ve taken three very long trips with this thing, including one to California. I’ve done Route 66 with it. I’ve done the Pacific Coast Highway with it. I’ve done many, many national monuments; the Grand Grand, I did the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest. I’ve seen the Cadillac Ranch in Texas. I’ve gone over the Golden Gate Bridge. I’ve done a lot with this thing.”
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Proof of Semanoff’s journeys can be seen in writing on the Scout II’s headliner. “The headliner is just a piece of white board from Home Depot. That’s pretty much all they were in the first place,” he said.
“I decided to keep track of the mileage and, if you look at it, you’ll see there’s a line down the middle. The first trip I took to California, that’s every stop for gas, and it’s about 600 gallons. On the other side of the line is the second trip. The third trip I used a notebook because I really couldn’t reach back to do it.”
Semanoff’s first trip covered 9,000 miles. The odometer currently says about 84,000 miles, and he estimates he’s put a total of 33,000 miles on it, most of them in the past three years.
The Scout II has only failed Semanoff twice. He experienced an alternator failure in New Mexico and got a replacement at an auto parts store. A throttle cable broke when he was in South Bend, Ind. “I had one in my box because anyone who travels with a 52-year-old vehicle has a little parts box with them, too,” he said.
As for the donor Scouts at his house, he said, “Nobody has one Scout. They usually have two or three. They tend to accumulate.”
The Scout is “a little coarse” to drive. “It’s a truck from 1972. You just drive it like that’s what it was and it’s perfectly fine,” Semanoff said. “They ride a little harsh and this thing’s especially harsh. It has a two-inch Rough Country lift in it.”
The lift kit was installed because the original springs had worn out. The Scout also has replacement seats lifted from the yellow relic behind his house. “That one was so rusted I didn’t have to unbolt the seats. I just reached in and yanked them off the floor,” he said.
With the model having disappeared 44 years ago, folks in their 40s and younger usually don’t remember the Scout. “A lot of people mistake it for a (Ford) Bronco ’cause it looks similar,” he said. But the Scout predates the Bronco by five years. The Bronco wasn’ introduced until 1965. It lasted until 1996 and was revived in 2021.
Plans are underway Volkswagen to resurrect the Scout name as well as a stand-alone brand as well. The company is targeting 2027 for the launch of two electric models – the Scout Traveler SUV and the Scout Terra pickup. Both are expected to be priced at less than $60,000.
“I’m all for it,” said Semanoff of the Scout’s return. “I’ve actually met the engineers from it ’cause I go to a lot of the Scout stuff. I’ll never be able to afford one and, to be honest with you, at 72 I’m not looking to buy a new car, but I think it will do OK.”
And he’s perfectly satisfied with the Scout that he owns. “You know, it runs good. It’s simple enough if is craps out somewhere, you can fix it, you can get it going,” he said.
(Photos by Bud Wilkinson unless otherwise noted)
