Classic Tow Rig: 1970 International 1200
Ever watched the show CHiPs on television? The original series ran from 1977-1983 and always included numerous scenes from Southern California back in the day. While it can sometimes be cheesy, the series is great entertainment now if you are a car guy. You can see all manner of almost extinct vehicles if you watch closely. This 1970 International 1200 dual-wheel long bed pickup for sale on Craigslist in Rio Rancho, New Mexico would fit right in on the show. However, you never see examples like this one today. With just 68,000 original miles and in sun-baked but spectacular shape for its age, this rare truck is a glimpse back in time. Is the $10,500 asking price appropriate? Have any of you seen one for sale lately? Thanks to Rocco B. for this retro find!
CHiPs started the same way every single time over the show’s long run. Someone was doing something unsafe on the roadways, or something was about to fail on a vehicle, or fire was slowly building in a vehicle being towed. Then, inevitably, a wreck would happen and the catchy CHiPs theme song would start. You know you can hear it as you are reading this. Ponch, John, and maybe Grossman or someone else from the California Highway Patrol would respond and save the day, setting up the plot for the show. This was a great show for a young gearhead, and it gave all of us a good look at the Southern California lifestyle and vehicles during that time.
Now that those young gearheads are showing more than a little bit of gray hair, it is still fun to watch reruns of the show to see all of the cars and trucks from days gone by. One of the most popular subjects for the opening scenes involved campers. A towed camper would jackknife, catch on fire, or come off the hitch, or something spectacular of some sort would happen. You could see this 1970 International truck fitting right in with the festivities. Looking closely you can see a plate where a fifth wheel hitch was mounted in the bed and a heavy-duty bumper with industrial-grade mudflaps installed to both promote the state of Mexico and to keep rocks from dinging up your Airstream.
To round out this truck’s suitability for towing, it was equipped with a 392 cubic inch V-8, a four-speed manual transmission, and a dual rear wheel rear end. Advertised as “literally a barn find,” this truck is a set of plugs and a starter away from running according to the seller. The interior, which we were given no photos of, is described as “in spectacular shape, and the exterior is “very straight.” Rust, which is the bugaboo of nearly every truck of this vintage, is absent in the cab and looks to be limited to surface corrosion only throughout the rest of the vehicle.
Whoever wants this truck had better hurry. The seller is adamant that the price will go up the more they work on it and get it back on the road. They also have offered to clear coat the truck Gas Monkey style to preserve the patina. Doing so would be a sin that should be punished severely by the Almighty, but I don’t think that will stand in the way of flipping this truck. Hopefully, one of you will fall in love with this truck, purchase it, and pair it with a vintage camper. This would be the perfect starting point for someone interested in the burgeoning vintage camper and tow vehicle fad that seems to be gathering steam. What better way to enjoy the hobby? Maybe you could buy a CHiPs box set and watch reruns by the campfire. Just don’t try to recreate one of the opening scenes with this truck. It is far too rare at this point.
Did you ever watch CHiPs? Ever seen an International truck like this one? What would you do with this truck if you purchased it? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
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Comments
That’s a gooseneck hitch not a fifth wheel those are mostly industrial or farm equipment not campers.
Still a cool truck I have seen lots of binders but never a dually I bet that 4 speed has a granny low that you could pull stumps out with!! Probably not the best southern cal highway vehicle LOL
Jeff, Now you are just teasing and leading us on. Showing us this great find and not letting us know how to follow up on it. Makes me think you are just trying to save it for yourself… ;-)
Fixed the link! Sorry for missing it!
Jeff
If all it needs is plugs and a starter, I’d be putting that stuff on there if I was asking over ten grand.
Funny you mentioned CHiP’s. I actually just got done watching the whole series a few weeks ago. It’s one of those shows that I can barely remember from when I was a kid. I could remember bits and pieces from some of the episodes. It was sort of like Deja Vu watching it.
Looking at the vehicles is the best part. There were several background vehicles that were recurring. I noticed them in almost every episode. One was about a 1973 Caprice station wagon – maroon with wood stickers. The other was a light blue Firebird Esprit, or whatever they were called. I remember one episode they wrecked a late 60’s Shelby Mustang. I also liked how cars just blew up at random and jumped over each other when they collided. Sometimes you could see stuntmen in the cars with helmets and roll bars. Other times it was fairly obvious there was no one in the car. And I swear, there must be a cliff in SoCal that has it’s base littered with 70’s car parts. I loved looking at the old dirtbikes and street bikes, too. Bruce Jenner was on there before he became “Kaitlynn”. Ah, God Bless the 70’s and 80’s. Better times, in my opinion.
IH never offered a doolie with a pickup bed. Nobody did until 1973, when Chevrolet/GMC brought one out.
That’s an aftermarket kit, on the box. The 1200 was the 3/4-ton model, and there’d be no need for dual rear wheels. Those were to keep a loaded truck legal, more than required, when loaded. That, and giving extra axle width.
If it were a one-ton (1300) I could see maybe that someone put a pickup box on a cab-and-chassis; but a three-quarter…nope. All hat, no cattle.
About the only thing it will do for a user is, make it noisy and use more gas. That, and, getting a flat, especially on an inside dual…could involve a tire chunking and damaging the bed, or even catching fire. When a single tire goes flat, you know it, and stop. It’s less obvious with duals, especially to non-professional users.
Well, couple things. The same weight requirement per axle doesn’t matter if with singles or duals. Think modern “Super-Singles”, 2nd, as you say, IH did have light duty stake bed duallies, but I doubt anyone would graft a pickup box on one. This box looks original, and the dual axle was clearly added. Lastly, dual wheels GREATLY improve handling, takes pressure off a single, and a good driver should know when they have a flat tire. Also, with singles, a flat, and you are dead in the water. Duals, you can limp along for miles,,,ask me how I know.
Dual tires are to comply with LEGAL limits on per-tire weight limits. A tractor-trailer’s legal gross weight limit is 80,000 pounds…on 18 wheels that’s 4400 pounds a wheel. The tires could take much more weight, each (if designed for it) but the law forbids it – it will damage the pavement, especially if it’s commonplace with commercial traffic.
The GVW of this truck is 6900 pounds, according to a photo of an IH brochure online. Round up to 7000…3500 an axle; 1750 a tire, with four tires.
So there’d be no mechanical or legal need for dual rear tires. The only advantage this offers a light truck is the stability of a wider stance.
It also exceeds the width limits for non-commercial vehicles – IOW, it requires marker lights, often misnamed “clearance lights.” Those are to indicate to LE in poor visibility, that this is a commercial vehicle.
That’s why the rear “clearance” lights on factory doolie pickups, are generally BELOW the tailgate. And why, on tractor-trailers, the three amber telltales are on the cab roof line, even though that’s FAR below the uppermost portion.
Yes, a trained driver will know to check dual tires for flats. No, most casual drivers do not know – they don’t know to check their tires on four-wheel cars; we see it all the time.
If you recall, back in the 70’s kits were available to convert any SRW truck into a DRW. They were available for all axles & manufacturers. A friend put one on a half ton Chevy and added Hellwig overload springs. The system worked well for a while, but the half ton axle finally failed.
Jeff
I always liked the TV show Chips but one of the things with that show that would really Grind my gears so to speak is when they would show a car or truck cruising down the highway and start to get in a accident the next scene would show a different model year actually getting smashed up, as a young pre teen / into young teen I was still a car guy my family would tell me to quit pointing it out that its not the same vehicle but that was before the DVR where you could stop and back up to prove it. I have only seen one other rail wheel pick-up international most were flat beds I think this would make a great conversation at cars and coffee or other shows
3/4 ton, not a one ton. Probably has a dual wheel adapter on the rear end, not a”dually rear end”. It looks like the adapter utilizes the same wheels somehow on the rear, at least the outside wheel, plus the hubcaps, rather than regular dual wheels. Rear fenders definitely after-market. Front still uses stock 3/4 ton wheels. Weights for commercial trucks are based on axle weight, not weight per tire/wheel. And yes, that’s a gooseneck hitch, not a 5th wheel hitch.
Another example comes from “Police Story”. A car chase in one episode ending in a crash started out woth a brand-new Ford police car doing the chasing. When the cop car crashed, it morphed into a Chevy “beater” obviously sourced from the prop dept boneyard.
Any way you look at it, those rear ” fenders” are butt-ugly! They look like a bad after thought! As far as getting parts for an I H, forget it!
To me, over priced at any price.
“State of Mexico“?? It’s New Mexico, there Ponch! Don’t be that guy!
It ain’t new and it ain’t Mexico!
My 85 yr.old neighbor watches 1 Adam 12
for the same reason…the old cars and trucks. 2 cars he wished he had kept.
40 Ford and 50 Mercury.
i remember when they sold kits to put duals on 3/4 ton trucks,no mater how many tires you have you cannot exceed the gvw on makers tag
There’s a late 60’s Chevy 3/4 ton short bed dually running around Prescott Arizona, cool to see but not necessary (as the builder told me). I like this IH! Maybe the farmer needed the traction and stability? Who knows?
Blue early 70s Chevy dually on Iron springs in Prescott that is cherry!
I rented a house to a guy who had an older F-350, I believe it was. It had dual wheels in back and the tires were tight together on each side. You couldn’t wedge a shim between them. He said he talked to a guy about it before he arranged the tire mounting and it turned out fine… no rubbing problems noted, going around tight turns, etc.
Have you all seen this done before?
Price seems reasonable considering the condition but I lost interest when seller couldn’t be bothered to show the interior or engine.