SEMA 2017 Coverage: This 1973 International Loadstar Is The Work Truck From Hell(cat)


SEMA 2017 Coverage: This 1973 International Loadstar Is The Work Truck From Hell(cat)

I don’t expect you to understand. Hell, sometimes I don’t understand myself but I know one thing. Summit Truck Bodies out of Kansas understands. They get the fact that there are plenty of sickos like me out there who LOVE old medium duty trucks and I love them because they have neat styling and heavy duty parts and the ability to continue to be useful even today. These guys have built what could be the coolest work truck of all time in the form of this 1973 International Loadstar. What makes it cool? Well, you think you are looking at a 1973 International Loadstar but you are actually looking at a Loadstar cab on a Dodge 5500 chassis. It has a Hellcat engine, an NV5600 manual transmission, a killer Summit body, a Summit crane, a welder, and Line-X in all the right places. This is one of my favorite trucks of all time. Seriously, this thing is so damned good.

The thing that the Summit guys need to be congratulated on this project is stopping in the exact right place. They didn’t make it too low, they didn’t do anything to make it less of a work truck, they didn’t do some stupid over the top paint job, they didn’t jack with the literal timeless looks of the Loadstar cab, they didn’t over-do the extras, and most of all, they didn’t put the wrong wheels and tires on it. This thing comes right out of every old truck dream fantasy I have ever had and its real. Not some thing I conjured in a cold sweat one night but an actual real thing.

When I saw the truck it was attracting bunches of attention for the Line-X booth and that’s exactly what it was there. I love the head on shot of the cab that shows the Line-X covered bumper and shows the stance of the truck. It is not on air, it is static and it is awesome.

In case you are playing at home, the truck had the Hellcat-spec Tremec behind it and a rear axle with 4.88 gears. The body is a Summit 7-series unit with a crane system. God this thing is bad ass!

Scroll down to see more of this truly killer and very BangShifty 1973 International Loadstar

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7 thoughts on “SEMA 2017 Coverage: This 1973 International Loadstar Is The Work Truck From Hell(cat)

  1. Will

    As a daily user of a service truck and a lover of binder trucks i can say this pleases me.
    Id rather have a diesel in it for real word use but its an awesome truck.

  2. rattler

    What they did is put the wrong engine in it, a Hellcat…….Paaaleeease and I am a Mopar guy. They should have put in a Cummins Diesel. You did say it is a work truck.

  3. Chevy Hatin' Mad Geordie

    This is the best truck I have ever seen!

    I’m sure that International Loadstars were sold in the UK and indeed there are a few still doing the rounds at classic truck events.

    Project Binky – your next project awaits you. Let’s see you go one better than this absolute beauty!

  4. Riley

    Why is there so little coverage of the big stuff at SEMA? I would do some things differently but it’s a really cool truck overall.

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