If this thing is not absolutely ripe to be the central character in an episode of Roadkill, I am not sure what else is. Unique in the fact that there cannot be many of them left on Earth, oozing character from the inside out, and equipped with enough simple and tough engineering that it’ll get you anywhere you want to go, we think it would be fun to see this 1957 International S-120 panel truck revived and driven to some far flung place with the boys using it as mobile hotel along the way. Sure, the floors may be rotted through and the overall appearance of the truck would send Fred Sanford running but damn, this thing is the epitome of cool.
We have seen plenty of International S-120 pickup trucks but we have never seen a panel and this one (according to the seller) was used as a civil service vehicle or something of that nature. Looking past the rust there’s some really freaking awesome hand drawn stuff on it like the “Stump Jumpers” insignia shown below. Like we said, character for days!
The truck is equipped a Diamond series inline six that has all kinds of stroke and virtually no bore which translates into low horsepower but lots of torque. Literally a tractor engine that doesn’t like to rev, it’ll work until Kingdom Come as long as there’s oil in it. This truck has a four speed manual transmission, four wheel drive, and a Ramsey winch on the front of it! Likely underpinned with a Dana 60 out back and a Dana 44 up front, it has all the parts and piece to survive anything.
How cool would it be to buy it, change the fluids, service the brakes, get a set of tall, knobby, skinny off road tires on it and hit the road? We think it would be an awesome adventure for someone to have…especially us!
Check out the photos below and then hit the link to see more!
Ditch the “tractor engine” for either a V8 or a modern turbo diesel, give it a new coat of paint and put in basic living/sleeping accommodation in the back for the ultimate off-road RV.
Way cool. There used to be a pair of Travellals and a panel of this vintage in Ely Nevada. Who knows if they are still there, north of town on the way to the mine.