Yes, that John Wayne. This custom built 1966 International Travelall was commissioned by Wayne himself and built by Ray Gaskin who operated a fabrication and truck building business. Gaskin was friendly with Wayne and when The Duke wanted a vehicle to use for hunting on his massive ranch as well as for use on his movie sets he answered the call. What looks to be a mildly touched up International is really a highly modified and totally kick ass truck.
Gaskin and his men started by adding an additional six inches of height to the roof and building a roof hatch so that Waye or a hunting pal could stand up and shoot out over the front of the truck. For obvious reasons, the truck got the nickname, “The War Wagon” after a gatling gun equipped coach in a John Wayne feature film.
Back to the truck. Gaskin custom built a heavy duty luggage/carrying rack on the roof, swapped out the stocker four speed transmission for a five speed (we’re guessing a Clark or some other heavy duty truck piece), custom A/C was added, big steel bumpers were fabricated, a winch was attached to the front of the machine, and a roll bar was added inside the cabin in case things went bad on the hunting trip.
The truck is original and unrestored as best we know from the ad. The seller is asking a cool million dollars for it. While that price seems staggering and insane, this is one hell of a truck and they literally don’t make them like John Wayne anymore. A one of a kind machine owned by one of the most famous (and coolest) dudes of all time? It is certainly worth a pile of cash, just maybe not that big a pile.
Thanks to clandestine anonymous guy for the tip on this one!
eBay: John Wayne’s custom built 1966 Travelall
While this is a fascinating “one-of-one” vehicle, a collector would be INSANE to pay $1,000,000.00 for it. Perhaps not as certifiable as the collector who reportedly paid more than $1.3 million for the otherwise ordinary Porsche 911S that Steve McQueen drove during the opening sequence in “Le Mans.”
Are the bragging rights of owning a vehicle with celebrity provenance really worth paying ten to one hundred times more than “replacement cost?” Or is ownership of a “celebrity” vehicle such a great investment that they’re worth such hefty premiums?
That same money would go a long way toward having a whole fleet of interesting, entertaining and worthwhile collector vehicles, albeit without celebrity provenance. Or toward supporting one of America’s automotive museums . . . .
Very cool id love to have it.