1964 International/Howe ex-National Park Service

[wfdstation42]

Here is my latest aquisition. As the title says, it is a 1964 International Harvester/Howe. Has a 250 GPM PTO pump and if memory serves a 100 gallon tank. The story I am told from the seller is it belonged to the Everglades National Park. I give this some creedence due to a government ID number being inside the glove box and the hard suction ends are engraved "NPS". He purchased it approx 10 years ago in excellent condition then let it sit outside for 6 years before building a warehouse sized garage. He moved the truck inside and let it sit another 4 years when he decided to sell it. I purchased it to add to my fleet because of its unique nature. The truck didn't run when purchased, the carb wasn't even installed on the engine. I have since got it running but the brake system is shot from sitting so long. New front wheel cylinders and shoes have been installed and new brake lines all around and rear wheel cylinders and shoes are next. Once it is mechanically sound then the rust repair and paint will happen as time and money allow.



If anyone here has any other pics of her or info based on the registration number I certainly would appreciate it.

[ff002]

[quote name='wfdstation42' timestamp='1354088275' post='504157']

Here is my latest aquisition. As the title says, it is a 1964 International Harvester/Howe. Has a 250 GPM PTO pump and if memory serves a 100 gallon tank. The story I am told from the seller is it belonged to the Everglades National Park. I give this some creedence due to a government ID number being inside the glove box and the hard suction ends are engraved "NPS". He purchased it approx 10 years ago in excellent condition then let it sit outside for 6 years before building a warehouse sized garage. He moved the truck inside and let it sit another 4 years when he decided to sell it. I purchased it to add to my fleet because of its unique nature. The truck didn't run when purchased, the carb wasn't even installed on the engine. I have since got it running but the brake system is shot from sitting so long. New front wheel cylinders and shoes have been installed and new brake lines all around and rear wheel cylinders and shoes are next. Once it is mechanically sound then the rust repair and paint will happen as time and money allow.



If anyone here has any other pics of her or info based on the registration number I certainly would appreciate it.













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Cool truck! Good luck with her.

[mnsand]

Very nice truck. I thought I would post a similar truck that I hope you can use for comparison.



Luray, Virginia in Page County obtained a 1963 International S1300/Howe from the nearby US National Parks. It was donated to Luray in 1997. I photographed this truck in 1998 and am kicking myself for never getting a Howe serial number.



It is no longer in service at Luray however I believe it is owned locally. Congrads on your acquisition.....I would love to own a truck like this.



Mike Sanders

Winchester, VA

[wfdstation42]

[quote name='mnsand' timestamp='1354331648' post='504467']

Very nice truck. I thought I would post a similar truck that I hope you can use for comparison.



Luray, Virginia in Page County obtained a 1963 International S1300/Howe from the nearby US National Parks. It was donated to Luray in 1997. I photographed this truck in 1998 and am kicking myself for never getting a Howe serial number.



It is no longer in service at Luray however I believe it is owned locally. Congrads on your acquisition.....I would love to own a truck like this.



Mike Sanders

Winchester, VA

[/quote]





Thank you for posting this! It is practically a twin to mine. I would safely bet they came from the same bid contract.

[wfdstation42]

Just a quick update on the sloooooooooow process of bringing this old girl back to life.

 

DISCLAIMER: I'm not very good at taking pics during the process. I take a few pics when I start to do something then when I start the work I just keep going till that particular task is done then think "crap, shoulda took some pics along the way". Oh well.

 

Here is a shot of the 49 year old front brakes. Both sides have had new shoes and wheel cylinders installed, sorry no after pic. See disclaimer.

 



 

Here is a shot of the back brakes. This is how the truck is currently sitting since it seems that back break shoes for a mid-60's 1 ton International pickup are near impossible to find. I ordered a set from one place that said they had them but when they arrived they weren't even close to being correct so back they went. I ordered a set from another place yesterday and I was notified they were back ordered, hmmmmm, I may just end up having to have these relined. The wheel cylinders I was able to find new and they will be installed once I get shoes for it.

 



 

I took the valve covers off to check rocker movement by hand since the truck hasn't run in 4 or so years. This is what a 49 year old 13000 mile motor looks like under the valve covers. Very clean.

 



 

I took the plugs out, squirted some Marvel Mystery oil in all cylinders as a precaution and turned the motor over by hand. Removed the distributer and spun the oil pump with a drill to prime it and circulate oil since it sat so long. Re-installed the distributer, new plugs and plug wires, rebuilt the carb and hooked up a gravity feed gas can since the original tank is rusted beyond repair. The old girl fired right up. Runs a tad rough but once I get a gas tank and new gas lines installed I'll mess with the timing and carb adjustments. All that after the brakes.

[hoss]

What a sweet heart my dad had a '68 and '76 International pick ups - amazing machines!

[Aaronw]

I'd say from the faded paint on the doors, NPS service seems likely, it is the right shape for their door markings anyway.

 

Looks quite similar to this one from the Yosemite National Park archives, photo says Nov 1966 and it is parked in front of the Yosemite Valley fire station.

 

Photo credit Yosemite National Park

 

 

[Guest]

Awesome truck.  Perfect to own, nice size!

[bige1998]

Almost the same I photographed this truck this past summer at Yellowstone National Park.

 

[wfdstation42]

Here is a pic of another I found while surfing the web. Someone put a bunch of money into this one.

 

Credit original photographer



Cool Vintage IH Firetruck by Eyellgeteven, on Flickr

 

 



Cool Vintage IH Firetruck by Eyellgeteven, on Flickr

[wfdstation42]

Well as I was afraid, the "back ordered" rear brake shoe order was cancelled by the company I ordered them from. Seems everything I have read about no one making them is true. I did some research and it doesn't look to hard to reline the shoes and since the truck has just over 13,000 miles I'm sure the steel portion of the shoe is ok so I ordered the material needed to reline them myself, wish me luck.

 

On a more positive note, the good folks at the Everglades National Park were able to fine a couple documents that had pictures of my truck so they scanned them and emailed me copies which I posted below. Guess this confirms it was indeed used at the Everglades National Park.

 



 

[ACPD227]

Theirs a 1968 on ebay motors now

[wfdstation42]

Update on the back brakes. I think I mentioned finding new is impossible so I decided to reline the old ones. Having never done this before it took a while to source everything I needed, correct lining material, rivets, rivet setting tool etc. Anyway I got the one side done. I didn't want to take both sides apart until I was sure I could do it.

 

Old shoes and wheel cylinder:



 

Shoe with old lining seperated:



 

New lining drilled to accept rivets:



 

New lining riveted on:



 



 

Newly relined shoes and new wheel cylinder installed:

[wfdstation42]

_{Long time since I've done an update. When I left off I was working in the rear brakes. Once I got shoes and wheel cylinders installed I started on the lines. I stripped off the rear lines that were attached to the axle and since the brake backing plates and rear axle had surface rust I figured might as well wire brush everything on the axle and seal it with a 2 part rust inhibitive epoxy before putting the new lines on. So that is what I did. I then bent up new lines and installed those then filled the system with fluid and bled it.}

 

_{Next is the fuel system. These old trucks had tanks mounted under the cab. Since the tank was seriously rusted and I wasn't comfortable sitting on top of a gas tank I will be modifying a mid-60's Mustang gas tank to mount behind the rear axle to the frame. So I've been working on removing all surface rust on the frame rails and underside of the bed in the area that will be blocked once the tank goes in so I can coat those areas with the epoxy. Sorry I didn't get any pics but I did mention earlier in this thread that I am horrible about that.}

[1958 F.W.D.]

Well done!!! How difficult was it to re-line your own brakes? I envision having to do the same thing for my '58 FWD. 

[wfdstation42]

Well done!!! How difficult was it to re-line your own brakes? I envision having to do the same thing for my '58 FWD. 

 

Actually it was very easy. Since no one makes rear brake shoes for this model nor the pre-molded friction material I purchased a roll of wire back friction material. This material has some flex to it allowing it to conform to the shoes. I purchased a kit from an antique car supply that had the drill bit and the peening anvils. I got the semi-tubular rivets from McMaster-Carr. You can search youtube for videos of the process and see how simple it is.