A couple of months ago I went bushwhacking with Bennett at Dan’s place, helping him catalog all of the vehicles up in the woods so that the family could sell them. I wasn’t interested in anything up there, and I had no idea what condition anything was in.
As we talked to the family, and they talked with another friend who was in a position to buy the majority of the vehicles as a lot, he gave a market price for each truck, and that number got me interested in one of the Scout 800s still up there. It’s the tan truck that was run and parked right behind the house, and when we first looked at it, the entire back half was covered in vines. I’d peeked underneath and found that it was full of garbage but the rear bed waas mostly intact, as well as the front footwells. We peeked in the engine compartment and found everything was still there.
Thinking it over some more, and being heavily invested in Brian’s EV project, I considered buying both of the Scouts for “research”. Bennett told me the blue Scout was mostly Bondo but the tan Scout was solid, and had been in excellent shape when it was parked. So I drove back up on Saturday to look it over.
Let me be clear: it’s not pretty. Having sat out in the elements with no top for ten years, it’s filled with dirt and debris. The paint is faded, and two of the four tires are flat. The aforementioned vines had covered the rear bed and trapped moisture underneath, as well as the rear bench seat.
The sheet metal on the outside is in reasonably good shape, although the rockers and B-pillar on both sides are shot—which is no surprise. The front fenders, cowl, and hood are in decent shape, and the tailgate looks good. Inside, the passenger footwell has several holes at the corner, but the driver’s side is solid. Both sides will need to be replaced, but it’s flat metal and easy to fix. The rear floor is the worst part: after years under two inches of dirt, the rear section is crispy. The worst part is the section behind the bulkhead, where the rear seat disintegrated and trapped water up against the vertical section. There are several holes in the metal here.
The original seats were pulled out and replaced with plastic racing buckets, which are interesting, to say the least. The dash has been exposed to the elements, so it’s covered in surface rust, and the padding is long gone. But the transmission hump is in great shape, and all of the parts are there.
Under the hood the engine is complete. It’s a 4-cylinder 196 with a frozen Holley 1904 carb and oil bath air cleaner. I put a socket on the crank and was able to move it slightly; in hindsight I never checked to see if it was in gear.
Having looked it over, I walked back into the woods to find the doors and bring them back out to the truck. Brendan had done a lot of work to drag the trucks he wanted out near the road, so it was much easier to walk back there and get to the parking area. I hauled both of the doors back out to the truck and hefted them up into the bed. They’re both in reasonably good shape for having sat on the ground for years. The lower edges haven’t crumbled to dust, which was a relief.
Behind the garage is a pile of extra parts that I wanted to look through, and I found a semi-intact half cab roof with a window that looks like it went with this truck.
I told Dan’s family I’m going to buy this truck. The price is too low to pass it up, and Scouts are getting rarer on the ground in this area. it’s just good enough to be worth something, and the price is right. I’m not too worried about being able to free the engine up, as I’ll have plenty of time to soak the pistons and get things moving, and the experience I’ve got with the Travelall will help me troubleshoot any issues. I’ve got three spare Scout wheels under the porch, so I can swap out the flats to get it rolling.
A long time ago we told Finley I’d fix a Scout up for her, and I did mean it, but always wondered how I’d swing it, knowing they’re not getting any cheaper. This could be the way into that. The long-term plan is to make this into a runner, and then maybe we’ll see about making it another EV project. I think it would be fun as hell to have a typical crusty Scout body on top of a slick EV chassis, but that’s in the future. For now, I’ve got to make the deal and drag it home after the Thanksgiving break.
