IH links and other useful stuff

Links
Travelallparts.com
Vehicle value & price guide
Outback Parts
ATK Engines

Literature and stuff

The line setting ticket


Coming soon:
Operator's manual


Original plate holder.
The Travelall even has the dealer license plate holder for Lassman Motor Sales in Chula Vista, where it was originally purchased.

 


Stan Bogel with the 1968 Travelall


As if life weren't good enough, I found a Travelall. This one is pretty special, well, to me at least. This truck belonged to a teacher I had in high school. You know those people that are so influential without expecting anything in return? Well, he is one of them. Stan Bogel was my drafting teacher at Belmont High School and bought this truck new from Lassman Motors in Chula Vista, CA. So, obviously, this one has more sentimental value than anything else. On top of that it's a great truck! It's a 1968 International Harvester Travelall 4x4 1200c. It's a 6-cylinder wagon (BG265).

This has been a one-owner truck since it was driven off of the dealer's lot. Stan has kept all documentation for it since new, including the original line setting ticket, which, if you're an International Harvester fan, you'll know how cool that is to know how your truck is suppossed to be and what it's suppossed to have. I took ownership of the truck when Stan's new car arrived in a late December 2005 and have made it my daily driver. It's been an adventure! It drives like a tank! I'm still getting used to it because, even though I drove a Suburban for many years, and this thing is roughly the same size, the turning radius is enormous!!! I found this out the hard way in a very small parking lot. Fun. Also, it's very bouncy with a super stiff suspension. Stan wanted it reinforced in the rear in case there was some towing so it has a dual springleaf option which makes for a sturdy but stiff ride. I plan on keeping this one long term, so I'm trying to find the right balance between maintaining it as Stan gave it to me and keeping it running. As with any old car, some parts are hard to find and when you find them you'd better be ready to dig deep into your wallet. For this model Travelall, it's the rear drums, panels, and other odds and ends. Right now, it's leaking oil and the parking brake is not working. Other than that, there is the usual rattling, but I have the channels to fix that. In the pictures, the paint looks faded and dull, but I spent a weekend with a couple of cans of paint cleaner and wax and it actually looks really nice! The truck came with only one bench and, in an amazing set of events, I was able to find the second row in the original covers! They are pretty ratty and will need to be redone, but at least the kids have somewhere to sit.

Ultimate road trip.
Would this not be it for a road trip?
A vintage Travelall and an all aluminum Airstream trailer

 

I'm now looking for the right seatbelts for the back seat. They have a special bracket that allows them to be removed easily when folding the center bench.

Anyway, the long term goal for this truck, as I mentioned is to keep it running forever. I may do a "rejuvenation" since it really does not need anything else but. I may paint it again the original color and remove a couple of dings that it has. Other than that, I just had the seats reupholstered, and this weekend, the headliner will be done. Right now it has a standard headliner with nothing fancy, but I just found out that's not the original look. It should look like the picture below, with the headliner behind the bows. Right now it's the other way around. Not sure when that happened. We'll get that fixed the right way.

The dashboard is cracked and I may pull that out and redo it soon. At the same time, I'll repaint it its original color and do the same to the door panels.
I just put new tires on it. It still runs on its original 16.5" rims. I also changed all shocks and took care of that pesky oil leak. Oh, the alternator went out the other day so that was replaced as well. Right now it's running really nice. I just ordered the rubber kit for the doors and the channels for the windows from travelallparts.com, so hopefully that will make the ride a bit more comfortable because right now, it's really noise with all the rattling.