Car of the Week: 1975 International D-200 pickup

[dodgechargerfan]

It might be easy to ignore or overlook at a weekend collector car show, but Mike Sperl’s favorite truck is a truly unusual machine. There simply aren’t many unmolested International work pickups out there — of any vintage — and Sperl’s truck is an unlikely survivor.

The 1975 IH seemed destined for the typical life of a bare-bones work truck: get used, abused and driven into the ground, then hauled to the scrap yard. It’s the normal life cycle of a farm or work hauler.

Fate had different plans for this International, however.

“We’ve had it about [25 years], I think. It was back in ’91 or ’92 we saw it for sale along the road,” says Sperl, a resident of Waupaca, Wis. “We were actually on our way deer hunting and I was in college. My dad had Internationals and his dad had International tractors… I worked on a farm that had a ’73 International truck. So when we saw this truck, it was in such good condition that we had to stop and look. We thought it was great, but we left and went up deer hunting. I had to go back to school and there was no way I could afford it anyway.”

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[Not A Duster]

Want.

 

[TheIronSausage]

Where'd they hide all of the rust? These are cool trucks, but I've never seen one you can't fit your fist through somewhere on the body.

 

[restoman]

Pretty neat.
V8, manual shift, 4x4, rubber floor mats... my idea of what a truck should be.

 

[68R/T]

This seems to be a short history of idiocy. :doh: First, the original owner traded in a PowerWagon. But he died 18 months later, so maybe it was senility. :hmmm: Next we have the second owner, who is a victim of being a carrier of a third generation negative trait, i.e., an IH lover.

Without even mentioning the color, what is desirable about this? ...besides the desire to be different. If, and when, it breaks, determining exactly which parts you need will drive you insane. (Having the VIN handy helps, but it's still no guarantee.) That 304 is NOT the AMC 304. As a rule they were durable as hell. In the long run it's nothing more than something to show off to the local sodbusters. :huh:

And what dahell is the rear bumper?

 

[TheIronSausage]

That rear bumper looks like a knee jerk reaction to getting rear ended.. Like the people who build brick enclosures around their mailboxes when yokels smash them while getting wasted in their El Caminos and listening to Ratt.

 

[Dr.Jass]

“Bonus Load” box

I've had a couple of those over the years, though I've never owned a Thirteen Letter Shit Spreader. :dance:

Those IHC SV engines were indeed stone-ax reliable, which one would expect from a 304-cubic-inch engine that weighed about the same as a 440 Chrysler. Very little power though, even in the 392-cube 4-barrel iterations, considering their weight. They take well to gigantic nitrous hits, though.

I thought I had some pictures of this 392-powered ox storming through the pit on a fat load of laughing gas, but I can't find it.

 

[restoman]

I've had a couple of those over the years, though I've never owned a Thirteen Letter Shit Spreader. :dance:

Those IHC SV engines were indeed stone-ax reliable, which one would expect from a 304-cubic-inch engine that weighed about the same as a 440 Chrysler. Very little power though, even in the 392-cube 4-barrel iterations, considering their weight. They take well to gigantic nitrous hits, though.

I thought I had some pictures of this 392-powered ox storming through the pit on a fat load of laughing gas, but I can't find it.

View attachment 18973

That looks like fun, but what's up with those front spring shackles?

There is no way my dog would be that clean with all that mud around...

 

[69.5CUDA]

both nice IH's..my sof5t spot is for the older ones when they had style...i know of a guy with about 10 of them down a fence line

and to this day ive never seen an IH with rust on it.....

 

[thrashingcows]

I've had a couple of those over the years, though I've never owned a Thirteen Letter Shit Spreader. :dance:

Those IHC SV engines were indeed stone-ax reliable, which one would expect from a 304-cubic-inch engine that weighed about the same as a 440 Chrysler. Very little power though, even in the 392-cube 4-barrel iterations, considering their weight. They take well to gigantic nitrous hits, though.

I thought I had some pictures of this 392-powered ox storming through the pit on a fat load of laughing gas, but I can't find it.

View attachment 18973

That thing is so cool...love the styling, and the big suburban body!

 

[Dr.Jass]

That looks like fun, but what's up with those front spring shackles?

There is no way my dog would be that clean with all that mud around...

Glad you asked. Those are aftermarket Mr. Gasket-type lift shackles, bolted to the original "clutch fork" style shackles, then welded. Sketchy as hell, to say the least, but they held for several years like that. Spar (his nickname) is notorious for seemingly insane engineering that works better than it should. The year after this was taken--after a hellacious run through the mud on the 4th of July at an organized bog event--it was sitting off to the side by itself, not running, with no one near it when one of the shackle assemblies finally exploded. He dragged it home, parted it out and crushed the rustier-than-it-looked remains.

He then built a six-wheeler, affectionately dubbed the "Psycho Swingset", powered by a twin-turbocharged junkyard 305 Chevy. It had dual transfer cases in an arrangement I still don't fully understand, and no suspension. When someone pointed out that it didn't have any wastegates, Spar got this confused look on his face and said, "Wastegates?" as if the concept was almost completely foreign to him (check out his attempt at boost control ). He blew several engines, always just tossing another junkyard replacement, usually a 305, beneath that induction system. He knew nothing was gonna live long with runaway boost anyhow ("How much boost?" "I dunno"). This contraption was so uncontrollable that he was first ordered to remove the extra axle, and later just plain banned from running the thing period after nearly spearing the crowd one year. He was actually going to retire it after that event anyhow, because "driving that thing was killing me. I'd be sore for days."

 

[Not A Duster]

idiocy.

Still want.

 

[TheIronSausage]

I've had a couple of those over the years, though I've never owned a Thirteen Letter Shit Spreader. :dance:

Never heard that one before, my dad always called 'em cornbinders

 

[thrashingcows]

Glad you asked. Those are aftermarket Mr. Gasket-type lift shackles, bolted to the original "clutch fork" style shackles, then welded. Sketchy as hell, to say the least, but they held for several years like that. Spar (his nickname) is notorious for seemingly insane engineering that works better than it should. The year after this was taken--after a hellacious run through the mud on the 4th of July at an organized bog event--it was sitting off to the side by itself, not running, with no one near it when one of the shackle assemblies finally exploded. He dragged it home, parted it out and crushed the rustier-than-it-looked remains.

He then built a six-wheeler, affectionately dubbed the "Psycho Swingset", powered by a twin-turbocharged junkyard 305 Chevy. It had dual transfer cases in an arrangement I still don't fully understand, and no suspension. When someone pointed out that it didn't have any wastegates, Spar got this confused look on his face and said, "Wastegates?" as if the concept was almost completely foreign to him (check out his attempt at boost control ). He blew several engines, always just tossing another junkyard replacement, usually a 305, beneath that induction system. He knew nothing was gonna live long with runaway boost anyhow ("How much boost?" "I dunno"). This contraption was so uncontrollable that he was first ordered to remove the extra axle, and later just plain banned from running the thing period after nearly spearing the crowd one year. He was actually going to retire it after that event anyhow, because "driving that thing was killing me. I'd be sore for days."


View attachment 18979

View attachment 18980

That twin turbo system is something to behold! I really wish I had not seen it to be honest...

I can not believe that it worked so well...and it must have been insane to run that thing!

 

[restoman]

Those little 305s probably didn't know what hit 'em!

Guys that can cobble together stuff like that fascinate me, wondering what they could do if they did things properly, or in this case, at least neatly.

 

[69.5CUDA]

all i see is a whole pile of FUN

as for the tcase setup..got a pic?..cause my understandings make enuf sense to make it work...if you have 2..1 running thru the other but you have 1 thats a right hand out and the other a lefthand out..youd have 2 shafts for the rear 1 for the front..the trick would be you can touch the secondary t case..but the first one you can..with 2 axles back there that is

 

[thrashingcows]

Those little 305s probably didn't know what hit 'em!

Guys that can cobble together stuff like that fascinate me, wondering what they could do if they did things properly, or in this case, at least neatly.

I agree...cobbled together...but it clearly worked! Back yard/farmer engineering at it's best.

 

[Dr.Jass]

One of my friends stopped by about an hour ago, and I brought up this monstrosity. He asked me if I was there when Spar ran it at Michigan Technological University's event.

MTU is a small but very-well regarded engineering school a short distance to the north. They have quite a bit of involvement with automotive manufacturers, both foreign and domestic. Spar did not attend MTU, but he went to their local mud bog one year. There were apparently some wildly-impressive rigs up there, with top-shelf suspensions, engines built in the school's labs, etc. Spar's morning was spent, patiently listening to know-it-all after know-it-all talk about the various reasons that waste of welding wire wouldn't work. They passed him in tech inspection, probably because they wanted to see just how wrong things would go for him.

He loaded up his trailer late in the afternoon and cordially waved to all his new friends, after swiftly kicking everyone else's ass, taking their first-place money and two trophies including the nitrous class, because... well, you really gotta know the guy, and asking a few of the louder mouths to explain his mistakes to him more clearly so he could go home and correct them.

Thing about Spar is, he doesn't do these things to prove a point or because someone said it can't be done. He's the nicest guy in the world, totally unassuming and modest. He just gets an idea, builds it, and has fun with it while the rest of us stand around slack-jawed saying, "The only reason his shit works is because no one told him it can't."

 

[thrashingcows]

One of my friends stopped by about an hour ago, and I brought up this monstrosity. He asked me if I was there when Spar ran it at Michigan Technological University's event.

MTU is a small but very-well regarded engineering school a short distance to the north. They have quite a bit of involvement with automotive manufacturers, both foreign and domestic. Spar did not attend MTU, but he went to their local mud bog one year. There were apparently some wildly-impressive rigs up there, with top-shelf suspensions, engines built in the school's labs, etc. Spar's morning was spent, patiently listening to know-it-all after know-it-all talk about the various reasons that waste of welding wire wouldn't work. They passed him in tech inspection, probably because they wanted to see just how wrong things would go for him.

He loaded up his trailer late in the afternoon and cordially waved to all his new friends, after swiftly kicking everyone else's ass, taking their first-place money and two trophies including the nitrous class, because... well, you really gotta know the guy, and asking a few of the louder mouths to explain his mistakes to him more clearly so he could go home and correct them.

Thing about Spar is, he doesn't do these things to prove a point or because someone said it can't be done. He's the nicest guy in the world, totally unassuming and modest. He just gets an idea, builds it, and has fun with it while the rest of us stand around slack-jawed saying, "The only reason his shit works is because no one told him it can't."

Clearly he has an intuitive sense of what will work or not....doesn't need a university degree to know that it "should" work, at least at a subconscious level. Sounds like a heck of a guy...would be a hoot to see his latest projects, and talk to him about different off the wall ideas.