1951 IHC 1/2 Ton Truck

Asking Price: $19,000

Make: International Harvester

Location: Winnipeg

The Little Truck – Reborn

In the late 1990’s I was making regular trips to a rural agricultural area in the vicinity of Alonsa, Manitoba. My in-laws owned an acreage in that area and I would busy myself trying to be helpful in the shop on learning from my father in-law about some of his talents in welding and machinery. It was while working on some of his projects that I had let on that I was interested in old farm trucks and would like to get one to restore.

During the summer of 1998 (I think) my Father in-law and I went to a neighbour’s yard to repair a gate that needed some welding. Richard Trotter had some old abandoned machinery and vehicles accumulated in a small field not far from his house and within site of the gate that we were to repair. Among the relics was a 1951 International pick-up. The green beast in the brush had lichen growing on the fenders, trees between the bumper and grill surface rust in several places where the paint had deteriorated and had no rubber left that was unweathered. Although some of the glass was chipped or cracked, all of the glass was in place. There was some floor rot in the cab and here was a bit of rust in the box bed. It was a mess but pretty much complete.

When my Father In-law and I were looking it over, he asked me if it was the type of truck I had in mind. I said the only thing missing was that it wasn’t red! He then proceeded to tell me that he was the original owner of that carcass we were looking at and that he had sold it to Richard about 30-35 years prior. The truck had spent almost all of its running days in the Alonsa area as a work truck on the two farms which were only a few miles from one another.

When we finished repairing the gate that day, my Father in-law, Bill was asked how much was owed for the repairs. Bill answered Richard’s question with a question of his own “How much do you want for the scrap steel ’51?” It was agreed that it was fair trade. So the truck was acquired from Richard as scrap steel.

To get the truck out of the field and haul it to Bill’s farm down the road took considerable brush clearing and jacking and winching. We also had to remove several old engine blocks from the truck box. The engines had actually proved to be beneficial in preserving the box. They had leaked oil all over the original metal bed which acted as a rust inhibitor. We managed to move

it out without causing too much damage to body or frame given the uncertainty of the condition of anything metal that had been sitting on, in or under the ground for perhaps 20-25 years. Richard had already told us that the engine may not be repairable and that it had quit before he had towed the truck to the field.

Once we got an opportunity to look it over, we decided that starting at the “unknown” was probably best so my mechanic lessons started with pulling the engine and commencing dismantling it. It didn’t take long to see that the block of the Silver Diamond 220, straight 6 cylinder engine was not likely salvageable. Silver Diamond, I learned was International Harvester’s truck engine model.

With my summer vacation over, I returned to work and spent much of my spare time that winter researching parts sources for IH trucks and seeking possible engine replacements. In the summer of 1999, Bill and I spent some of our time poking around various salvage yards and back pastures to try and locate a replacement engine. After several failed attempts, another neighbor in the Alonsa area, Mr. Young had an old Cornbinder. It had a hydraulic lift box so he was converting the truck into a hay. When Bill spoke to him, Mr. Young let Bill take the engine because he had no need for it and planned to scrap it along with any other pieces from the cab. Another win win in the farm belt.

The key components were now collected however in the spring of 2000 I became divorced and no longer had a location to work on the truck. During the summer of 2000, my father moved to Brandon, Manitoba and while listening to the radio one day heard of a farmer near Deloraine who refurbished old vehicles as a winter hobby/work. Greg Jasper had recently done a 1952 International pick-up for a member of his family. When I went and looked at his work, I was satisfied that he had a good skill set for my project and so instead of doing the restoration myself, the truck parts were moved from Alonsa to Deloraine and the work began on a complete frame off restoration.

In the summer 2002, I took delivery of the completed project. There were a few modifications made during the restoration in order to make the vehicle a bit more functional and safe for everyday use. These included converting to a 12v electrical system, adding a spray in urethane

box liner, replacing the rotten and rusted factory seat with bucket seats from a 2001 Ford Taurus (with seatbelts), addition of an “after market” bumper from a 1970s Toyota pick-up and installing rear turn signals. I also had it painted a shade of red that is close to that of 1950’s International Harvester trucks.

The truck was used as an every day, summer driver for about 5 years and stored in a garage during the winter. For the last several years it has had only a few short trips each summer and has had little use. When my grandchildren were younger they used to enjoy going for a ride and counting the number of heads that turned to watch us go by. We now live in the country on dirt roads. Our new home is not conducive to having an antique vehicle.

Virtually all of the service on the truck in the past 15 years has been done at Hi-Tech Auto in Thompson, MB.