1973 International 1110 Short Box Half Ton US Air Force Pickup Truck 392 Auto

Description

This truck is so ugly that it is now cute with the very special "field find" or "patina" look. If you are going to have an International or any other make of short box step side pickup, then this may be the one you should have. This is a 1973 International Harvester model 1110 short wheelbase half-ton pickup with a 6-1/2 foot long step side box. It still has it's original 392 cubic inchdisplacement high output V8 that originally had a Holley 4 barrel carburetor. That carburetor is now missing but I have one from an identical truck that will be included with this truck. This would have been International's shortest and lightest pickup truck with the largest horsepower engine they offered in a pickup truck back then.
What a combination to have for "Official Use Only" in the United States Air Force when fuel was in short supplyfor the rest of us. According to the build sheet or "line setting ticket" attached to the back of the plastic glove box, this truck was number 034 of an order for 234 identicalpickuptrucks ordered by the United States Air Force in June of 1973 and delivered to Barger Welding in Carlisle Ohio.
I have no idea why Uncle Sam would have ordered these light-dutytrucks with a fuel-thirstyengine in the middle of an energy crisis. Please help me out here if you possibly can and happened to be in the Air Force when these trucks were in use. I also have no idea how or when this truck arrived in Montana but judging from the truly exceptional condition of the sheet metal, it could not have been in Ohio very long.
The only significant options I can find on this entire truck are only 2 items and they are both relatively expensive options that relate to the powertrain :
392 high output V8 gasoline engine with 4 barrel Holley carburetor
Chrysler Touqueflite 3 speed automatic transmission
Believe it or not, this gem and it's 242 sisters were shipped from the factory with :
No power steering
No power brakes
No radio - has a radio delete block off plate in dash
No hubcaps
The cab is in great condition except for two sizeable holes in the roof used to mount radio antennas, a tiny 1/8" diameter rust hole near one of the holes in the floor where the screws hold the brushed stainless steel door sill plates in place. This minor problem is on the driver's side as you can see in the 10th and 11th photos of this listing. As you can see in the last photo of this listing, there is a very uncommon rust slit about an inch long under the windshield on the right side. I have looked at hundreds of IH pickups in my life and have never seen a rust problem like this before. There are no significant dents on the roof anywhere. The roof not being caved in is a $1,000 bonus if you happen to hire your body work done by a professional. The windshield is in good condition but the back glass will need to be replaced.
The pickup box on this gem is in truly fantastic original condition. The tailgate is as close to perfect as anyone might hope to find short of an NOStailgate. The photo that shows the back of this box with the tailgate open makes it look like that gate is bowed down a bit in the middle when it isreally as straight as the day it was made. This is an optical illusion due to the telephoto lens on my camera that makes rectangles look like barrels. I am sorry for this problem and guess I need toget anSLR with interchangeable lenses to eliminate this deceiving problem. That same barrel effect is why the white roof on the garage appears to be sagging downward near the middle when it really is nice and straight.
The piece of bentstrap iron that is in the top of the left end of the tailgate that sticks out and the hook on the end of the cable goes through is missing. You will have to find one or fabricate one which would be a mirror image of the one on the right end unless I run across another box or tailgate soon which is unlikely. I bought another truck like this to use as a parts truck and it has a tailgate but that left-hand strap iron piece is really messed up with welds. There are a pair of holes in the lower left corner that was used to mount a license plate sized piece of sheet steel that a license decal of some kind was attached to.
The box is in truly incredible condition with no rusted out spots in it anywhere. There are 4 torch cut holes near each corner of the floor that must have been used to fasten some large flat item inside this box. Perhaps it was a piece of steel plate used to protect the floor of this box. There is a rectangular spot about 12" by 24" near the center where trapped dirt made mud and held moisture which caused some significant pitting of the steel floor. The pits are way less than half of the way through the steel and could be filled but that will take a while to do so I have to mention it. Otherwise, the floor is this box is very nearly in perfect condition with not more than a couple of very minor sized dents that would not be hard to straighten out. I turned down $5,000 for this box from a local IH collector that appreciated it and knows how much time or money it costs to make even a good box and floor look nice.
There are no dents in any of the tops on either side or the front of this box and that is truly rare on any 45-year-old pickup here in Montana where ranches and farms almost always do terrible things to pickup trucks. You will never likely find a box as nice as this one is unless you happen to find one that was taken off of a new truck when some other type of box or bed was installed. The tail lamps on these step side boxes are not built up to the usual IHI standards of quality and are very vulnerable to damage. I was able to use the best parts of two trucks to make what you see here on this beauty.
The engine is missing the carburetor so I have obviously not had it running yet. The guy I bought this truck from last fall said he turned it almost all the way around before it would stick. I have no idea if there is something in a cylinder of if there is a bit of rust near the top that keeps the piston from going all of the way to the top. Due toweather and distance problems, I will not have a chance to work on this engine before this listing ends. An engine problem on a truck like this is way easier to fix than something like a lot of body, box and chassis rust is. Most serious IH collectors will have a good engine setting around anyway even if it is just a 304 or 345 and not the 392 like this engine is.
This truck came with some Ford wheels so I removed these wheels and tires from the parts truck to make this truck more authentic. Please notice that the wheels are the original USAF blue color and show no evidence of ever having any type of hubcap on them. I believe that these USAF trucks usually had no hubcaps on them from the factory.
The reserve price is way below the "Buy It Now" price. I will add more photos and description soon. Thanks a lot, Bob Woodburn in Bozeman Montana USA - 406-799-1847
metal not rusty on hood & fenders