During the 1970’s the American adage that “Big
is Beautiful” usually held true, but there
were a few notable exceptions.
Ford had proved this
with their top selling Bronco, small by US standards
it was able to go places the bigger 4x4’s simply
were unable to go, mainly because of their sheer
size!
International followed suit with the Scout Terra,
but in the process stole a march on the opposition
by producing it as a pick-up which was smaller than
other 4WD pick-ups on the market.
It proved an immediate
salesroom winner for International, putting the company
into a market segment it had never previously tapped.
But
by Australian standards the Terra was far from being
a mini pick-up. It may have been considered small when
compared to US Ford and Chevrolet iterations, but
for Australians it was still huge – it using
the forever imposing 2997mm wheelbase and chassis
of the Traveler, giving it an overall length of 4674mm.
Once
again the bullet-proof 5.6 liter V8 was carried over
from the Traveler, although you could option the
smaller 5.0 liter V8 along with a 3.2 liter 4 cylinder
engine. In-between was a 3.2 liter six cylinder version
manufactured by Nissan, it featuring a turbo-charger
manufactured by AiResearch.
Any engine choice could
be mated to one of three transmission choices, the
standard 3 speed manual, the optional 4 speed manual
or Chrysler sourced TorqueFlite 3 speed automatic
transmission.
Other options included a trailer towing
package and the Suntanner convertible top for the rear
load area. It didn’t sell particularly well,
but was an accomplished no-nonsense utility, featuring
rugged good combined with equal strength and durability.