Re: New Navistar Int'l 1Ton....Pickup??

[MikeIIDC@domain.elided]

Wellll!!!  You forgot to add the part about how that one engineer that wouldn't
cooperate was also seen ten minutes later standing on a grassy knoll, and that
they were working on a new silent turbine "worm drive" engine so that these trucks
could be used by secret government agents to track down other IH's that have had
Chevy 350's installed!  These are the "black trucks" that Landry will soon mention
in his sig file!
Actually, this is a very cool thread!  I would love to se them come back into the
market, though I could never afford one.  I had the same excitement with VW when
they announced the new beetle returning about six or seven years ago.  At that
time, they were planning on it being like the original-affordable-and were taking
calls for input.  They claimed it would be about $12,000 when released.  I called
and gave them positive feedback and had them put me on the waiting list.  This was
the very first day of the announcement, the day of the Turin auto show or
something.  Anyway, never heard from them again, and the things came out at what,
$19,000.
Anyway, thanks for the info, John.  Coming from someone that has enough knowledge
about IH/Navistar, I am very impressed.  PLEASE keep us informed!

Michael

Suprscout@domain.elided wrote:

> Hello IHC Digesters,
>
> New Truck from Navistar International? We know they are working on a new cab
> design for the�New Generation Truck� but are they up to something else?? Let
> me try and
> lay out or puzzle together some interesting observations and occurrences:
>
> 1.. Put this in the back of your mind: The International Plant here in
> Springfield, Ohio was
> built and designed for the purpose of building Light Trucks, Pickups &
> Travelalls .
> Navistar has or had a deal on 2 different plants close by. . Navistar I
> believe will
> discontinue building (in the USA) the 9600 cabover later this year leaving the
> Long Nose
> (93-9400 models) Canada built Trucks, Medium Duty Trucks Springfield, Paystar
> line
> truck in Texas, And Engines in Indy & Melrose. Navistar needs to expand its
> business in
> some way in order to grow with the time and the increase market share. they
> need to reach
> farther than the Large & small Fleet, Government, or Farmer Truck buyers. They
> need to
> get the Business of the one man shows which could be Truck customers who need
> a 1 ton
> type of vehicle............. or a pickup?.
>
> 2. In November last year At the Sema Show in Los Vegas I had 2 interesting
> experiences
> with some engineers from Ford. They had unveiled a New Truck Concept . New for
> them
> because this truck was exactly like the Navistar Avanta Model which is a low
> profile
> Truck that has ground effects with a Fancy flat bed, special paint , &
> interior. Anyway the
> first set of Engineers I approached; I asked them about The new �Travelall�
> sized , I
> actually said Full sized Suburban type with �99 350 Body Because I was sure
> they wouldnt
> have known what a Travelall was, and weather it was going to be available with
> the
> Powerstroke .They replied �We can not comment on that at this time� I thought
> to myself:
> Ok I�m dealing with couple of fellows who just didn�t know or just didn�t want
> to talk
> about it. So I asked them if they thought the V6 diesel being developed for
> them by
> Navistar would be put in the 150 and Expedition models. His jaw dropped. &
> said again
> �We�re not allowed to comment on that�. OK ..So I moved on...I found another
> Engineer
> who was more receptive and he told me about the new Concept Truck which was
> considered a medium Duty Truck; up till now medium Ford trucks could not be
> equipped
> with the Powerstroke per agreement with Navistar.. So I asked him if the
> Powerstroke
> would be available in this truck He said �It sure will be available� Then I
> asked him about
> the agreement with Navistar. He replied that for years Navistar would not
> allow it but in
> this last agreement they agreed to allow them in all Medium duty trucks except
> for School
> bus Chassis. We both wondered why the change in policy now? I told him maybe
> Navistar
> was going to build lighter duty trucks and this was a way of keeping good
> relations with
> Ford while becoming more of a competitor in the lighter duty market. He found
> this very
> interesting. I also found it interesting that he did not know that Navistar
> had the �Avanta�
> model truck which was just like the New truck they had just designed.
>
> 3. Recently At a local 4x4 club meeting I spoke to friend who works for a
> local towing
> and recovery company, he said that Navistar had contracted with his company
> and he was
> to go to Oklahoma to pickup and transport three 1970s vintage IH pickups and
> take them
> to a small town north of Springfield where Navistar has an Engineering/design
> faculty.????
> I told him that this was very interesting and hesaid that it sounded fishy to
> him but he
> thought they were probably bought by someone who works at the design center.
> But who
> knows????
>
> 4. This past weekend I visited a friend from near St.Louis who said he had
> talked to
> another friend of ours who is a manager with a Navistar Plant; this friend
> told him that
> Navistar in the future was going to come out with a 1 ton truck and that they
> were going
> to replace the T444 with New smaller version of the diesel using computer
> technology to
> make up for torque and horsepower loss with smaller cubes. Could there be a 1
> ton pickup
> be in Navistar�s future?
>
> 5. International has 75+ a year history that they can use to promote this new
> product, I
> noticed at the 5 Millionth Celebration last October that they did just that by
> showing a
> movie on the jumbo screen which included alot Vintage Footage of
> Internationals past
> which included pickups. I also remember during the Company�s President's
> speech that he
> mentioned a new direction was coming from Navistar Int�l.
> There is a definite following out there for Internationals Light duty side
> with 20+
> clubs,over 115 IHC WEB-sites etc.
> Also keep in mind that there is only Ford, Chevrolet, GMC, & Dodge are making
> 1 ton
> pickups , so it is plausible that Navistar could succeed in this market.
> There is no hope I am afraid for the �Scout� Vehicle from Navistar because
> this market is
> flooded with everyone selling their own SUV.
> Freightliner is selling Avanta Size trucks with some success and who knows
> they may be
> headed for a light truck also. So Navistar has to try and stay ahead of them
> for sure.
>
> 6. I learned from my bother who is a parts manager at Center City
> International Trucks in
> Columbus, OH: That they have added a full time Salesman to handle the sales of
> �Towmaster� conversion International trucks which are�Avanta� type
> trucks.....could
> Navistar be suggesting that all dealers should have a salesman to handle these
> Trucks
> maybe in order to get their feet wet in this kind of market????
> �New Generation International Truck�
> The bottom line is that it is a fact that Navistar is redesigning its S-Series
> Cab which has
> been used since 1978. Could there be 2 cabs in the future? One cab to replace
> the medium
> S cab and another to fit a 1 ton type of application with both sharing most of
> same
> components such as doors, dash instruments etc. Could they be thinking of
> putting a
> pickup bed into play? Why not bring back the Triple Diamond logo for these
> lighter
> trucks????
> As far as the dealer network goes....I seemed to remember a Saturn commercial
> where
> you could deal and order over the Internet. Would Navistar need more than 900
> dealers
> to handle the lighter duty Vehicles??
>
> All very interesting but may add up to nothing........... I will be listening,
> asking, & looking
> for clues about this in the near future.
>
> John Glancy of SSS,SLL, & the NATS99