1972 Travelall Phone Truck

[Steve Jackson]

Hey guys! I haven't been hanging around much, but I thought I'd pop in and share some pics of a recent IH find. A kid near Wichita Falls was selling an 800A so I loaded up my truck and trailer and took my buddy to look at it. My buddy ended up passing on the 800A, but the kid also had a '72 Travelall. We took a look, and it turned out to be quite interesting. Here's the story.

It's a '72 2WD Travelall that was bought by a wireless (two-way radio) communications company when it was new. This truck was supposedly used by a service manager in his job to maintain vehicles and equipment. The company sold the truck in 1995 after having invested around $1000 in regular maintenance. It was bought at an auction and then moved to a property west of town. It sat there until I hauled it out a few weeks ago.

It's a one-owner truck with 68,000 original miles! After installing a battery, a new battery cable, changing the oil, and rigging a gas-can fuel source, the thing fired right up! It runs great! It runs better than my '72 that I've been running for the last 10 years. I put it into gear and it immediately engaged and lurched forward (brakes are bad). Even my 2 Scouts with rebuilt transmissions take a few seconds to "wind up" when they've been sitting longer than a few months.

The body is pretty good, with only a little rust around the rear wheel wells and lower quarters. Floors are good.

What I really liked was the old-school radio gear. The radios in this truck represent about 30 years of 2-way mobile radio tech, including the earliest forms of "car phones".

I've got too many projects to keep it, but the kid was going to scrap it, so I wanted to save it rather than see another IH go across the scales. I'll probably clean it up a bit and put it on eBay. If someone is interested in it for themselves, PM me.

So, here are some pics:















And here's a link to more pics:

http://www.rarecarfinders.com/1972/

[Derrickc2010]

I think that thing has the iphone 5 installed.

Nice!

[jasonzbtzl]

That old phone receiver in there kills me!! It reminds of every movie that ever came out before cell phones, and when someone was shown talking on a phone in their car, they talked on what looked like a phone that came out of their living room!!

You need to restore and clean up all that equipment too, and try to get it all back to as close to the way it was back in the day. That thing would make a great show car and would have lots of "talkin" material there too.

good find!!

[Binderman]

Whats the glass like? Engine size?

Price??

More info on the 800 in W.Falls? I need a beater.

Its funny I just aquired two pick-ups that belonged to a long time family friend and both had very large two-way radio packs behind the seats and speakers and handsets all over and under the dashs. It is truely amazing how far technology has come since then. Now we reach in our shirt pocket and can call thousands of miles away where as these ole big things were good for what 30 miles at best.

Any old radio buffs in the group? I hate to trash em but I am way to tall to loose the leg room they are taking up.

Thanks!!

[Steve Jackson]

Originally Posted by Binderman

Whats the glass like? Engine size?

All the glass is good. The engine is a 345.

Originally Posted by Binderman

Price??

I'd sell it as it sits for $900.

Originally Posted by Binderman

More info on the 800 in W.Falls? I need a beater.

Here was the CL ad:

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/1954609875.html

The floors are gone and the transmission looks like it was smashed whenever it was extracted from its previous resting place (16+ years ago?). He wanted $400 for it.

Originally Posted by Binderman

Any old radio buffs in the group? I hate to trash em but I am way to tall to loose the leg room they are taking up.

I'd be interested. Researching the radios in this Travelall has gotten me interested in this old tech. The radios only had a short range, but they were tied into an operator that allowed them to make calls on the regular phone network. Let me know what you want for the stuff, and I'll come get it.

Cool stuff.

[Binderman]

All the radio stuff is yours! Now that I think about it the two grain trucks may also have radios/stuff in them. It may take me a bit to get it all rounded up as each vehicle is in a different part of the county. Do you have a trailer to haul all this stuff on??

I didnt know about the connection to a phone line with the two-way stuff. Cool!

Guess I will have to pass on T-All for now. I need to put a motor in one of my trucks and thought this might be a tad cheaper option. Maybe later since its this close to the Holidays.

Thanks also for the CL link.

[Steve Jackson]

Yup, I've got a trailer. How big are these 'radios'? Haha. Would be happy to come help pull the gear out.

[Binderman]

The units behind the seats are about the size of three stacked on top of each other in the 6th picture you posted. Motorola if IIRC.

Probly won't need a trailer, but it all will be a large pile.

At the residence of the fella I got the trucks from there was various radio equiptment scattered around. Might you want these also if they are still around? The executor of the will was trying to find someone to take them as he to didnt want just toss the stuff. I will check and see if its still around.

No need to come help cause I keep a crazy schedule.

I'll holler.

[Steve Jackson]

Yeah, I'd be interested if that other radio gear is still around. I have plenty of indoor storage.

It might be a pipe dream, but I'd love to get two units working and make person-to-person calls between two vehicles.

Just let me know when, and I'll be there.

[ihscoutlover]

I can give you some insight as to the phone units. Back in the day, actually the Fire departments used those kind of units to transmit to the hospitals patient heart rates and vital information when the ambulances would roll. My local FD(which I used to be a volunteer on), had these kind of radios to communicate. While they may not transmit a long distance, in the day that was pretty awesome. I am also an Ham radio buff, so its not uncommon for this stuff to appear. The phone system actually transmitted via radio, and then at a base, then transmitted over phone lines. Ham radio today has something similar called autopatch. It is where you can use a portable radio as a cell phone, using a keypad, and then the transmit button. If you need some help identifying some of the stuff, take some pictures and PM me. Clean some of the serial and model plates if the radios have them and I can give you more information about them. Neat find either way, and believe me if I had the time and space I would take you up on some of that equipment too.

Jeff