1917 International Truck And 1947 International Harvester Truck: No Relation!

This is Down On The Street Bonus Edition, where we check out interesting street-parked cars located in places other than the Island That Rust Forgot. Today we've got more fine photos from 24 Hours of LeMons New England field operative and Airstream chronicler UDMan. This time he's found a couple of ancient trucks, one made by the (Mack precursor) International Motor Truck Company 91 years ago, the other by International Harvester a mere 61 years ago. Jump away to see all the photos and read UDMan's description.

These images were shot at my dealer in Bridgeport, CT. He was holding an open house, and these trucks are part of his personal collection. Both are fairly rare, but one of these took a little research on my part. Introducing a 1917 International Model F. No this is not an International Harvester, but is actually a product of the International Motor Truck Company, which resulted in a merger of Mack Brothers Motor Car Company, and Saurer Motor Truck Company. Here is a brief history from Wikipedia: 1911: The Saurer Motor Truck Company, headed by C.P. Coleman, had the rights to manufacture and sell heavy trucks under the Saurer brand name at its plant in Plainfield, New Jersey. On September 23, 1911, the Saurer Motor Truck Company merged with the Mack Brothers Motor Car Company of Allentown, headed by J. M. Mack, to form the International Motor Truck Company (IMTC). IMTC would continue to make and sell trucks using the Saurer name until 1918. The capitalization of IMTC was $2.6 million total ($1.6m for Saurer, or 61.5%, and $1.0m for Mack Brothers). Observations about the Red International. I thought it was very similar to Mack Trucks made at this time period, with Mack's characteristic radiator mounted aft of the engine. In the front is the Hand Crank, and yes, this is the way you start the truck. The engine is a 4 Cylinder, but no one really knows the horsepower. From what I understand about the shifters is that one is for forward motion, and the other lever is for reverse, but I really have no clue. I do know that the tires are solid rubber, no air, on wooden spoke wheels. The headlamps are typical brass era, and I'm lead to believe that the way they are illuminated electrically, though they could still be an early form of Acetylene lamps. Anyway, this is truly an interesting beast. Introducing the 1947 International KB11. From my limited research, this was one of the larger trucks made by IH back then, except for the severe duty logging tractors. The engine is an IH Manufactured engine, very heavy duty, and six cylinders. Horsepower rating, torque, number of forward gears? Haven't got a clue. However, take a look at the custom grill guard, rear headache rack, and custom winch. Another great looking early truck.