1959 International Harvester B-120 Travelall

November 2012 Backward Glances 1959 Travelall Front Three Quarter

This Travelall turned heads in 1959 and it turns heads today too. It might even introduce a little whiplash. It’s seen here at the ’11 Scout & IH Truck Nationals in Springfield, Ohio. The ’59 B-Line was very much like the late ’57-’58 A-Line except for trim changes and, notably, quad headlights. The GVW was rated at 7,000 pounds for the B-120. Base price was around $3,600.

This Travelall turned heads in 1959 and it turns heads today too. It might even introduce

Even people who don’t know much about SUVs, 4x4s, or International Harvester remember the Travelall. If not by name, then by the ’50s sense of all being good in the world—even if it isn’t.

The IH Travelall appeared for 1953 in the International Harvester (IH) R-Line of light trucks but its functional counterparts came earlier under the simple title of “station wagon.” The earliest of these were woody conversions and later came conversions of the two-door all-steel panel trucks. The Travelall name appeared for ’53 and a legend was born.

The Travelall was one of the earliest (almost the earliest) full-sized, civilized, all-terrain people movers. We now call them SUVs. Sure, the GM Suburban had debuted in the ’30s, but it was a 4x2. Jeep had been building a 4x4 station wagon since 1949, but it wasn’t full-sized. When IH offered the first production 4x4 Travelall for 1956 in their S-Line trucks (FYI: each new series of IH trucks were given a letter and when they reached “S”, they went back to “A”), it was matched only by the new-for-1956 GMC Suburban, which for the first time had four-wheel drive. A Chevy 4x4 Sub followed in 1957, but these GM products were built using NAPCO conversion kits. Dodge introduced a new “civilian” line of 4x4 trucks in 1957 to complement the original Power Wagon and it included a new two-door station wagon called the Town Wagon.

For 1957, when the new A-Line trucks appeared, the Travelall upped the ante by appearing with a third passenger side door. IH upped the ante again for 1959 by upgrading the options for the Travelall in the new B-Line trucks. Power steering, power brakes, V-8 engines, and other comfort, convenience, and visual appeal features were introduced to make the Travelall more mainstream and less commercial. The Travelall was offered in the B-100/B-110/B-112 ½-ton range only in 4x2 form. The B-120 was a ¾-ton rated model and that was the only Travelall to come in four-wheel drive in this era. A B-122 model featured uprated springs for a higher GVW. IH was riding pretty high at this point, holding over 12 percent of the truck market.

The B-Line trucks carried on into the 1961 model year, when another mild facelift transformed them again and the C-Line Travelall continued to evolve thru the ’60s. The D-Line appeared in 1969 with substantial changes in technology and appearance but the Travelall was not to survive the ’70s. A series of financial setbacks, labor trouble, corporate schizophrenia, and fighting over internal development resources resulted in the entire light truck line being discontinued before the ’75 model year was finished. The Travelall was still popular but it died with the trucks and the Scout II took its place. The Scout itself died in 1980 under the same general circumstances.

The ’59 B-120 4x4 Travelall here belongs to Marty Kleinhardt who is from a family that have been IH buffs for decades, if not generations. The family owned and operated an IH dealership back in the day and still operates a business selling Cub Cadets in the same building. Between them, they have enough IH rigs to fill the lot again.

Marty’s ’59 Travelall came from Wisconsin, where it was used as all-weather transportation (reportedly mainly to take kids to school) and as a snowplow vehicle. It acquired only 16,000 miles performing those duties before being retired. It languished and went through a couple of owners before Kleinhardt got hold of it. The snow belt had ravaged the vulnerable IH body panels but Marty scrounged up replacements, repaired what he couldn’t replace and set about a restoration. Mechanically, little was needed. Marty had doubted the odometer but inspections of the mechanical parts verified this truck was barely broken in, so the powertrain is still mostly untouched and the resto focused on bodywork.

The Travelall was moderately well equipped. It had been ordered with the optional chrome bumpers and trim, as well the Warner T-98 four-speed manual trans, uprated seats and interior, three-row seating and a nifty AM radio. Not ordered was the optional 153hp, 264ci big Six or the 155hp, 266ci V-8, power steering and power brakes. Late in 1959, the V-8 became the standard engine and one had to special order the Sixes.

Kleinhardt decided to go two-tone on the new paint. Originally, the truck had been all IH Red, but he deviated from that by “special ordering” the two-tone Whitecap White/IH Red from his body man, which was an option in 1959. The restoration process took about a year and a half, and the result is what you see here.

The Details
Vehicle: 1959 IH B-120 Travelall 4x4
Owner: Marty Kleinhardt
Estimated value: $32,000 (Per NADA)
Engine: 240ci, I-6, BD-240 “Black Diamond”
Power (hp): 141 @ 3,800 rpm
Torque (lb-ft): 223.5 @ 2,000 rpm
Bore & stroke (in): 3.56 x 4.02
Comp. ratio: 7.5:1
Transmission: 4-spd (opt), T-15 (Warner T-98A)
Transfer case: 2-spd divorced, TC-140 (NP 13140)
Front axle: Spicer 44-1F
Rear axle: IH RA-10
Axle ratios: 4.10:1 (std)
Tires: 7.00-17.5 (std)
L x W x H (in): 202.4x76.3x76.1
Wheelbase (in): 114
GVW (lbs): 7,000
Curb weight (lbs): 4,720
Fuel capacity (gal): 18

The two faces of Travelall and they’re different. Can you spot them? One door versus two, of course. A three-door SUV was the cat’s meow when the Suburban, Jeep station wagon, and Dodge Town Wagon had just two-doors. The GM Subs went to three doors in 1961, and the Travelall went to four the same year. The Town Wagon never had more than two. Jeep didn’t get a production four-door until the ’63 Wagoneer debuted, and the Sub didn’t get four until the 1967 remake.
The two faces of Travelall and they’re different. Can you spot them? One door versus two,
A three-door SUV was the cat’s meow when the Suburban, Jeep station wagon, and Dodge Town Wagon had just two-doors. The GM Subs went to three doors in 1961, and the Travelall went to four the same year. The Town Wagon never had more than two. Jeep didn’t get a production four-door until the ’63 Wagoneer debuted, and the Sub didn’t get four until the 1967 remake.
A three-door SUV was the cat’s meow when the Suburban, Jeep station wagon, and Dodge Town
The front seat is roomy and the dash has that typical ’50s mix of simplicity and style. The seat is relatively comfortable, very comfortable by ’50s truck standards. The B-Line got a better heater/defroster in 1959, which you can see under the dash on the right. It was optional over no heater at all but in those days, heaters weren’t standard installations. And air conditioning from the factory? Fogetaboutit. The Travelall didn’t have factory-installed air until the ’61 C-Line debuted. The optional radio mounted on the roof, above the rear view mirror.
The front seat is roomy and the dash has that typical ’50s mix of simplicity and style. Th

The optional radio mounted on the roof, above the rear view mirror.
The standard engine for the early ’59 Travelalls was the legendary 240ci IH Black Diamond six. Its ancestors had debuted in the ’30s as one of the earliest overhead-valve truck engines. For 1959, it was still fresh from several upgrades, including a redesigned canted-valve head and full-flow oil filtration. There were three similar six-cylinder engines this year, the 220ci, which was a short stroke version of the 240ci offered only in the economy 4x2 A-100s that made 113hp, and the optional 264ci, which had a slightly longer stroke and a healthy increase in the bore size. The 264ci made 155hp, about the same as the 266ci V-8. The V-8 that was optional early in 1959, but became the standard engine by late in the year. Both the sixes were available as LPG models.
The standard engine for the early ’59 Travelalls was the legendary 240ci IH Black Diamond
There is three-row seating for eight adults. The third seat was optional. It’s no wonder the first owners bought this to haul kids. There is plenty of room and great visibility to boot. The seats could be reconfigured as needed. By moving the full bench forward and removing the narrow seat, the rear area was available for lots of cargo. Or, all seats were easily removed. A panel was also made with two doors, or with three doors and no windows in back.
There is three-row seating for eight adults. The third seat was optional. It’s no wonder t