Newbee needs your HELP!!!

T

trueblueamerican

New member
First I'd like to say hello to everyone as I'm new to the site. I live out in north carolina and have spent the last 11 years serving in the military. I've been looking for a trusty old pick-up for about 6 months and recently came across an a-series that I've fallen in love with. The owner is out of san diego, but the truck is located in sacramento. Does anyone have info on the truck/engine and maybe if you're close would you mind going to take a look at it for me, before I fly out to CA?? Reliability and mechanical condition are what concern me the most. Thanks to all of you for any information or assistance you can provide! It's listed as a 1957 a120, but I couldn't find a lot on the internet and what I did find was that it looks like a 1959 b120, not a 57? The lights look like the 59, but the grill looks like it's from a 57. Also I think he said it used to have a bd240, but now has a bd264? Says rust free, but $5,000 seems like a lot?? What do you guys think??

autotrader classics - 1957 International Harvester pickup truck off white 6 cylinder manual all wheel drive | classic trucks | san diego, CA

1957 International Harvester a120 - 1957 harvester a120 - 00628251605
 
Very cool truck and the continental six popper to boot. Damb near bullit proof.


A local IH club here in socal is Scout west. They have a san diego chapter. Go here www.scoutswest.com And join up/register and ask the same question. Sure they will be happy to oblige.
 
Robert, thanks for the reply...the truck is actually located in sacramento, that's why I posted here. So the black diamond 264 is actually a continental engine? Got some conflicting feedback about that...
 
Well, not too sure what you are looking for, but I have lots of time and could go check it out for you. I am not sure what exactly to look for and not sure how much of a project you want, the claim is that it is rust free but I find that hard to believe. I could make sure it runs and moves without making any funny noises and take some more pics if you would like. From the scenery it looks like this thing is north sacramento. Personally $5k for a project sounds high to me, but love can make you do crazy things.
 
I'm still in the learning mode regarding the myriad IH-sourced/IH-produced inline six cylinder engines. And my continuing education reveals there is far more mis-information regarding these engines than any factual information.

In the early days, ihc did source engines from many vendor-manufacturers...primarily willys-overland, lycoming, and waukesha. But...all the factual information regarding the "bd" series tells me that those engines were ihc in-house production.

That is not to say that someone might not have installed a continental unit. But most folks who casually play with these rigs would not know the difference anyway and simply regurgitate what someone else has told 'em they got...and that source is in most cases just blowin' smoke.

None of the historical references I use for this stuff make any mention of a continental power plant being used in these rigs.

The ihc-produced parts and service references for that vehicle series/bd engines is very definitive regarding how to id this stuff. The cts-2000 covers the '57>'64 "a/b/c" platform. The engine section references the black diamond series in 220, 240, and 264 displacements. A second section deals with the black diamond 269, 282, 308. The third section deals with the sv series engines in 266, 304. And 345.
 
IH sourced 6's usually had/have an IH logo cast in the block. The early ones had a triple diamond on the front driver side below the head. The early sd's had a triple diamond logo on the rear driver side, the later ones went to the IH(man onna tractor) up front forward and below the oil filter cannister on the driver side. The bd's bg's all had the IH logo cast in the lower block up front by the fuel pump forward of the oil filter on the driver side. There was also a machined pad on the block on the passenger side front just below the head. The stamping indicated the engine family(bd or bg for ex.), and size. The stamping wasn't always there, many of the earlier sd's didn't have them, but you would usually find them on all the other families.
 
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