In our last showdown, the Mr Jalopy’s ’65 Country Squire pulled ahead of the classy black ’55 Ranch Wagon, but not by a lot.
In today’s flame-fanning-titled Showdown, we’re headed back to the dirt with a pair of the most overrated 4x4s of all time.


People seem to think of IH Scouts as though they were forged by Hephaestus himself. News flash: aside from the 200-lbs-heavier-than-it should-be 345ci “smallblock”, they’re the same collection of half-ton parts you could get on any other 4×4 of the era, just more poorly assembled. Today’s example comes all the way from Dayton, TN for a very reasonable $1800. It’s in surprisingly good condition for being so cheap…possibly because if any non-drivetrain part breaks, you’re pretty much SOL. Still, $1800 ain’t so bad. Craigslist

Early Broncos, on the other hand, are a bit more unique. Their front coil suspension is different from most of the era (but still super-crappy in stock form) and their middle-weight size gives more room than a Jeep, but they’ll still fit down any trail. They’re theoretically good, but in the real world, the only reasonably priced ones are rusted out, manual-steering, manual-braked, I-6, 3-speed powered turds. Any non-turd example (with anything V8 powered and Earl-Scheibed being above that threshold) commands absurd prices for what’s really not that great of an off-roader.
The Bronco in question is $5k as we’re writing this. The carb’ed 302 + 3 speed combo gets the job done around town, but we can assure you, it’s not the preferred setup on the trail. Carbs flood or starve with angle, and most 3-cogs lack the low 1st gear you need to really get your crawl on. The good news is, it’s a mid-60s Ford, so there’s no shortage of parts that’ll swap in to meet your needs. The question is, is that worth more than $3k over the Scout? eBay Motors
Hat to to Zach Bowman for the Scout!
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