International Appeal – Randy Wilcox Makes Room for Family and Friends in this Cool Custom ’68 Travelall
There’s no denying the popularity of pickups and SUVs these days, especially when discussing models from the late-’60s through the ’90s. We see a lot of cool C10s, Suburbans, F100s, Broncos, a few Mopars, and a growing number of Jeeps being built, but the International Harvester badge seems to be a unicorn when it comes to a hot rodded SUV.
As you can see by Randy Wilcox’s ’68 IH Travelall, that could be changing. This third-generation Travelall started as a solid, largely original project that was still wearing its faded yellow paint that was applied at the Springfield, Ohio plant. Randy picked up the rig from an industry buddy who had it stashed away to build into a stock driver, but the timing was just never right and the IH finally ended up in Randy’s eclectic collection. Randy’s plan was much the same as his buddy’s – to keep the exterior original while updating the underpinnings and making the interior more comfortable. Those plans eventually snowballed and the Travelall was ultimately treated to refinements from front to rear and top to bottom.
Randy sent the Travelall to the crew at Flat Out Autos in Jonesboro, Arkansas to handle the upgrades, which started with a custom Roadster Shop Ride Line chassis designed to far outperform the handling and ride characteristics of the original version. The stronger frame was also deemed necessary to handle the 650-horsepower of the supercharged LT4 crate engine, which is harnessed through a Bowler-built 4L75E transmission and 9-inch rearend. Be sure to notice the underhood IH identification trickery machined into the supercharger lid!
With Randy’s original plan to retain the natural exterior patina, the crew at Flat Out set about updating the interior and adding some luxury appointments. Behind the scenes is an American Autowire harness and the factory dash now wears a brace of Dakota Digital gauges, while an Ididit tilt column gets the Curtis Speed steering wheel positioned just right over the Snowden bench seat. A matching Snowden rear seat was added behind the front bench.
The challenge presented with such a large, open interior space was going to be with the HVAC system. A Vintage Air system was installed in the front with the cool air piped through the restored factory under-dash unit. A rear kit would be ideal to keep the passengers cool and this is where the fun really started for Rob Hester and the Flat Out team. With no provisions on the roof or side panels, they built a faux spare wheel cover to house the A/C evaporator, and then removed both quarter panels to hide the plumbing and vents! Rob mentioned that it was the most work they’ve ever done to make it look like they didn’t do anything!
As the interior came together with nice square-weave carpet and vintage-styled leather upholstery with plaid cloth inserts, everyone involved was starting to question the exterior patina plan. Under the hood was looking incredible thanks to a smoothed firewall, hidden wiring, and a crafty radiator support. In short, the different areas of the IH were just turning out too nice to keep or try to fake a patina finish. Eventually, everyone agreed that a complete paint treatment was the best approach for this project.
Even with as good as shape as the body, glass, and trim were in to start with, the team ended up locating another Travellall to have on hand as a parts vehicle, primarily for one of the rare curved rear glass pieces. The body gaps and panels were all tightened, which Rob says was a substantial undertaking. “I don’t think panel gap and alignment was high on the QC list at IH in 1968!” he says. There was no question about the color, it had to be the factory IH BC8 yellow hue, which Flat Out applied and finished to show-quality standards.
Most everything on the exterior was left original, with the exception of smoothing and tucking the bumpers. The rear bumper was also modified to wrap around the sides of the wagon to match the front. All the factory trim and emblems were retained, with the addition of a custom-made front fender emblem that is easily mistaken as a factory piece denoting the wagon series number and the IH logo.
With the exterior refined and finished, Randy wanted the wheels to match the factory styling, so a custom set of International hubcaps was machined to fit on 18- and 19-inch Forgeline wheels with painted centers and polished lips sealed by a set of Continental tread.
With modern day power and handling, an interior to fit the whole family, and the comfort of a trick dual-zone A/C system, this Travelall is ready to live up to its namesake. We’re looking forward to seeing Randy rack up some miles in this custom SUV and hope to see a few more Internationals getting hot rodded in the future.
Photos by John Jackson & Damon Lee
