Navistar (formerly International Harvester) started in Chicago, United States, which produced agricultural machinery, construction equipment and vehicles. It was the result of a 1902 merger between the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and Deering Harvester Company, along with three smaller agricultural equipment firms: Milwaukee; Plano; and Warder, Bushnell, and Glessner (manufacturers of Champion brand). International Harvester changed their corporate name to Navistar International Corporation in 1986.

The first major product from International Harvester was the Titan 10-20 and 15-30 tractor. Introduced in 1915, the tractors were primarily used as traction engines to pull large plows and for belt work on threshing machines. In 1924, International Harvester introduced the Farmall tractor, a smaller general-purpose tractor, to fend off competition from the Ford Motor Company's Fordson tractors. The Farmall was the first tractor in the United States to incorporate a tricycle-like design (or row-crop front axle), which could be used on tall crops such as cotton and corn.

In addition to its line of farm equipment, International Harvester produced plows, construction equipment, household appliances, M1 Garand military rifles, jet engines, trucks and school bus chassis

Current headquarters are in Warrenville, Illinois

Passenger vehicles

Light duty

IH (International Harvester) is often remembered as a maker of relatively successful and innovative “light” line of vehicles, competing directly against the Big 3. The most common were pickup trucks. International Harvester made light trucks from 1907 to 1975. The final Light Line truck was made on May 5, 1975. The Travelall was similar to a Chevrolet Suburban. The Travelette was a crew cab, available in 2 or 4 wheel drive. It was available starting in 1961, and was the first 6 passanger, 4 door truck of its time. The Scout was a small, 2 door SUV, similar to a Jeep in 1972 the Scout became the Scout II, and in 1974 dana 44 axles, power steering and power disk brakes became standard. after the trucks, and Travelall were discontinued in 1975, The Scout Traveler, and Terra became available, they were longer than a standard Scout II. IH would abandon sales of passenger vehicles in 1980 to concentrate on commercial trucks and school buses. Today the pickups and Scouts are minor cult orphaned vehicles. All were available as rugged four-wheel drive [[off-road vehicle]s]. Models and toys of IH vehicles are very difficult to find, though Micro Machines made a 70s Travelall with a camping trailer. They had a major presence in East Idaho.

School and commercial bus chassis

Although based upon truck chassis, IHC also became the leading manufacturer of the chassis portion of body-on-chassis conventional (type C) school buses. IHC successor IC Corporation is the 21st century market leader in both types C & D school bus production in the United States as of 2006.

Home lawn and garden

It also branched out into the home lawn and garden business in the 1960s with its line of Cub Cadet equipment, which included lawn mowers and snow blowers.

Most of International Harvester's agricultural assets were purchased by Tenneco, and merged with their subsidiary Case Corporation (now CNH Global) in 1985, who continue to produce tractors, combines, and equipment under the Case IH brand. The truck and engine businesses remained and in 1986 Internatioanl Harvester changed their corporate name to Navistar International Corporation. The Cub Cadet line was purchased by MTD Products. The Scout & Light Truck Parts Business was sold to Scout/Light Line Distributors,Inc. in 1991.

Today, “Power Stroke” Diesel is a trade name of Ford Motors for the six and eight cylinder diesel engines made by International Truck and Engine Corporation for use in Ford vans, trucks, and SUVs.

See also

• Farmall tractor
• List of International Harvester vehicles

References

• Garraty, John A. Right-Hand Man: The Life of George W. Perkins (1960) senior executive 1901-1910
• Robert Sobel The Entrepreneurs: Explorations Within the American Business Tradition (Weybright & Talley 1974), chapter 2, Cyrus Hall McCormick: From Farm Boy to Tycoon ISBN 0-679-40064-8

External links

• Navistar Corporate Website
• International Harvester Digest
• The Binder Bulletin: all IH light trucks technical resource website
• McCormick - International Harvester Collection
• IH Cub Cadet owners club
• International Harvester information
• A club for International Harvester truck enthusiasts