At the end of the 1970’s International Harvester had a choice to make; abandon their efforts in the SUV game or revive the “Scout” brand a third time. Allegedly some wild prototypes came out of those brainstorming sessions, like this 1980 Hurst Shawnee which you can have for $175,000.

I don’t imagine the seller will ever get that ambitious asking price () because, well, the main thing that brings us to Scouts is the fact that they’re cheaper than Broncos. Not nine times more expensive, like this little legend.

There’s also the fact that the description and photos are laughably inadequate for anything at the price point of a decent house in parts of this country. Though it’s actually pretty compelling as far as Scout Craigslist ads go:

FIRST TIME FOR SALE SINCE 1981——THE RAREST PROTOTYPE YOU WILL EVER FIND IN A SCOUT—-THE HURST SHAWNEE SCOUT IS A SPECIALLY DESIGNED PROTOTYPE VEHICLE PUT TOGETHER BY HURST PERFORMANCE AND THE SCOUT DIVISION OF INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER——THIS IS A MUST PURCHASE FOR COLLECTORS—THIS IS THE ONLY ONE FOR SALE——-AND IN ORIGINAL PERFECT CONDITION—-RARE—-RARE——RARE——PROTOTYPE——-$175,000 O.B.O. ONLY SERIOUS BUYERS INQUIRE

(Seller did not return my serious inquiry.)

If authentic, this Hurst Shawnee Scout is a true historic artifact and it seems more likely that one would have survived than somebody would go through the trouble of making a replica.

With body cladding over the cargo bed, you might call it an early incarnation of the Chevy Avalanche. I mean, not really, but the design concept is vaguely similar. Those little “soft-doors” are from another special edition that saw more mainstream production, necessary because the steel slabs normally holding passengers into a Scout were rather cumbersome to “quick-release” like a Jeep.

Noted Scout historian wrote that the Shawnee “was based on a 1980 Scout II chassis with a Terra [long wheelbase] bulkhead, 345 V8 4 barrel, automatic transmission and a 3.54 gear ratio. This was then sent to Hurst for further development. Hurst built 3 of these special vehicles and placed a dash plaque on each indicating Hurst Special Vehicle Limited Edition #____.”

Vehicle #1 was apparently sent back to International. #2 is said to have been dismembered by an unwitting scrapper and sent to Mexico like an old droid at a Jawa yard sale, and #3... either that’s this one, or the International factory rig is being released back into the wild.

Images via International, Craigslist

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