I just found out that Cornelia is in fact a 1953 R-112, NOT a 1954.  How?  From the chassis number and the International Harvester archives at the Wisconsin Historical Society.  It was common practice in the '50's for states to title vehicles based on the date of sale from the dealer lot, not the actual date of manufacture, so Cornelia has been titled as a 1954 International in Wisconsin for these past 56 years...

How can YOU tell how old your truck is?  Well I've put a new page together to make it simple for you :-)  You'll find it in the Truck Facts section at the bottom - "What Year is My Truck?"

In other news, the startup list is coming along nicely, but I've hit a small snag.  Turns out there are a million different Carter YF carburetors out there and I need to find out EXACTLY which one I have.  Somewhere beneath the grease and grime is a specific model number (I hope) that will confirm which one I have so that I can order the right rebuild kit.  I'm going to have to pull the carb off and do a partial cleaning to find it - hopefully this weekend...

Well, I finally got the list together for the parts needed to get Cornelia on the road, and decided to put it in a table with some links so that you can get a better handle on it with me.

As of yet, it is still in rough form, and it should really be prioritized, as I may not need to do everything that is listed.  Nonetheless, to get Cornelia roadworthy, most items will likely be needed.

So why am I doing this at this point?  Two reasons:  First, by getting Cornelia running, I figure we'll get a better handle on the condition of the engine and drivetrain.  Second, I'd like Susan to hear and feel what this old cornbinder sounds like before we tear her down for restoration.  So yes, some of the funds spent here will be wasted... but will they? :-)

The parts list can be found at the top of the right margin in the "Truck Facts" section of the site.  The link to the list is "Getting Started".

Just wanted to mention that there has been a lot of activity in the "Friends of Cornelia" Gallery lately and that there are some beautiful truck photos that have been added.  Check 'em out when you get a chance!  To the left is one of the newest photos, a nice shot of "Grace" - another '54 R-112 Series pickup submitted by Ryan.  Great looking truck!

In other news, I just about have my list of parts together for getting Cornelia back on the road.  I hope to have something posted soon, and I would like your feedback.  I'll probably start a thread over at OldIHC.org as well.

Hope you're enjoying the wonderful Spring weather!

Although I've mostly been working on the Indian lately (replacing the starter - no easy task mind you! You have to remove the oil tank and a pile of parts just to get at the darn thing), but I digress... I've been seriously giving thought to the possibility of seeing if we can get Cornelia started and running - and then just driving it for a bit before we get down to the act of tearing her down for the restoration.  Anyway - just giving it some thought.

While doing so, one of the things I would have to do is rebuild the carburetor.  Since the existing carburetor is a Carter YF, I found a service manual for it, and since this is also a very common carburetor for many other Internationals, I have added it to the manuals section of the site for you folks.  Specifically, you'll find it in the Special Supplements section (near the bottom) of the manuals page.

In the meantime, I'm putting a list together of all the parts I would need and the things I would need to do to get Cornelia safely on the road to have a little fun.  When I'm done I'll share it with you folks because there are some parts sources and pricing that you will find useful too.

I've added some photos to the heater page since I seem to get a lot of questions on heaters.  Hopefully this will help.  I've also added a few new links to the links page.

Spring has finally arrived here - I can't wait to get started on finishing the garage, so that we can then get started on Cornelia!

I finally added the new history section - it's an excellent article about the history of International trucks written by International Harvester themselves.  It was published in April of 1961, and I've added photos of trucks to serve as examples for you.

Thanks Susan, for typing it all in for me - it would have taken me forever and a day with two fingers...

We've also made a PDF version of it available for you at the bottom of the page.

In addition, I found some excellent "Harvester World" magazine articles that I've converted to PDF, including a timely article on Haiti featuring R-Series Internationals.  You'll find links to all of these in the right-hand margin of the History page.

I've added quite a few new links to the Links page and have also added some additional information to the facts sections as per your requests.  Thanks for keeping me busy ;-)

In other news, Susan and I are working to bring you some additional International truck history that I came across at the Wisconsin Historical Society directly from the IHC archives.  It was published in 1961 and has a lot of great information.  Look for it soon.

Susan is busy working up new forum badge icons for OldIHC.org and they are looking great.  To give you a taste, the image in the blog post is a blow-up of one of the icons.  She's talented eh?