OK, I'm back.  The leg is starting to feel better and I'm even getting some of my old energy back too.  Nonetheless, the doc says I have to take it easy because of the clots in the lungs or really bad things could happen.  So I have to listen.  Mostly.

I can't work on the garage or Cornelia until spring now, which is a complete bummer.  BUT - my loss could be your gain.  I received a wonderful email this morning from a fellow named Kelan that really got me thinking...

"Hey there, just wanted to say thanks for all of the time that you put into your web page.  It is a nice reference to look at when I need to get specific info for my project.  I have a finished L-110 short box and a new project that I just started.  It is a real find, a 1955 R-140 4x4 with only 6900 miles on it.  I need to get some pics of the restoration for you.  The truck is so clean it amazes me.  Well I just wanted to say thank you from one binder guy to another."

My thinking is this - if some of you folks are actually using this site as a reference, then I could help out by doing some additional research for you and improving the site further. So email me or comment on this post and let me know what area of the site could be improved upon or added to that might help you out with your project(s), and I'll start working on the research to the best of my ability.  If the information is out there, I'll find it and post if for you.

In the meantime, thanks for the boost Kelan, and I'm looking forward to seeing photos of your L-110 and R-140!

Had a bit of a scare with a blood clot in the leg and some in the lungs (good thing Susan talked me into going in) and will likely be offline more often than on for a bit.  Nonetheless, we have a lot to be thankful for and we are looking forward to 2010.  We hope you all are doing well too.  Happy Holidays from John, Susan and Cornelia :-)

I thought B. Mitchell Carlson's "Triple Diamond Treatise" on page 28 of the January/February 2010 edition (Vol 17-No. 6) of Vintage Truck Magazine was very timely.

There seems to be a lot of interest in Line Setting Tickets lately so I've devoted a page to this subject from the article and have added some links as well.  I hope you find it useful.  You'll find the new link in the right margin in the "Truck Facts" section of the site.

In other news, we had a setback at OldIHC.org with a database crash but managed to get the site back up and rolling again.  In fact, at this point it is looking better than ever and there are just a few minor tweaks left to finish.  I even had a little fun yesterday by adding some little Travelall icons to give the forum a more International-specific feel and have a little more fun at the same time :-)

The forums are working nicely and the users are thankfully a forgiving bunch and are coming back.  International owners are a wonderful group of folks.

Thanks to a very kind comment by Bennett Moe, I've added a new links section to the links page for sites of friends.  It's near the bottom of the page under the "Other Sites of Interest" header.  I've added Bennett's site, and the sites of some of the other folks that have visited and commented since "Restoring Cornelia" went live in August.  If  I missed yours or you have a site that is IHC related and you would like to see it added, please let us know :-)

In other news, the "new" OldIHC is rolling along nicely but we decided the new forum was holding us back, so Jim Hadfield, Nick and I decided to try another.  We'll be installing new forum software over the weekend and it looks like it is very powerful.  I think the membership over at OldIHC is going to love it.

Hope you are all having a great turkey day with your loved ones!  I am of course thankful to have married Susan this year and to have purchased Cornelia – it has been a banner year for me and my sons (who I am forever thankful for).

I haven’t been able to work on Cornelia much yet due to my health, but I’m not complaining. Could be a hell of a lot worse.

In other news, we have the OldIHC.org site up and running, and everything looks great and seems to be operating pretty smoothly at this point.  Susan designed the header and footer for Jim, and I tweaked the style sheets for the site and did some grunt work for him.  With another coder by the name of Nick, I'd say we make a pretty good team and I'm pretty proud of the results (I hope Jim Hadfield is too).  You should check the new site out when you get a chance - OldIHC.org.

Well today John and I had opportunity to meet a big time fellow International enthusiast, and experience one impressive collection of IH K-, L- and R-series trucks, Scouts, panel vans, Travelalls, buses, original stock parts, and even two functioning IH refrigerators. Didn't even know those existed.

It all started with a post on our site from Mike Schmudlach, the Wisconsin show co-chair for the 2009 Red Power Roundup that was held in Madison. Turns out Mike lives fairly close to us, and was happy to show us around his place.

Wow. I thought John was truck-obsessed. Mike has maybe four gorgeous outbuildings he calls "sheds" full of IH glories in various states, plus a few more modest parts shelters, and a couple of acres of pretty solid parts trucks, rarities, and works-in-progress. He started by showing us a Travelall on a heavy-duty rotisserie that Mike claimed he just welded together himself after studying one of the things for a bit. I could see the gears in John's brain working away at ways to fit one of those into our own rather more urban-scale garage.

I asked as many questions as I felt qualified to ask, and learned quite a lot. For instance, who knew that IH made an automatic tranny in 53? Most experts claim they were only first available in 54. Or that for a time IH made the engines for Ford trucks? Or that in 1926, IH made a truck that was a 3-speed but had a two-speed differential that could turn it into a 6-speed? Or that for a period of time IH trucks had "hidden" door hinges, but that was offered for less than a year? Or that almost no IH truck came with a radio until the 1970s, but those that were made were manufactured by Motorola?

Or that IHs retain their unique glory even without benefit of an engine? We took this shot with our camera phone.

It was a wonderful day for a drive and IH field trip. Thanks, Mike!

Well we've got them ready for you!  Both the MT-97 Parts Catalog and the CTS-11/12 Service Manual for R-Series International trucks are both available on a chapter by chapter basis, or as complete downloads.  To get to the new manuals, go to the "Truck Facts" page, then click on the manual of your choice in the downloads column on the right.  Either one takes you to the same page :-)

I've also taken the time in the complete files to go through and bookmark them, so be sure to have bookmarks turned on in Adobe Reader - you will be able to navigate to the exact section you want to view.

In other news, I've also added some new links to the links page, and both Susan and I are still working with Jim Hadfield on the revamp of the OldIHC.org site.  We're slowly getting there, but there is a lot of work left to do on the forums...

*** Update 11/20/09 - I have removed the security and the annoying watermark that used to cross the entire document due to a different interpretation of the copyright.  So if you downloaded files between 11/19 and 11/20, 11 AM CST, you may want to download them again.