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Word comes from Ontario, Canada that the Red KB7 has moved from Tennessee and has been further restored and has now turned blue and presently lives in Ontario. The restoration appears to be marvelous. A special thanks to Eric of Ontario for this fine job and fine photo.
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| 1948 KB7 International |
This masterpiece of restoration work showed up in my email box one day and I can't resist posting it. If you expand the photo you can get a clear look at the inside of the vehicle. The K series was the IH classic of the post war 1940's. The cab however as a hold over from the D series which was of the later 1930's. The cab you see here is identical to the one used in the D-35 which was a pre-war truck. Note the squared off instrument panel. With the L and later series used round instrument panels for 20 years or more after this. Also as a sign of the times note the hand crank on the top of the dashboard in the middle. This is for cranking open the windshield. The windshield was hinged on top and the bottom would crank forward a couple inches for ventilation, in addition to the 'air scoop' which was on top of the fire wall as was typical of this era vehicle.
The spoke wheels are simply a regional customer preference thing. Here in the Pacific Northwest no self respecting trucker would be caught dead with "California wheels' on his truck, though in other parts of the country they are the norm.
Notice also the single windshield wiper. This vehicle had a 6 volt electric system and an electric wiper for the drivers side only. Heater and Defroster were optional equipment.
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| 1948 K series |
I'm not certain which K series truck this is. However the 6 hole Budd Wheels suggest that it was not a K-8 which usually had heavier wheels. That K series was manufactured for several years after World War 2 and the cab as noted is a pre-war hold over.