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| 1960's IH Crewcab |
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| Front View |
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| IH Crewcab |
As surely as loggers need logs they need a crummy. In loggers lingo, the crummy is a support vehicle which is suppose to carry the woodsmen, along with all their tools, equipment, and fuel and oil to the woods. We have tried a variety of things as have many loggers. Seen here is an International Crew cab 4x4 of a mid 1960's vintage. Structurally, a crew cab is a 3/4 ton pickup with 4 feet extra cab and 2 feet less pickup box than a standard 4x4 pickup. We used up a couple of these before giving up. By the time you load it up with all the tools you might need (The whole shop), half a dozen chain saws (in case you run the Cat over one), and enough gas, diesel and oil to keep everything running, the vehicle is too overloaded to survive. Add a twisty rough road and the long body twists apart and broken springs and axles litter the corner of the shop. Enough is enough and this explains why we now use an IH LoadStar 4X4 midrange truck which the Navy originally spec'ed out to haul bombs out to their aircraft for a crummy. . We've got nothing against crew cabs mind you, it's just that they are better suited to hauling a leaf raking crew around a city park, that they are at taking a load of loggers and all their gear out to the woods.
Vehicles of this type remain popular in the service industry where work crews have to be transported to a work site. City folks have heard of carpools, and that is what these things are for except they need to hold some burly workman and their things, and these 'things' aren't purses and briefcases. Utilities, railroads, and survey crews are examples of people who use these crew cabs to good effect. The popular 'extended cab' pickup of today is a compromise between these crewcabs and a regular pickup. The difference is that the extended cab pickups have a 'squishy' back seat more suitable for children or midgets whereas the crewcab has a full sized back seat. The extended cab solution, particularly if made with a 'short box' (6 feet) instead of the standard 8 foot box is a nice vehicle to be sure. It's wheelbase is comparable to a traditional full sized pickup, but the extra space in the cab is extremely useful, but that is another story.
This photo is taken some years after the truck was retired. What really brought it to an end was the failure of the body. Twisty roads led to the doors not working. This is sort of the fate of long wheel base vehicles on bad roads. They can only twist about so many times before you need a bungee cord to hold the doors shut.