Ad absurdum per aspera
I guess I am just ignoring gas mileage, as at least from my cursory looks on eBay it appears that you can get fairly nice examples of a IHC truck for cheap enough that they can continue to get abysmal gas mileage (and they do) and you'll still come out ahead. I based my comment on my experiences with two specific vehicles, a '76 Scout II (belonging to my dad) and a late-60's Jeep full sized truck (my great-grandfather's) which both were rarely used but dependable vehicles that never failed to give instant reliable service when called upon. The Scout is still occasionally used today for dragging logs out of the woods (it's better than a tractor) but hasn't seen road duty in a decade or more due to the tinworms (Pennsylvania is not as friendly to sheetmetal as Texas...)
I still kind of wish I was old enough to buy the Jeep when my grandfather decided it had to go... he himself had a newer Chevy pickup at the time and my great-grandfather had reached that age when annual hunting trips just weren't happening anymore... not sure why he picked the Chevy over the Jeep, if it was gas mileage or other considerations. Today I'd far rather have the Jeep but that's just me I guess. I am still trying to convice my dad that the Scout is worth a fiberglbutt tub... but in reality, it's probably not :
nate
