Post by billhammond on Aug 31, 2024 13:59:25 GMT -5
L.A. Times Excerpt
In 2007, when Tim Walz was a freshman congressman, he told a reporter that his dream car was a 1973 Chevrolet Camaro, noting, “I’m kind of a muscle-car guy.” What he was actually driving was a more staid choice: a Dodge minivan.
But a year after that interview with the Hill, the self-professed car guy bought a vehicle that is now making headlines and has come to define the vice presidential candidate’s I’m-from-a-small-town, Minnesota-dad vibe: a 1979 International Harvester Scout II.
The choice impresses people like Brandon Ray, a 48-year-old fellow Scout II owner from Phoenix. As Ray tells it, he’d just gone through a divorce 15 years ago when a “bad-ass” yellow Scout II caught his eye. The SUV bore two decals: One said, “Face your fears,” the other, “Live your dream.” He bought the Scout.
“It did what it said it was gonna do,” Ray said. “I faced my fears and lived some of my dreams in that truck.”
News that Walz owns a 1979 Scout II came as a surprise to Ray. “I just don’t picture a blue guy driving a f— Scout,” he said, referencing Walz’s Democratic affiliation.
A turquoise truck with a white top and a personalized black Minnesota license plate reading "ONE MN," seen from behind.
Cars and politics have long mixed. With exhortations to “buy American,” presidents have almost always favored rides from U.S. automakers. That includes President Biden, who cherishes his 1967 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.
Amid Walz’s whirlwind journey to the national political stage, his car credentials have become part of his story. Notably, a 2018 video of Walz admonishing Ford over a low-quality headlight harness has resurfaced to the delight of gearheads.
The teacher-turned-Minnesota governor wrenches on cars and goes to classic auto shows, too. But the most obvious part of his pistons-and-pushrods persona is his Scout.
For years, Walz, 60, has taken to social media to share photographs of his Scout, which is painted an arresting glacier blue and sports a license plate that reads “ONE MN,” an apparent reference to his “One Minnesota” political slogan. Of the many American classics still roaming the roads, the Scout is one imbued with particular meaning.
The Scout was produced in Fort Wayne, Ind., by International Harvester from 1960 to 1980 in multiple guises spread across two generations, known as I and II. It is among the quirkiest of the vintage SUVs that have become popular in recent years. The Scout wasn’t made by a familiar automotive brand: International Harvester was a Chicago-based farm equipment company that shut down about 40 years ago.
That has made the Scout less recognizable to the Instagram set — and more appealing to enthusiasts looking for a deal at a time when vintage Ford Broncos often sell for more than $100,000. The Scout, said Randy Nonnenberg, cofounder of the automotive auction platform Bring a Trailer, has “always been an underdog.”
With its boxy body, chrome grille, round headlights and removable or soft top, it is practical, charming and not too flashy. “Scouts are very Midwest, which is very on-brand” for Walz, said Nonnenberg, whose company has auctioned 285 Scout IIs at an average price of about $38,000. “It’s kind of like the vehicle version of him.”
Some other Scout owners agree.
“Anyone who wants to maintain and keep a ’79 Scout is not your average person,” said Gary Brown, an Orange County software engineer who has restored and sold about 10 Scouts over three decades. “It takes someone with a retro or somewhat older mindset ... [who] knows how to tinker.”
“I like guys like that — guys who can fix things,” he said.
As for Ray, who is selling another Scout — a rare 1978 version priced at $59,999 — he didn’t want to talk politics, which he called “a tough topic.”
But, in a nod to the unifying power of cars, Ray imagined a trip he and Walz might take into the wilds of the Southwest: “Maybe he and I can go out in the dunes one of these days?”
Walz appears to have a genuine passion for cars, but he also seems to possess a finely calibrated understanding of how his actions may play with voters, said Matt Hardigree, publisher of the Autopian, which has written about the politician.
Just take the governor’s social media posts featuring his Scout and another Scout — his dog. That, Hardigree said, “is an unhate-able image.”
“It is Norman Rockwell transported 50 years into the future,” he said.
Then there’s Minnesota’s right-to-repair law, one of several such measures passed by states in recent years. Signed by Walz in 2023 and called the Digital Fair Repair Act, it directs makers of electronics and other items to give consumers access to information and parts so that they can repair their own devices.
Although the law doesn’t cover cars, Hardigree said it shows that Walz subscribes to a fix-it ethos that many vintage car owners can appreciate.
In the case of the Scout, maintaining one is no small feat, because parts are hard to come by. Still, Hardigree, who reviewed images of Walz’s ride, approved of the politician’s upkeep: “It’s clean, but it’s clearly driven. It’s not a garage queen.”
