Our Bring a Trailer Auction Pick

The Ford Bronco Raptor is the new hotness, and a classic Land Rover Defender is likely an iconoclast’s choice when it comes to old-school off-roaders, but this ’62 Scout pickup is more desirable and unique than either, in my opinion. While it has clearly been heavily modified, upon closer inspection it’s also clear that it wasn’t hastily modified by some knuckleheads in a barn, as evidenced by the photos detailing its frame-off restoration.

Don’t be mistaken: this Scout isn’t a restomod with modern tech and a luxury-lined interior. In fact, the inside is almost as spartan as it was when new in ’62, back when even carpeting wasn’t standard. This Scout does have carpeting on the floor and doors, along with a pair of vinyl bucket seats that look comfy but not supportive and a set of modern gauges. According to the seller, it has air conditioning, too; the system just isn’t incomplete and therefore not working. For maximum ventilation, you can simply remove its white hardtop roof. It is a bummer that the cargo box loses much of its original volume to the custom-built deck, which houses a 25-gallon fuel cell. At least the luggage rack that’s integrated into the roll bar above the spare-tire carrier provides supplementary storage space and looks rad.

The Scout’s baby-blue paint has as much clearcoat as a spray-in bedliner (read: none) because, well, it uses a bedliner material. Personally, the quality of the paint job on a rig like this doesn’t really concern me since they all look the same covered in mud. Getting filthy dirty in this Scout should be easy thanks to its 37-inch Treadwright Mud-Terrain Guard Dog tires mounted on 16.5-inch beadlock rims from a Hummer H1, complete with hardy eight-lug hubs. The solid front and rear axles also have manually locking differentials. The Bronco Raptor offers 37s, too, but I think the fender-flare-to-body-size ratio looks much better on the Scout–and my guy Ezra Dyer agrees.

The Scout’s massive rolling stock obviously connects to a four-wheel-drive system, which in turn is controlled through a slick twin-stick, two-speed transfer case. Power comes from a 4.3-liter V-6 and a four-speed automatic transmission. The seller says the powertrain was pulled from a 2013 Chevy Silverado 1500, which developed 190 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque in stock form. However, modifications include an aluminum radiator, headers, and a dual exhaust system. Sure, what’s under the hood isn’t nearly as exciting as, say, the Bronco Raptor’s 400-plus-hp twin-turbo V-6, but at least it’s an upgrade over the feeble four-cylinder engine in the original 1962 version.

Is this modified Scout 80 pickup truck perfect? Hell no. Is it a really cool off-roader with legitimate hardware and one-of-a-kind characteristics? (And we didn’t even mention its 12,000-pound winch.) Hell yes. It currently has a high bid of $26,000 with no reserve on BaT, and the auction is set to end on Monday, February 21.

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