The International light trucks were discontinued in 1975. At the time, they really were not very popular. It seemed like the dealers were not very interested in selling them, they were priced kind of high, and there was a ton of competition from Ford, G.M., and Dodge. There was a rumor going around back then that it was also the result of some agreement that International had with Chrysler. 1975 was also the year that Dodge dropped their heavy duty diesel trucks. The story was that Chrysler agreed to drop the big Dodge trucks and International agreed to drop their pickups. Dodge was then going to supply International with versions of the D-100/200/300 with a Scout styled grille. I have seen drawings of these prototype pickups, and they didn't look too bad. I don't know what happened, but the Dodge based IH never hit the market. What is not remembered these days is that International had a little bit of a relationship with Dodge back then. Some Dodge heavy duty trucks used the V-549 International engine, International used the Dodge Torqueflite automatic transmissions in some of their light trucks, and when Dodge dropped the 440, some International 446 V-8's were used in Dodge motorhome chassis. As for the 6.9L diesel, there's a story there, too. That engine was based a bit on the MV series gas V-8's, and was actually designed in 1978. International has a long proud history of really bad management, and after this engine was designed, it was decided not to manufacture it. Some say that International couldn't afford the tooling. Somehow, Ford found out about it, and wanted to use it in the light duty F series. International's management at the time wouldn't hear of it- no way would an International engine go under the hood of a Ford. What changed their mind was that by 1982 they were pretty much out of business (for years they lost large amounts of money in their agriculture and construction equipment divisions, and it finally caught up with them). They actually closed up for a few months. Ford saw an opportunity, and told International that they would pay for the tooling on the 6.9L and agree to buy a certain number of them, guaranteeing IH a profit. The only stipulation was that Ford would end up with the tooling and plant for the 6.9L if IH went out of business. International had no choice but to go along with the deal, and the 6.9L and the sale of the agriculture and construction equipment businesses saved them.
