In 2007, when Tim Walz was a first-year congressman, he informed a reporter that his dream automotive was a 1973 Chevrolet Camaro, remarking, “I’m a muscle automotive man.” Actually the driving alternative was extra sober: a Dodge minivan.
But a yr later interview with the hillThe self-proclaimed automotive fanatic has bought a car that’s now making headlines and has grow to be an emblem of the vice presidential candidate’s small-town Minnesota dad vibe: a 1979 International Harvester Scout II.
The alternative impresses individuals like Brandon Ray, one other 48-year-old Scout II proprietor from Phoenix. Ray says he was simply getting divorced 15 years in the past when a “cool” yellow Scout II caught his eye. The SUV had two bumper stickers: One mentioned “Face Your Fears” and the opposite “Live Your Dream.” He purchased the Scout.
“He did what he mentioned he was going to do,” Ray mentioned. “I confronted my fears and lived out a few of my goals in that truck.”
The information that Walz owns a 1979 Scout II got here as a shock to Ray. “I simply can’t think about a blue man driving a Scout,” he mentioned, referring to Walz’s Democratic affiliation.
Walz’s International Harvester Scout II license plate references his political slogan, “One Minnesota.”
(Courtesy of Tim Walz)
Cars and politics have lengthy been intertwined. With exhortations to “purchase American,” presidents have virtually at all times favored automobiles from U.S. automakers. Among them, President Biden, who has his 1967 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.
In Walz’s whirlwind journey to the nationwide political stage, his automotive credentials have grow to be a part of his story. In specific, a 2018 video of Walz warns Ford To the delight of motoring fans, the problem of poor high quality headlight wiring has resurfaced.
The Teacher Who Became Governor of Minnesota wrenches on cars and goes to classic car shows, additionally. But the obvious a part of his piston-and-pushrod persona is his Scout.
For years, Walz, 60, has used social media to share pictures of his Scout, who’s painted a captivating glacier blue and sports activities a license plate that reads “ONE MN,” an obvious reference to his “A Minnesota” political slogan. Of the numerous American classics nonetheless on the highway, the Scout is one which carries a particular which means.
Minnesotans discuss basic automobiles with the governor, proper, atop the engine of a 1978 Ford Pinto in 2022.
(Courtesy of Tim Walz)
The Scout was produced in Fort Wayne, Indiana, by International Harvester from 1960 to 1980 in a number of variations unfold throughout two generations, referred to as I and II. It is among the many extra extravagant classic SUVs to have grow to be in style in recent times. The Scout was not made by a well known automotive model: International Harvester was a Chicago-based farm tools firm that closed about 40 years ago.
This made the Scout much less recognizable to Instagram customers and extra engaging to fans in search of a discount at a time when classic Ford Broncos are sometimes bought for more than $100,000. Scout, mentioned Randy Nonnenberg, co-founder of the auto public sale platform Bring a Trailer, “has at all times been an underdog.”
With its sq. physique, chrome grille, spherical headlights and removable or soft top, It’s sensible, engaging and never too flashy. “Scouts are very Midwestern, which could be very a lot in line with the model” for Walz, mentioned Nonnenberg, whose agency has auctioned off 285 Scout IIs at a mean value of about $38,000. “It’s form of just like the car model of it.”
Other Scout house owners agree.
This International Harvester Scout II was restored by Gary Brown, an Orange County resident who was impressed that Walz owns one.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
“Anyone who needs to take care of and protect a ’79 Scout just isn’t an unusual particular person,” mentioned Gary Brown, an Orange County pc engineer who has restored and bought about 10 Scouts over three a long time. “It takes somebody with a retro or older mentality … (who) is aware of the best way to tinker.”
“I like guys like that, those who understand how to make things better,” he mentioned.
As for Ray, who’s promoting one other Scout, a uncommon specimen 1978 version at price at $59,999 – did not wish to discuss politics, which he referred to as “a troublesome topic.”
But, in a nod to the unifying energy of cars, Ray imagined a visit he and Walz may take into the wilds of the Southwest: “Maybe he and I might exit into the dunes certainly one of lately?”
No “storage queen”
Walz seems to have an actual ardour for automobiles, however he additionally seems to have a finely tuned understanding of how his actions may affect voters, mentioned Matt Hardigree, editor of the Autopian, who he wrote about the politician.
Just take the governor’s social media posts that function his Scout and another Scout — his canine. That, Hardigree mentioned, “is an unhateable picture.”
“It’s Norman Rockwell transported 50 years into the long run,” he mentioned.
Walz, engaged on a automotive in 2018, has demonstrated a “repair all of it” ethic that will resonate with some voters.
(Courtesy of Tim Walz)
Then there’s Minnesota’s Right to Repair Act, certainly one of a number of such measures handed by states in recent times. Signed by Walz in 2023 and referred to as Digital Fair Redress Act, requires producers of digital units and different gadgets to offer shoppers with entry to data and elements to allow them to restore their units themselves.
Although the the law does not cover cars, Hardigree says this reveals that Walz shares a “sort things” ethic that many basic automotive house owners admire.
In the case of the Scout, sustaining one isn’t any small feat, as alternative elements are exhausting to come back by. However, Hardigree, who examined photos of Walz’s automotive, accredited of the politician’s upkeep: “It’s clear, nevertheless it’s clearly pushed. It’s not a storage queen.”
Being a automotive fanatic is a lot part of Walz’s political persona that he turned the butt of a joke at this month’s Democratic National Convention. Television producer Ben Wexler, whose credit embody “Arrested Development,” published on X, “If Tim Walz walks on stage wiping his fingers on a greasy rag as a result of he simply fastened the transmission on the marketing campaign bus, we are going to win all 50 states.”
Looking for votes
When Ray expressed shock that Walz owned a 4×4, he was tapping right into a stereotype: Trucks are for Republicans. It’s an idea former President Trump has seized on, singing the praises of rugged American automobiles, even saying in 2019, “I love trucks of all kinds.”
“Even once I was a 4-year-old, my mom would say, ‘You love vehicles,’” Trump continued. “I do. I’ve at all times cherished vehicles.”
Hardigree, a former political guide in Texas, mentioned that in that state, proudly owning a truck has lengthy been a requirement to be elected.
“The gist (in Texas) was that you just could not get elected as a Democrat or Republican until you owned a pickup truck,” he mentioned. “But Republicans by no means needed to show they drove a pickup truck, and Democrats at all times did.”
Nonnenberg mentioned Walz’s Scout and his capacity to work it might assist him discover frequent floor with voters.
“It reveals his connection to actuality,” mentioned Nonnenberg, who spoke to the Times from the wheel of his Rivian R1S Electric SUV, whose type is harking back to the Scout. “This boy just isn’t out of the world of unusual Americans.”
Elana Scherr, editor-in-chief of Car and Driver, took it a step additional: “Having a passion and being honest about it’s fascinating.”
Could Walz proudly owning a Scout persuade some Republican automotive connoisseurs to vote for Kamala Harris? Nonnenberg doubts it, believing it’s little greater than an “attention-grabbing contextual addition” that’s unlikely to vary minds. It may, nevertheless, elevate the profile of a brand new breed of Scout at an opportune second.
In a twist, the Scout returns with a brand new mannequin expected by 2026. The 4×4 is within the technique of taken from Volkswagen, who has acquired his brand in 2021.
The new machine will be characterized by the style that harks again to the unique. But it will not be just like the Scout that Walz is driving in a single necessary approach, adopting a expertise whose supporters Trump urged for “STAINS IN HELL”.
It shall be electrical.
