CarBrandLogos archive · International · 1962

InternationalLoadstar

The medium truck that became America's default school bus chassis.

Photo: dave_7 from Lethbridge, Canada · CC BY 2.0

The story

A defining chapter in International history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the International Loadstar, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

1969 International Loadstar 1800 prime mover

Origins

Replacing the R-series in 1962, the Loadstar covered the middle of International Harvester's range: Class 6 and 7 conventionals sold as dump trucks, delivery rigs, fire apparatus and, above all, school bus chassis. Gasoline sixes and V8s did most of the work, with diesels available, and the transmission list ran from four-speed manuals up to ten-speeds and automatics.

1969 International Loadstar 1800 prime mover · sv1ambo · CC BY 2.0

1970 International Loadstar CO 1700 Truck - 02

Design and engineering

Its virtue was breadth. A bonneted cab, a straightforward frame and a deep catalogue of drivelines meant a body builder could turn a Loadstar into almost anything, and the truck stayed in production for sixteen years on that basis. Generations of American children rode to school in one. The S-series replaced it at the end of the 1970s.

1970 International Loadstar CO 1700 Truck - 02 · Greg Gjerdingen from Willmar, USA · CC BY 2.0

At a glance