For the record, the way that the “I” “N” and “A” all line up perfectly in those first three lines totally kills me. Always has.

Visiting your site every day is always humbling but especially today. That Tyler Lang guy is outstanding. Thanks for that…I think.

Ah, the International Scout. What a truck! Allow me to share a story…

Back in 1979-1980 my family lived on a tiny speck of an island in the South Pacific called American Samoa. In Samoa, when it rained, it really rained, and I mean buckets of rains in a torrential, hot downpour that quickly turned into rivers. Because the island is made up of volcanic rock, there was little topsoil to absorb the rain, so flash floods were a common occurrence every time it rained.

To prevent the flash floods from washing away roads, the road engineers built these huge concrete dips in the road that allowed the flash floods to flow over the roads without washing them away. These open culverts were impassable by 90% of the vehicles on the island; at the time mostly lightweight Japanese imports.

Now, my dad, being the practical guy he was, bought an early 1970s International Scout when we arrived in Samoa. It was bright orange and certainly one-of-a kind on the island. It quickly became known as the “Barrett Bus” because we’d pack 20 kids into it to get to school most mornings.

One morning, on the way to school, kids packed in like sardines (this was long before seatbelt laws and car seats), it started to rain very heavily. We all knew what that meant. It meant that most kids would be late for school since they they’d be stuck in a line of cars waiting for the flash floods to finish their breath-taking flow through the road culverts. Along comes the Barrett Bus and my dad says, “Hold on kids! We’re gonna skim it!” And sure enough he stomps on the gas and the old Scout literally hydroplanes across a culvert spraying water everywhere and then keeps on going. Every kid in the truck starts cheering and my dad says, “Let’s see a Suzuki jeep do that.”

We continued to drive that old Scout for another year we were in Samoa before it rusted away to nothing due to the salty air of the South Pacific. But to me, it will always be the “Barrett Boat” and the great orange truck of childhood memories.

Next story: The 1976 Dodge camper van (yes, it was also orange) we drove around the narrow roads Northern England, often making other cars on the road drive into the shoulder just to get past. How else are you going to cart your 5 kids and wife around?

I love all of your merch (and work, for that matter) and linked you on my T-shirt blog: www.TEE.ms - I hope it helps drive traffic. Keep up the great work and please let me know what you think of the post.

As a proud owner of the North Lock Torso Cover it’s good to see it on the shelves again…..and if i’d have known there was a chance merch would be reissued I’d have been lobbying hard for the Anvil Strength Torso Cover. Any chance on getting that classic?