10/23/2026
1910 International Model F Runabout
A company best known for reapers and binders offered one of the more unusual engines of 1910. International Harvester had been selling high-wheeled Auto Buggies to farm customers since 1907, with a two-cylinder engine under the body and tall wagon wheels for rutted rural roads.
The Model F went the other way. It was a low-slung runabout on wood-spoke wheels, steered with a wheel from the right-hand seat, and it had far more in common with period sporting roadsters than with anything else IHC sold.
The engine was an air-cooled 166 CI four with bore and stroke both measuring 3¾ inches. A chain-driven single overhead camshaft opened inclined valves over hemispherical combustion chambers, and the oil pan and transmission case were aluminum.
It made 20 hp. Power went through a two-speed sliding-gear transmission.
That was an unusual combination in 1910. Peugeot’s influential twin-cam Grand Prix engine didn’t arrive until 1912, and Chrysler’s first production Hemi V-8 was four decades away.
IHC offered the Model F for just two seasons, 1910 and 1911, with total production generally reported at about 400. The company was already building commercial vehicles, and its high-wheeled Auto Wagon continued in production until 1917.
