Restoring Cornelius

Cornelius is a 1939 International Harvester D-2 Series pickup truck purchased by John and Susan Hansen on February 13, 2017. Following up on an eBay listing (after many phone calls and emails), John arranged to have the truck shipped from Leyden, Massachusetts to Verona, Wisconsin.

Cornelius

“Cornelius” as he appeared on eBay

Follow along with us as we return this stately old gentleman to his former glory. On this site you will be able to track our progress on this rolling restoration, access numerous resources, provide your input or questions, and hopefully learn a few things along the way; perhaps by our mistakes, perhaps by some of the technical information that we post in the Progress and Truck Facts sections. You’ll also find no shortage of photos to view the details of the various steps of the restoration.

IHC Triple Diamond Logo

This is a labor of love (i.e. no limit on time, severe limit on funds…) and we plan to restore Cornelius as close to original as possible. The restoration will also be proceeding at a slower pace than what you might expect. This is because 1) I want to enjoy driving Cornelius, and 2) I am very putzy.

You will find as we go along that the parts I find are not necessarily the cheapest. What I try to find are the best parts, as far as I’m concerned, for each application (sometimes a compromise), then I find that part at the lowest price available. I will do my best to indicate part numbers and where I find items, but if I forget at any point, please feel free to comment within the post or even email us via the Contact Us page.

IHC Green Diamond Engine

IHC Green Diamond Engine (Very similar to HD213 Motor)

Bottom line, this site serves a dual purpose – it is a restoration documentation publication, and it is a maintenance documentation publication. As you will see, the two cross over quite frequently. At the same time, I will try to present the documentation in a narrative format that may even be entertaining at times… I will try to highlight failures, as we learn from them, as well as the successes.

If you have input that might help us, by all means, please provide it. If you are a fellow truck enthusiast and simply have a question, please feel free to ask – we will certainly help you out if we can!

Have a 1937 – 1940 D-2 with spare parts, or parts leftover from a restoration? I am looking for the following:

  • Cab Floor Panels in Good Condition
  • Dash Knobs
  • Door Mirror
  • Front Fender in Good Condition (Passenger Side)
  • Front Fender Support Brackets
  • Rear Bumper Brackets
  • Windshield Crank Handle

Send me a note via our Contact page with your asking price!