Listing trucks and buses made by IHC, International Harvester, or Navistar appears to be confused and inconsistent.

International, International Harvester or International Navistar are used, often for the same models. Is there some way we can agree a standard method of determining how a model or model-year of vehicle should be named? The process which sometimes seems to be used is how often Google searches results in either 'International' or 'International Harvester' for the model concerned. This is one area where I think the internet is not helpful as the terms seem to be used interchangeably and at random.

If I were to make a proposal it would be that all road vehicles made before or model years up to 1985 should be 'International Harvester'. From 1986 onwards they would be 'International'. Navistar would not be used much in the same way that General Motors is not part of the naming. I know some people may disagree but I think some order needs to be introduced knowing the problem.

Any comments or suggestions please?

I mostly agree, except for one point:
About Navistar, for armoured truck I found lots of references where it was included in model name. Of course that is maybe not official, but it is a hint on what we have to check.

Another solution would be to use only "International", and drop "Harvester" for all vehicles. As on the vehicles it was only written "International".

But the company name is "Internation Havester Corporation" throughout most of the 20th century. I would agree with sunbar's idea about using Internation Harvester upto 1985. From what wikipedia says, they just changed the name to Navistar International in 1986. International is still a Make they use like GM using GMC so let's put that as a seperate make from IHC.

After a bit more research.
Up to 1985 trucks were badged 'IH' in the centre under the windshield with 'International' on or above the grill. Also some cab handles had the 'IH' logo.
So I guess 'International Harvester' can be used as the makers name.

After 1986. Navistar International Corporation became the holding company for 'International Truck and Engine Corporation', manufacturing diesel engines, trucks, and parts under the 'International' brand.
So use International as the makers name for trucks.

From 2002, 'IC Corporation', a wholly owned subsidiary of Navistar International Corporation, produces school buses as the 'IC' brand of buses.
So use 'IC' as the makers name for buses after 2002 (International between 1986 and 2001). 'IC' website...
http://www.ic-corp.com/site_layout/index.asp
I can find no mention of 'International Navistar' for armored trucks on corporation websites other than dealer/sales websites. But as a specific range or trucks I have no problem with identifying them either way.

After 1985 Case or CNH became the owners of the following brands and logos, 'IH', 'IH' Logo,'IH-HARVESTER', 'IH-INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER', 'INTERNATIONAL-HARVESTER'.

Continuarion from above 'Anonymous' post...

Case only make farming vehicles and equipment, not trucks.

Sunbar,

(Must remember - log on )

I found "Internation Navistar" on site selling old armoured trucks, at the time I was trying to identify the few ones we have on the site. But of course it does not mean that it is the correct name, it can be a name often used for the post-1985 International trucks.

Just to toss my 2cents in, We could use the International Harvester name up to 1985, trucks manufactured after 1986/current could be referred to as International. To the best of my knowledge I have never seen the Navistar name on a Truck. The Navistar name was always used to refer to the Diesel drivetrain, mostly in Later Ford Chassis. ie after '91. I believe this would eleviate much confusion on how to correctly list a vehicle. Just a thought..

once again the anonymous post is mine

Actually, they made them in the early 20th-Century. There's a great book on it here:
http://www.amazon.com/Cars-Trucks-Buses-Tractor-Companies/dp/0873416724/sr=1-1/qid=1171589684/ref=sr_1_1/102-1542369-4313748?ie=UTF8&s=books