Act II was something car people may have dreamed about from time to time, just as surely as Hollywood movers have considered (and still consider) a sequel to Gone with the Wind.
But even the dreamers -- at least most of them -- thought it wise to let the vehicle take its place in history as a beloved and unique early example of a can-do SUV.
The vice president for growth of the new Scout Motors said a lot of things changed in the four decades that followed. The new stew that is the American car buyer includes a massive change in geography and technology on the automotive manufacturing scene as well as a shift in the American psyche in where they want to be and what they want to drive.
And that's why the new Scout Motors will roll the first new Scouts off a South Carolina assembly line in 2026, company VP Cody Thacker said at a keynote address during the annual South Carolina Manufacturing Conference and Expo in Greenville on Nov. 8.
Thacker said he was one of the first three employees of Scout Motors and the trio, including CEO Scott Keough, spent about an hour being scared, he joked, before they got to work building everything new for an old brand.
Everything is new, Thacker said. The design of the vehicle and the design of the company. The technology that makes an electric vehicle viable and a massive amount of investment in that technology by other players in the EV space. And the tendencies of the American public have made light trucks and SUVs half of all vehicles sold. And then there's a new way of thinking about industry.
"You see some macro winds," he said. "One is this desire, especially post-COVID to reindustrialize America, to reshore manufacturing to build in supply chain resiliency to build up the workforce. ... Our thesis is that this is a very special moment with a lot of tailwind, for industrial development, for rallying communities, for taking pride in a brand and these products. We see a lot of that in the automotive industry as well."
The company last month revealed how the new version of the Scout will look. Once a brand of International Harvester, Sout Motors is now an independent company owned by Volkswagen.
Thacker pointed out that the only thing left of the Scout manufactured between 1960 and 1980 -- aside from its fans -- was the name itself. Bringing the brand back to life meant new everything, from the manufacturing site to the distribution network to every notion they had before about doing business.
"We saw it as an opportunity to move forward and lead the way in innovation," he said. "To put a stake in the ground and be on that leading edge."
That put the company in a great position to go with EV and to design the factory and supplier based needed for the project.
And the time was right, they thought, to reintroduce the country to one of its original SUVs.
"If you look at it more broadly, at society as a whole, to the greatest extent since 1970 the country is de-urbanizing. People are moving to small towns, people are moving out of the manufacturing areas, you're seeing a major rekindling of interest in the outdoors," he said. "Now something like 150 million people count themselves as outdoorsmen and seek to get in national parks every year. The new luxury isn't being in Manhattan or the Hamptons, it's being in the Catskills."
People also are ready to get away from screens, he said.
"People are ready for digital detox. They don't want screens in the car anymore, they want buttons," Thacker said. "They want to be able to escape the digital environment, the social media environment and reconnect with their family, reconnect with the land and reconnect to the outdoors."
The new Scout can help them get into the forest without giving up all convenience of the modern world.
With 120-volt and 240-volt electrical outlets, campers can power their way through a vacation without taking a portable generator with them.
"For pennies a day you don't need to use $50 on fuel for a diesel generator," he said. You can have a blender at the tailgate. You can camp five to seven days with almost no impact on the range of the vehicle."
Thacker predicts a continual rise in the EV as a choice as the driving public grows accustomed to the option.
"EV is objectively a better technology, better driving experience, lower cost to own and operate," he said. "In my case I pay 11 or 12 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity at my house so for $7 or $8 dollars I can fill up my tank. And for the laborer, the cost of doing business at a job site is everything, and I can provide you power at 120 or 240 volts save you a lot of money every day."
Thacker said Scout Motors is not looking to carve out a niche in the market, but to be a major player in the light truck and SUV space. The company will sell the vehicles directly to consumers through their own retail centers, with plans to sell from 100 locations within five years of the start of production.
He said they're on a system to make car buying quick and easy, bringing the average time to buy from a national average around 13 hours to 10-15 minutes. Scout unveiled images of the vehicles -- with a projected price of $60,000, less credits, in October.
The Blythewood plant will have the Scout Experience Center, a sales and service center that also serves as a front door to the factory. The company projects the center will attract 25,000 visitors per year, most from out of state, generating about $4 million of in-state revenue per year.