Firm Now Navistar International : Harvester Name, Logo Put to Pasture

CHICAGO —  International Harvester, breaking its last ties to the farm equipment business, closed an era today by announcing it is changing its name to Navistar International Corp. and shedding its logo and financial woes.

Harvester officials made the announcement at a satellite news conference beamed to its 15,000 remaining employees in the United States and Canada. Harvester has been working its way back to solvency since a six-month strike that ended in 1980 pushed it into the red.

Harvester “has taken its share of hard knocks over the past few years,” said Donald D. Lennox, chairman and chief executive officer. “This is the first day of our new lives--the day we have a future.”

A spokesman said the company posted a net profit for the final three quarters of 1985, but showed a net loss for the year because of the agriculture division write-off.

At its height, Harvester employed 100,000 people at 50 facilities worldwide.

Harvester is the nation’s leading maker of medium- and heavy-duty trucks. When it sold its farm implement business to Tenneco’s JI Case subsidiary last January, it agreed to drop the “Harvester” from its name and the black and red IH logo within five years.

Harvester was established in 1847 by Cyrus Hall McCormick, the inventor of the McCormick reaper. The company’s first factory stood on the same spot occupied by the high-rise in which the corporate headquarters is located.

Harvester’s financial fortunes took a nose-dive following a devastating six-month strike that began in November, 1979. The $579.4 million in losses generated by the strike, combined with a poor economy, high interest rates and a slump in the farm industry, pushed Harvester toward insolvency.

In July, 1982, the company worked out a restructuring plan that called for it to close, sell or consolidate several plants.