yes, thats a very nice bag -- I use to sell them, and I actually use to have a few of them (got them from JS reps fairly often) but if you want a great external frame - better in fact than what is out there now - this bag with the hip clutch is VERY nice.
Solid hip connections -- do you mean you have the first early pivot system -- which used leather "washers" and a metal "Wing" to have a full hipbelt pivot? The green and blue ones are older in design -- they also use a heavier "oxford" nylon and leather lash tabs. My scoutmaster back in the day had the "blue" one. He was an engineer by trade, and he redesigned his pack turning it into a full floating frame suspention system. very impressive work.
I would say if you want a bag - snap this one up on ebay -- its a great bag, there are no better external frame bags out there, especially now that no one makes them anymore really...
I didn't think I could post a link to ebay and I wasn't looking to get banned ... Glad my keywords led you to it! This is actually a much nicer bag than the Carson by the way.
Oh, and internal bags -- they were never made originally to take the place of frame backpacks per se. They were mountaineering bags - hence why they were (don't know about now) all "tunnel" designed (1 main storage area that is huge - few pockets). they were designed also to have little on the outside of them - everything internalizes. Using them for winter camping is a HUGE PAIN IN THE A** for this reason. Lowe, Mountainsmith, Gregory, Dana Designs, North Face -- these weren't originally for "hiking". People adopted them even though they have terrible ventilation (go hiking in new mexico where it's 107 in the valley and talk to me about how comfy internal frames are) and the weight distribution for heavy loads is not optimal. For canoeing or climbing i'll go with my internal frame, but for true hikes -- external is still the way to go. more weight, more comfort, more stability, more ways to balance the load using the frame.