49 demonstrator?

[DD92cubs]

I was taking paint off of the fan shroud on my cub and like i had seen on everything cast before painting the chasis it has what appears to be white paint or possibly primer underneath. I guess what im asking is did international use white primer or could this tractor have been an early demonstrator. It is one of the last few built in 49 at #99532.

[gitractorman]

Have you found white paint anywhere else? Underside of the hood is a really good place to look. IH did not use white primer on anything, so it's a pretty interesting find. It is entirely possible that it could have been painted as a demonstrator. The serial number ranges that we have are fairly well documented for the approximate date of production, but that doesn't mean much of anything. By the end of 1949 they were already building "1950" tractors. So, I'd do some more digging, and take lots of pictures. You should also document the casting codes for the tractor. It all might end up telling a really cool story.

Bill

[RaymondDurban]

99532 is only 4 away from the first tractor off the line in Jan 1950. As Bill said, it's possible.
There have been others that have reported seeing white paint under the red of their late 1949 tractors, but no one that I can recall ever posted photos of what they found.

[DD92cubs]

Well I have a picture of the shroud its the best picture I have at the moment. The casting dates I have are 12 22 s. There is white on the touch control and throttle levers grill mesh seat pedestal tool box and the cast on the rear end torque tube and finals had white on it.



From what I can tell it was all white at one time and then painted red. I am painting it red but if it is a demonstrator I thought it would be good for the sake of record keeping.

Thanks, Damon.

[DD92cubs]

Slightly better shot



Thanks, Damon.

[rjfcsa]

Hey there fellow Paxtonite.
It's looking like you just might have a demonstrator on your hands. Under the gas tank and hood is good place to check, some repaint jobs don't always get to the underside very well. If you are going re-paint it red, indeed take looks of pics as you restore for later down the line incase you would want to paint it white or sell it. Maybe you will get it all done and big it in to the park on the 4th, we will probably bring in some of ours again.
On a side note I was at a auction last year near Peoria, ILL and there was a C there that definitely was a demonstrator. I wish I had written down the serial number. It brought around $2000.00 and the guy that bought it just wanted a C to add to his collection. He was going to repaint it red, I tried to tell him to take lots of pictures and that it was a demonstrator, but he could of cared less that it was. Oh well.

Good luck on your tractor.
Russel Foster

[DD92cubs]

Thanks for the info. If the chasis wasn't already painted I might have thought about repainting it white. I didn't really think much of it I just assumed Harvester used white primer on the cast so I painted over it. I will be taking pictures of everything I can from now on as I am in the process of getting everything else ready to paint. The hood had been stripped all the way down to bare metal at some time before I bought it and only had primer on it. Hopefully I'll have it done in the next month or two I'm planning on taking it to the show on the 4th and a few others so I should see you there Russel.

Thanks again,
Damon

[Hengy]

The other option is that someone repainted the tractor at sometime during its life with white paint to try to pass it off as a demonstrator. This has been done before for sure...

The old adage always applies. "It's your tractor, paint it whatever color you want!"

Mike

[Super A]

The other option is that someone repainted the tractor at sometime during its life with white paint to try to pass it off as a demonstrator. This has been done before for sure...

The old adage always applies. "It's your tractor, paint it whatever color you want!"

Mike

I have said this before but I don't believe anyone was interested in trying to pass a tractor off as a demo 30 or 40 years ago. Most of these tractors were still at work then and no one much was interested in collecting them.

Al

[Barnyard]

The casting dates I have are 12 22 s.

I thought this was somewhat interesting. Usually you find cast dates this late in the year on Cubs built in January or February the following year.

[DD92cubs]

I'm not sure if this makes much difference but the 12-22-s was the casting date on the block all other casting dates were 11-22-s for the final drives, touch control, torque tube, rear end, and front bolster.

Thanks, Damon.

[Super A]

The casting dates I have are 12 22 s.

I thought this was somewhat interesting. Usually you find cast dates this late in the year on Cubs built in January or February the following year.

My white Super A, made right at the very end of Feb. '50, has codes past the 20th of Februrary on it. I want to say one is like the 25th or 26th. It also has a late 49 code on the Touch Control block. I think the Louisville Plant was really rolling then, and certain castings just weren't sitting around long.

Al