Red Cub Cadets

Heres a question for the C.C. gurus.
To your knowledge has IH ever sold a Red Cub Cadet? With the exception,of course, of the '82 Series.
I saw a red 149 today at Chapter 18's Power of the Red. I could find no indication anywhere that it was repainted from yellow.
Several years ago I bought a complete 86, cheaply, I might add because it was painted red. That winter I tore it down to repaint it yellow and it had NO yellow paint underneath. In fact , I could find no primer, which is something IH was known to do.
I've seen several more Red ones in my travels over the years.
The Kicker here is, the other day I was looking at a 2009 edition of Red Power magazine which featured the former IH dealership near Bloomsburg Pa. that they had tours of during 2006 Red Power. There are several color pictures in the article, one of which shows either an original or a 70/100 on the front lawn. You guessed it;painted Red. Frank K.

No, there were no Cub Cadets painted factory red other than 82 series tractors. The ones you have seen were painted red by the owners.

You have to remember, in 1961 (when Cub Cadets came out for sale) the standard color for Cadets, Lo Boys, and Cubs was Federal Yellow. They were all considered to be part of the Lawn and Garden line of tractors. Only the Ag equipment (I think the smallest would have been the International 140 at the time) and larger tractors were painted red as a factory color.

However, unlike Cubs and Lo boys which municipalities could order in various fleet colors, Cub Cadets have never been offered with special order colors.

Hi Junkman,

Did IH sell any red Cub Cadets before the '82 series? The answer is most likely no. Almost unanomously agreed that all IH Cub Cadets were Federal Yellow and IH White.

Did IH actually MAKE any red Cub Cadets before the '82 series came out?
In all my Cub travels, I've seen more than a handful of so called "original" Cubs that were red. All were eventually proven to be repainted at one time or another. They run the gamut from Originals all the way through the QL series.

With the exception of two.........
One really rough and crusty red Original that was rescued from the scrap yard as a parts tractor. It was a roller with no engine, hood, or grille. When it was taken apart, there was absolutely no signs of a repaint, any hidden Federal Yellow, or even primer. Upon further inspection, that tractor also had no serial # stamped anywhere on it. It was enough of an oddity that we spent the better part of an afternoon tearing it apart and rubbing it down with thinner and a shop rag. This is the only pre-'82 series IH built Cub Cadet garden tractor that I can say without a doubt was red from the day it was built.
Just a mystery as to why or how it made it out of the factory that way. This was in the mid 80's.

The other one was so far back I really can't say for sure if it was original or a repaint. In the mid 60's I used to accompany my father to the local IH dealership to either get service work done on one of our Super Ms or get parts. I would have been around 5-7 years old then. My favorite thing to do while my Dad jawed with the guys at the service counter was to park my butt on the dealership's little Cub Cadet tractor and plow imaginary fields. They always parked it on the shop side of the service dept.
Our dealership had an unusual Original Cub Cadet probably 61-63 in year. It had a unique wide 2-man seat and what I believe looked to be a cargo bed simular to a JD Gator. it seemed longer than what I remember other Cubs being, also.
It had a front blade, and I believe it had tire chains.
This Original was painted not red, not Federal yellow and white, but a sort of a bland neutral color. Almost exactly the same color seen on the International pickup trucks of the mid 60's. Sonewhere between tan and Salmon color with a white hood. As memory serves, that was the VERY FIRST Cub Cadet I ever sat on.

There is a general acknowledgment that IH did build a few red "prototype"Originals in '60 to present before the IH brass, along with the Fedral Yellow/White Cubs. The brass rejected red and went with Yellow, supposedly. It's really debatable whether any if those "red" ones ever made it out of enginering, past the gate, and into the hands of the general public.

Mike

When I stripped down my86 to repaint it,every nut and bolt came off. I found no Federal Yellow or primer anywhere?????????? Oh well, I always wanted a Red Cub Cadet, guess I'll just do it and fight off the "correct police". Thanks everyone for your responses.

You probably should have asked if IH ever knowingly sold a red Cub Cadet, and the answer should be no. Farm Equipment Division Tractor Committee Report NO. 49, dated September 29, 1960, states that 10 prototype Cub Cadets were built at the Louisville Plant between Oct 5th and 14th 1960, and at a meeting on October 13, 1960 tractors displaying both color combinations, yellow/white, red/white, (number of each color is not given) were viewed by the tractor product committee and divisional product committee members and it was the consensus that both color combinations should be made available to satisfy the reaction of customers that were contacted during test, when many stated they would want the tractor painted in the basic Harvester red and white, and others wanted the yellow and white. HOWEVER, during the report approval process by the various individals of these committee's and or dept heads, a note was added to the front page of the report by the Divisional Product Committee stating, Quote; "The Divisional Product Committee is in agreement with this report, with the exception of the recommendation of Harvester Red as an optional color. We request that this option be eliminated and the tractors be introduced with the color combination of yellow and white as approved by Product Identification Committee" end quote. So yellow and white they were.

Now, did any Cub Cadet painted red and white ever leave the Louisville Plant? I would not be surprised if they did, stranger things happend there. I have heard more than one story from former Louisville Works/Plant employee's about a plant employee buying a new Cub Cadet and wanted it painted red/white rather than yellow/white, and it was done (employees could buy one direct from the plant rather than a dealer). So the short answer is no, IH did not sell any red/white Cub Cadets.........at least to the general public, but a very, very limited number MAY have (key word being MAY) have left the plant.

Cadets is red look pretty sharp, I think.
Here is a 982 and a wagon

Hey junkman,

I say go for it! I think those tractors look good red! Reminds me of a minature 706.....
Don't worry 'bout the "correct police", if somebody wants to restore it they can repaint it in another 30 years! :lol:

I like to call'em "shouldabuilt" tractors. IH shoulda built'em that way!
Not sure which way I'll go with my IH built 982, but when I get around to refinishing
the wife's CCC 982, I think I'm going to go this route..........just to be different.

The CCC built tractors were already black frame tractors to begin with. Year models are real close..
Just a grille mod or two and some scaled down red-stripes....and viola a minature 3088!!

Funny little odditie I've discovered about the "Correct Police"up here in New England. I get around the shows up here quite a bit and set up a display 3-5 times a year.A couple of my pieces are pretty decent, namely the "O" with hi-low, fenders,and working snow blower, and the "86". Neither one of them are perfect but thats OK.
I've been approached several times with criticism on several things. Never once, not once did one of these critics ride up on a machine, or have a display of their own on-site for me to look at. Usually after I give some smart aleck reply to a critic I ask about his machine- the answers always the same "Oh, I don't have an Original, I read it in a book."

go for it Frank !!!
Dan

I hear ya junkman.... been through it with the old musclecars,the classic pickups, etc. I'm usually polite...I just smile and say "Well, I was going to go 100% restored, but when I discovered I couldn't get the correct 1961 air for the tires, I went another route!" :lol: I figured at least with the old Cubs I could build to suit myself.
My only rule......I won't sacrifice a complete running, serviceable tractor to make a custom......er, usually!
Rollers and parts tractors are always fair game....
I still admire and respect the dedication that goes into a 1000 point restoration just as much as I do the innovation and engineering that goes into the custom built ones. I have a strong attraction to the custom articulated Cubs being built for some strange reason.....

I have used this sign with my display at shows, and it usually gets a smile out of people when they read it, along with some positive comments. When someone tells me they have a restored their CC to factory new, the first thing I ask is how many paint runs they have and where are they. That usually results in them having a blank look on their face as they ask what I'm talking about. Nearly all of them left the plant with paint runs someplace, usually under the hood, and specially on the earlier models. The paint got much better on the later models, but it still was not show car quality................