Cub Cadet Prototype A Collector's Jewel

Cub Cadet Prototype A Collector's Jewel AG WORLD 27-6-21 "Rare," and "historically important," are two terms that have been used to describe Paul Bell's International Harvester Cub Cadet prototype number 409, one of a reported 10 prototypes ever built. The Cub Cadet is one of the most popular garden tractors ever built and early models are coveted by many collectors today. According to "Farm Collector" magazine, Bell's prototype machine provides "a unique historic and engineering perspective into the styling as well as mechanics of the first line of Cub Cadet tractors introduced in 1961." Bell stumbled onto the prototype through an IH Cub Cadet internet forum he belongs to. Another user said he had an unusual unit that had been his father's, and that he was interested in selling it. First he wanted to know what it was. "Of those of us on the forum, I was the closest to him geographically, so I said I'd drive up and take a look at it," Bell says."Eventually, I made him an offer, he accepted it, and I took possession of it in May of this year." Louisville, Kentucky, where Bell lives, was also the home of IH's Cub Cadet factory. They were produced there from 1961 until 1981. Majer's dad worked as an electrical engineer at the IH test center in Hindsdale, Illinois, which was how he came into the possession of the Cub Cadet 409. In fact, the senior Majer kept copies of his own test reports, which Bell now has, so he knows that Majer had put 71 hours of use on the tractor with the mowing deck during the testing process. IH had used the 400 series numbers in the past on prototype and experimental equipment. "IH Tractor Committee Reports" state there were 10 prototype Cub Cadets built between Oct. 5 and Oct. 14, 1960. Six of them went for testing to the engineering test center in Hindsdale, according to Bell. His 409 was assigned the engineering test number "QFE1911," according to the paper trail, but the tractor's data plate that would have corresponded to this was lost when tractor's frame broke and was replaced. During pre-production, IH built 25 Cub Cadet test units with serial numbers that started with 501. "I think, but can't verify, that the 401 to the 403 were experimental tractors, and the 404 to 413 were prototypes. I've only heard of one other prototype still around - number 411," he says. Bell's tractor is equipped with an hour meter, which read 1,547.3 hours when he purchased it. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Paul Bell, 247 Eldorado Ave., Louisville, Ky. 40218 (ph 502 491-8876).

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