Experimental Cub Cadet Resurfaces After 40 Years
Serial No. 411 not regular production
Oscar H. Will III
June 2004
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Harold Schramm's one-of-a-kind "Cubette" 411, the experimental Cub Cadet.
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One of Harold Schramm’s first assignments as an engineer for International Harvester Co. was to design the Cub Cadet’s (then called a “Cubette”) drive train from engine to transaxle.
One of his first working prototypes was installed in the very first experimental, working model Cub Cadet, which was hand-built in early 1960 by the Advanced Projects group at IH’s engineering center in Hinsdale, Ill.
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That experimental tractor was tested exhaustively before the design was released to the factory in Louisville, Ky., for production. According to company memos, that particular tractor was one of three experimental models approved to be built at Hinsdale.
David L. Stevenson, however, an IH product test engineer at the time, isn’t certain that IH ever built all three of the experimental models. He only recalls one tractor involved with the program.
Yet, David does remember exactly how this experimental tractor was assigned serial no. 411. In a letter addressed to Harold Schramm dated Feb. 10, 2004, attesting to the rare garden tractor’s authenticity, David wrote the following:
“The tractors and mowers built by Louisville Works had no serial number. We identified them by their Q tag number. When all testing was concluded, some of them were released for sale. They were given a serial number starting with 401 to 410. The Cub Cadet and mower built at the Engineering Center were given the serial number 411, which was stamped on the transmission casting. I personally saw the Q tag removed and the serial number 411 stamped on the transmission casting. The Q tag number was lower than the 10 tractors built at Louisville Works.”