1975 Cub Cadet to Custom Wrecker

By Fred Hendricks
Published on October 14, 2014
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This Cub Cadet Model 122 is used to transport tools and equipment.
This Cub Cadet Model 122 is used to transport tools and equipment.
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Curt Smith's fleet of custom Cub Cadets (left to right): Model 1200 wrecker, Model 107 stake rack and Model 122 with transport box on rear.
Curt Smith's fleet of custom Cub Cadets (left to right): Model 1200 wrecker, Model 107 stake rack and Model 122 with transport box on rear.
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Curt on his custom Cub Cadet Model 107.
Curt on his custom Cub Cadet Model 107.
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Curt's Cub Cadet wrecker is equipped with a mechanical boom that raises and lowers, cable winch powered by a 12-volt engine, working air compressor, 15-foot hose, oxygen/acetylene welder, jumper cables and fire extinguisher.
Curt's Cub Cadet wrecker is equipped with a mechanical boom that raises and lowers, cable winch powered by a 12-volt engine, working air compressor, 15-foot hose, oxygen/acetylene welder, jumper cables and fire extinguisher.
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Curt's custom Cub Cadet Model 1200 wrecker is
Curt's custom Cub Cadet Model 1200 wrecker is "AAA Approved."
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The Cub Cadet wrecker's engine compartment, complete with chrome.
The Cub Cadet wrecker's engine compartment, complete with chrome.

As a boy, Curt Smith had dreams of grandeur. His natural inclination was set on designing, creating or modifying things. When he was 6, Curt requested a bag of mixed nails for Christmas, a most unusual gift for a youngster. But on Christmas morning he found a bag full of nails under the Christmas tree. Curt quickly went to work cutting wood and pounding pieces together using his assortment of nails. “I don’t recall making anything useful,” he says now, “but I sure had fun making stuff.”

Curt’s mind was constantly contemplating something he could create, especially things mechanical or motorized. In 1941, at age 13, he scratch-built a motor scooter. An old Briggs engine from the family’s washing machine was mounted on a 12-inch oak board (he had first rigged axles and wheels to the board’s underside). He then connected the engine to a pulley on a rear wheel with a V-belt. A simple steering mechanism with friction on the V-belt provided all the power a kid needed. “That ol’ scooter was a lot of fun,” he says.

By 1946, Curt had acquired shop tools to accommodate his growing aptitude. By then a high school student, he scratch-built a second motor scooter, this one a little more sophisticated than the first.

Curt’s first job, working at a local machine shop that specialized in farm tools, aligned neatly with his interests. During a two-year stint in the U.S. Army, he worked as a mechanic and welder in a military motor pool. After completing training in television repair at Franklin University, Columbus, Ohio, he taught electronics at Mansfield (Ohio) High School for 24 years.

The first custom Cub Cadet

Today, Curt — who lives in Hayesville, Ohio — is the rare person able to envision a completed project. The idea of converting a Cub Cadet garden tractor into a wrecker was just such an instance. “I thought it would be unique to make a fully operational wrecker from a garden tractor,” he says. “I’ve always been a fan of the early Cub Cadet garden tractors built by International Harvester. They were heavy-duty with good mechanics. But I wanted something unusual, something that had not been built before. I also wanted to see how authentic I could make it.”

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