color help needed - 1973 case 644

silvertogold said:

Please excuse me, I just returned from the porcelain throne after researching the :Federal Yellow:

It Appears that Federal Yellow was also the color choose for Cub Cadet's of similar vintage...Further research indicates that both were legacy companies of IH, hence the shared paint color.

If I had not had such horrific luck with the low quality Cub Cadet Products in the past 5 years I would not be in such shock. How could these two possibly be related??? Cub Cadet Tractors are built cheaper than craftsman (which is not saying a lot) and the other products that prostitute their name are even worse,,,

Please tell me I an interpreting their relationship incorrectly!!!
:facepalm:

Click to expand...

Cub Cadet was a brand name invented and developed by International Harvester in the very early 60's. At that time, the Cadet's were made by IH in their own factory and were of a very high quality. Most of the people involved in the sport of garden tractor pulling, choose the early Cub Cadet tractors because of the rear axle assembly that was originally designed and used on a much larger AG tractor put out by IH. Because of economic factors beyond the control of IH during the late 70's, IH formed the Cub Cadet Corporation to separate the garden tractor division from the AG division in 1981. MTD had built a brand new 160,000 square foot manufacturing plant a year or so earlier and entered into a deal with IH to build the Cadet's for IH at that facility. When IH got into deeper financial problems, MTD had positioned itself to purchase Cub Cadet outright. In the beginning of the MTD ownership, the quality of the tractors remained high but owners of later models began to notice changes that were not to their liking. There are those who would argue that MTD got what it wanted out of the deal and that was the rights to the Cub Cadet name and signature colour combination.

I will not comment about the quality or lack thereof when it comes to the Cub Cadets made by MTD because I don't have any direct, personal experience with the product. Shortly after MTD purchased the Cub Cadet Corporation, Case purchased IH. Shortly after that.....the Winneconne division of J. I. Case was sold off to Jack Ingersoll. That's the extent of the relationship between Case and IH but the fact remains that Case/IH dealers exist today and those dealers have access to paint used on both lines of machinery. Paint names can be rather confusing as in the commonly made mistake of calling Desert Sunset.......desert sand. There was a Case Power Yellow, a Case Federal Yellow and a Case Industrial Yellow apparently. That is why I suggested that you contact Messick's, who are a long-time Case/IH dealer and ask them as to which of the yellow's is correct for your tractor.