Regional Storyteller

By Laurent d’Entremont



The first International Cub Tractor, known then as the Farmall Cub, rolled off the assembly line in Chicago 60 years ago in 1947. Some of these are still at work more than a half-century later.

This working machine will go down in history to be compared with the Model T Ford, the Army Jeep and the Volkswagen Beetle. Like the T, Bug and Jeep, it now makes its home in the garages and barns of collectors all over the country. According to the publication “Red Power”, a magazine dedicated to club members and collectors of old tractors, production of the International Cub tractor ceased in 1979, after only 252,997 units had been built. It is, however, possible to find some registered as 1980 models, perhaps leftovers sold at a later time as ‘new’ tractors.

The many uses of the 1,500-lb. workhorse are limited only by the imagination of its owner. Some can be seen working at small saw mills running planers and saws off their power take-off. Many found their way to small airports where they clear snow in winter and keep the runways clear of grass in summer.

The Cub is also the choice of many lighthouse keepers on nearby islands, transporting the goods from the wharf to the keeper’s home, carrying firewood, and tilling the soil for the island dwellers who planted crops.

Small nurseries have them, as well as organic farmers and boat builders, plus many others, but perhaps the place that we find most Cub tractors is on the homestead of the hobby farmer. This is what it was first built for, to replace horses and oxen on small farms.

At the end of the Second World War, many farmers had found ‘day jobs’, but still did a bit of farming as a sideline. Unlike horses or oxen that had to be cared for and fed regularly whether you were using them or not, the Farmall Cub could stay in the barn for weeks at a time and would be ready to work at the mere tug of the pull rod to start the motor, providing you did not forget to open the shut-off valve under the gas tank.

Sixty years ago, my father Benoit J. d’Entremont (1907-1979) was working for the Department of Agriculture. He gathered lots of papers on tractors. An advertisement from those days shows the first Farmall Cub Tractor with a price tag of $545 f.o.b. (US) and it says, “Here it is…the Farmall Cub -- the first tractor in history that is… Built Right…Priced Right”. On the back of the ad it shows a brown bear dressed in farmers’ overalls and it says “a Cub in size…but a bear for work.”

As the owner of a Cub tractor for over 35 years, I can say truly, like many other Cub owners, that this is a machine worthy of its name. In 1971, I paid $850 for a 1950 Farmall Cub (the seller had told me the tractor was a 1963 model). I restored it and sold this machine eight years later for the same price I had paid for it. (I told the correct age to the buyer).

At that time I bought the yellow and white 1978 International Cub (no longer called a Farmall, but basically with few modifications the same) that I use for farming and clearing snow to this very day. The good thing about these small tractors is that they can be restored every 20 years. Obtaining parts is not a problem, as these little farm antiques are still in daily service.

There are many Cub owners in the Annapolis Valley who have more enjoyment restoring and tinkering on their old tractors than International Harvester had when the machine was new. I get replacement parts for my International Cub from a firm in Port Williams. It is because of people like them who understand the mechanics of these old simple farm machines that the rest of us can keep our Cubs running for a long time to come.

There are many more Cub tractors to be found where small-time farming is done. There are lots of them being restored by collectors. Like the Model T, the antiquated Cub tractor, which needs no more and could not possibly do with any less, is here to stay, hopefully ready to go another 60 years.



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