Farmall Super C cultivator side dresser colors

PADeutzGuy · Oct 27, 2012

I"m getting ready to restore a 1951 Super C with my daughter this winter. I"m searched around on the web for the correct paint scheme for the cultivators and side dressers, no luck, at least that I can understand. It was built 12-6-1951, however the original serial tag was gone when I bought it 2 years ago.

I"m looking for the details, like are the springs and shovels and bolts all painted the same color? I don"t want to get too carried away, as this tractor still works the sweet corn and bean fields, but my little girl wants to take it to more shows.

Should the entire tractor be red (starter, generator, regulator), if so which red? Rims are currently silver, is that correct? It"s last paint job was probably 20 years ago and with a brush and some color not close to IH Red, so it will need sand blasted as I"d bet there are 10 brushed on coats of paint. What about the drives for the dresser chains? Thanks much!

Faster346 · Oct 27, 2012

Everything was red from the factory. Starter, Generator, radiator, wiring, everything. Rims were galvanized, but silver paint would be correct for todays times. As far as attachments I couldn't tell you what those should be.

CNKS · Oct 27, 2012

The "correct" red for your tractor is IH 1102b, used from mid 1949-to 1958 with the introduction of the 460/560/660. That one is no longer available from the dealer and I have not been able to cross the number, although I remember someone on this forum who thought he had the DuPont number. You can also use IH 50/PPG 70093/Dupont 7410. IH 50 itself is not available from the dealer. IH 2150 is available but better paint can be had with PPG 71310/DuPont 96766 and others. Premixed farm store paint is not what you want. I don't know the colors of the side dresser is, but I remember the feet and springs, etc black. Someone else can provide the cultivater colors. Probably blue/red/black, but I never saw a new cultivator.

erik dekeyser · Oct 27, 2012

The cultivators for the super C were dark blue. I seen one all fixed up with blue cultivators and it was sharp. The teeth and knuckles were black or you could paint them blue also. Now the main cultivator frames were red.

Jim Becker · Oct 27, 2012

Here is a whole string of pictures from the WHS archives, from about 1949 to about 1952. Some of the later pictures are old Ektachrome that has color shifted and is hard to tell some colors. The tractor was all red with galvanized/silver rims. The cultivator universal mounting frames were red. The cultivator tool bars were blue, with black tools and clamps. The fertilizer frames were blue with galvanized hopper sides and lids. The tubes were blue. I think some of the fertilizer frames were red, but probably before the date you are asking about.

I did most of these as URLs so nobody gets a whole bunch of images dumped on them. They are clickable.
http://images.wisconsinhistory.org/700003050631/0305006872-l.jpg
http://images.wisconsinhistory.org/700003050098/0305001787-l.jpg
http://images.wisconsinhistory.org/700003050110/0305001946-l.jpg
http://images.wisconsinhistory.org/700003050057/0305001124-l.jpg
http://images.wisconsinhistory.org/700003050634/0305006902-l.jpg
http://images.wisconsinhistory.org/700003050630/0305006862-l.jpg
http://images.wisconsinhistory.org/700003050630/0305006863-l.jpg

PADeutzGuy · Oct 27, 2012

Thanks all... this does help! Looks like there wasn't a whole lot of blue on this one. I've seen the entire cultivator assembly painted blue, that didn't seem right. I don't have the original hoppers anymore, well I never did, but I do have the new replacements that work well. There was an auction here in SW PA about a year ago I missed a set of NOS cultivators for $75, they had been sitting in the back of a barn. Ugh. This old girl is 27 years older than I am, so I sure never saw anything new about them.

So even the wiring was red? Even the screws on the regulator? Sounds like they assembled it and just shot it all red? Makes life easy for me.

One more thing... I'm trying to find a mid-mount sickle bar for it, what model am I looking for and any leads on one? What's the model of cultivators and dressers?

Thanks for all your help!

Randy

Faster346 · Oct 28, 2012

So even the wiring was red? Even the screws on the regulator? Sounds like they assembled it and just shot it all red? Makes life easy for me.

Pretty much exactly it. Paint was the last thing to be done down the line.

BoonvilleKid · Oct 28, 2012

I don't remember it that way. My Father bought a new SC with cultivator in 1954. Now, that's been nearly sixty years ago so my memory may be incorrect. But, I remember the tractor being entirely red (a little different shade that more repainted SC's today). The seat was red and white. The tire rims were galvanized (silver color). The generator was black. The spark plug wires and what you could see of the radiator was black. I remember the cultivator, front and back, as being all blue. However, I saw other cultivators that were red on top but had dark blue (nearly black) paint on the bottom portion. The top part of ours may have been red, but I don't remember it that way. I'm sure the bottom part of our front cultivator was dark blue, cause that where I always had to get down on my knees to clean out the cocklebur roots.

Jim Becker · Oct 28, 2012

Guy Fay's Originality Guide has a list of things that were supposed to get masked before painting. It was a pretty short list:
battery ignition unit/magneto
secondary ignition wires
electrical terminals and terminal screws not assembled
serial plate and name plates such as generator, starter
gauge glass faces, lamp lenses
fuel strainer glass bowl
seat cushion
steering wheel grip
voltage regulator resistor
fuse holder knob

The tires/rims, batteries and muffler were installed after painting.

I assume there were minor changes to this list over time.

Cultivators could be C-244, more likely C-254. Not sure on the side dressers, several possibilities. Check the parts catalog for the cultivator and see if a side dresser unit is listed with it.

Some very early cultivators could have had more blue paint due to the pigment shortages, but that was over well before 1950.

In general, 60 year old pictures have more accurate details than 60 year old memories.

IH fan · Oct 28, 2012

As Jim said, 60 year old memories, or in my case 55 year old, can sometimes be questionable. However, I recall the flex tubes being black on the side dresser. The cultivator tool bars I recall as blue and the shanks including the spring as black and the clamp that held the shanks to the tool bars as red, but as indicated, distant memories can be inaccurate. The standard shields were blue, but the rotary hoe type we used some of the time were red.

theoldtexasfarmer · Oct 28, 2012

I remember the cultivator,middle buster and shanks being dark blue.Now I see a lot of them repainted light blue.I dont think that is an original color.In fact it is a pukey blue.Where did thy find that color?

Jim Becker · Oct 28, 2012

(quoted from post at 14:56:04 10/28/12) However, I recall the flex tubes being black on the side dresser.

There could have been some black tubes. Later replacement tubes made of neoprene were, of course, black.

Farmall Super C cultivator side dresser colors

PADeutzGuy

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Faster346

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CNKS

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erik dekeyser

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Jim Becker

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PADeutzGuy

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Faster346

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BoonvilleKid

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