I agree Marlin, I used to sell the new ones for lowes when they first started selling them. We had a spring sales push we called powerama in mid May. They would have me bring my restored 149 up and display it along with the newest stuff we were selling. The differance in construction was obvious. The 149 looks and feels like a tractor, the stuff at that time, looked more like a space ship with the rounded hood. MTD has a huge chance right now to take this 50th celebration and go to the moon with it. Or they can take the stance that they know best and the consumer can like it or not and let the whole thing fall on its face. If they really want to push some sales, outfit a couple of the current models with hitches and go to some of the plow days and turn some dirt, shoot some video of it. You could make a really good tv add showing differnet eras of cubs plowing and mowing, show a CCO, a 123 being the first hydro, an 982 SGT, a cyclops then a current model doing what cubs do best...working. MTD needs to do a reality check and get back to what made Cub Cadet so huge for IH. Had IH not gotten into the financial mess that management led them into. I think that IH would still be around today building ag tractors and cub cadet would still have IH on the grill! MTD would be smart to dust off the tooling for the 82 series, if it still exhists, and build a specal 50th tractor with a new Kohler V twin in it, hydro drive, hyd lift, cat 0 hitch. Give it all the options right from the get go. Get back to building a tractor and not a rounded space age lawn mower. Give it real sealed beam headlights that actuatly light up the ground, metal hood and side panels and a stout frame. I know MTD has someone that watches this forum and the registery, how else would they be giving stuff to use as door prizes at the spring PAPD last year. I really think that this forum and the registery need to let bygones be bygones and team up for the 50th. We are all here for the same reason, the love of all things cub cadet. We all have our favorite models, ones we dont care for and people that belong to either group we dont care for. But for our brand of machines to reach 50 years of production, its time to get down to what we do best, working our cubs!!!!!!!