First Ryobis with Ryan engine? I remember our neighbour in 1987 got a line trimmer with a green engine cover. They were the first household I ever knew to get one. I think it was a Ryobi and it wasn't quite the same as the Lawn Hornet that proliferated the next year in the department stores.
I saw a green Ryobi later on that looked older/different to the common ones and noticed it had an orange choke knob instead of black and a different shape fairing. That may have been the one our neighbours got. Having a line trimmer back in 87 was quite fancy to me and they certainly were in an exclusive group then. Now it's a standard item in every household like a mower.
When we moved in 1988 our new neighbour had professionals come and mow and I remember hearing the Stihl trimmer make a distinct melodic hum from the spinning line end in unison with the motor. I always enjoyed that powerful sound it made.
That was also the year I got my first use of one when a girl from a couple of doors down the street who used to come over to see our cats, got her dad to loan me his McCulloch straight shaft after I said I wished I had a whipper snipper to do the edges. It was a really good one and had a throttle lever instead of a trigger, which I didn't like at the time but now would rather have it that way to be honest.
Last edited by Mowerfreak; 29/11/21 12:42 PM.
