I got this base in a job lot about 15 years ago. It had a dead Briggs on it and later found a rusty steel base Victa with a good working powertorque on it dumped on the kerb behind a mower shop and transferred it over to this base. It has served me well as both my yard mower and for mowing other people's lawns. You wouldn't believe how overgrown a lawn this had tackled in it's time. Two foot tall grass on a number of occasions without complaint, even after I accidentally straight fueled it once and the piston stopped dead in it's tracks. I pulled it out today for the first time in at least two years. After a few pulls and pushes of the primer, it burst into life. It spluttered and conked out early on but after a couple of pushes of the primer it restarted and settled into a rhythm and did my back yard. It was good to give it some exercise and know that it still runs ok.
I forgot I had fitted a pair of the older type hubcaps with Victa lettering stamped in them.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!