Hello ODK History Lovers

The great Australian engine historian Eric Schulz posted an image of
a Mobilco Rota Cruiser on ODK in April of 2019. I had never seen nor
heard of this one. Here is the image Eric sent me …

[Linked Image]

This is a great story about how I, in fact, missed a vital clue.
I had written a History Record of the Mobilco Cruiser reel mower
that I dated to 1956. That record can be found here: -

https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/61145/mobilco-cruiser-c1956.html

It is now clear to me that Mobilco also made a slasher mower –
then described as a ‘motor scythe’ - following the British propensity
to name these slasher mowers in this way. We have generally called
these ‘rotary slasher mowers’ in the modern era, but ‘scythe’ is such
a beautiful historical word in describing the development of the
powered rotary lawnmower.

Eric has finally given this Mobilco machine a name:

The Rota Cruiser!

To be continued …