It certainly does seem there was something that dogged them from the start, the mower came with a spectacular fanfare, and yet it was short lived... I've heard stories and observed evidence to suggest that the substantial dress cowling did result in increased overheating/fire issues, I've seen a number of them with burn marks and damage in the area behind the engine under the fuel tank or near the muffler, and I've been told they did have a habit of building up a lot of unseen debris in these areas over time leading to fire and heat issues, although I only have a few observations of damaged mowers and chatter to support that at this point... perhaps that could have had an effect too...
I'm also curios as to what other models were on offer at the time, and what the price point of the Vortex was, I've seen some serials for Series 80 (Side Starter) victa's that seem to suggest an 85 build date, which if correct, would hint that they had the S80 mustang, corvette etc. running alongside the Vortex, perhaps if it was priced to highly above these that may have been a contributor...
And as seen with the decision to hold back on the 'Zip' starter with the VC, Public perception can be an incredibly powerful thing, so I'm very curious to see if indeed there was a general distrust of a mower you couldn't see the engine on....
