OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Finding and Swapping Rare Finds & Donations Eric Anderson Mower

Found down the local tip (along with a catcher in another thread) . I can't find many/any photos on google for it but Eric Anderson turns up quite a few historical links, it seems he was a fairly large retailer. So it must be a store brand one.

Jack (cyberjack) reckons it's a Turner with a Kirby VK30. Interesting to see that it has a cast/forged name plate rather than a simple rivet-on tin plate.

On first viewing it appeared in good nick, especially the base however a bit of inspection showed the motor is shot (I think only part of the piston moves plus the missing spark plug connector, bad cable damaged fins, starter, etc), plus there is some damage on the underside not visible until turned over. Obviously the snorkel is incorrect and the impulse starter unit replaced by some welded mosntrosity. Level mechanism works, wheels more or less intact but wonky.

It may be that I repurpose this one into a garden trolley for my daughter/me however I could be convinced otherwise.

Anyway, here are more photos. Tell me what you think!

Left


Right


Rear
You can see the damage to the chute and the rear skirt.


Underneath


Throttle


Labels


Now the more sharp-eyed ones may have noticed that there appears to be a label missing, or very, very faded. I didn't notice myself until viewing the photo. So I played with an image editor, to enhance the contrast and here's what I came up with- it may be worth another photo tomorrow to highlight more info if possible.

What I think it says (assumed in brackets):
"? AUSON
(4) STROKE PETROL ENGINE
? IN AUSTR(ALIA) UNDER LI(CENC)E
No"


Rear 'model' label- missing


Cast label at the front. You can see the 'rim' around it. I don't know whether the name was cast seperately and fixed in, or a name mold inserted into the overall mold/template. Anyone know?

I think it would say perhaps Lauson or Kirby-Lauson, i think (Cyberjack may have to confirm this) that they made Tecumseh engines over here under license. I think you should keep this one to restore! It has a very cool base which i have not seen before, perhaps it may even help Jack write about the history of Eric Anderson! But what ever you do with it i hope it all goes well I also have an original air filter if you do choose to restore.

I have been researching Eric Anderson and i have found some advertisement for it. It is from 1962 which will give you a date. You can also see that they were Home appliance specialists and there mower was up against the Victa Envoy and Turner Deluxe. Also (i am not sure if this is right as i dont understand the old money system, wish i did) the Eric was 7/6 weekly, the victa was 8/6 and the Turner was 9/6, making the Eric cheaper weekly (i think).



The next advertisement is from 1967, so much later. This time advertised by itself, without the Turner or Victa


This advertising is from 1964 and shows the original type of catcher, it is much different to your tip find catcher, which is very cool!



This advertisement is from 1963, It will be the last advertisement i will post for now as things are starting to repeat, but this shows it was also selling against the pope in the same store!


I can also find some references to a 2-stroke version but all i can find is this advertising, it says the ad is from 1967 but it isn't in dollars so i'm not sure whats happening there.


Some advertisement from 1960 shows them selling Lawn Patrols and in 1959 they sold the rare Turner 4-stroke. I also found this mower which doesn't seem to have a name (i think its from 1961).


Hope that helps you out a bit.

Thanks for reading
Kye.

Kye, from memory, it is getting a while back but 10 shillings became $1 one pound became $2 so the figure of 7/6 a week was seven and sixpence which equated to 75 cents. Doesn't sound like much these days but it was real money back then. 49 guineas was 49 pounds plus 49 shillings with 20 shillings to the pound the above mower actually cost 51 pounds 9 shillings so 49 guineas sounded like you were getting a better deal. Mowers back then were serious money and as a comparison I would guess that on that scale a mower should cost a couple of thousand dollars in todays money. See we are much better off these days

Thats very expensive! and that old system seems very complex I think that unidentified mower could be an Ezy-cut or, even a Loukon! It is very similar to both bases (which are pretty much the same) but the Loukon advertisement that jack has found and written about here has the same engine as this mower. So see what you think. I will leave that there so we don't get too carried away. Anymore information and we may need to start a new topic.

Thanks for reading
Kye

Kye,

again thanks for your reply and investigations. Especially "Kirby-Lauson", I'm sure you're right as the space is there for the "Kirby" (and Jack told me it was a Kirby). Jack also came up with very similar advertising results.

In fact I have Jack to thank for encouraging me to go back and get it. I'd sent him a photo and was ummm-ing and ahhh-ing. In doing so I picked up the catcher as well. May still get into trouble yet when I take it our of the boot at home...

Good news is I have a mate at work who knows a bit or two (or more) about mechanical things... He's had a look at it and thinks the internal damage *may* just (hopefully) be the piston (+/-) conrod so it *may* yet work again if I can source parts. He also thinks the base can be fixed (welded).

My repurposing is simply to take the engine off and bolt a box on for my daughter to push around in the garden. This shouldn't require any damage so the base will remain salvageable. I can look at the engine in the meantime. If it all comes together we may have a working mower sometime in the (possibly very distant) future.

Dunno that it may ever be worth much more than curiosity value. I suppose sometimes the 'value' is in saying, "I got one, do you?!!" (?)

Still learning (a lot!)

Cheers,

I can't wait to see what you do with it. Either way a restored Eric Anderson and a cool little buggy for the kids will be awesome! And if you do restore it i just wrecked out a Kirby engine so i have lots of parts!

thanks for reading
Kye.

Hi Patrick, Kye, Norm and Contributors

It is a first for these forums that we finally have an 'Eric'.
Eric Anderson, along with Scott's, were the big retailers in
Canberra in the day. So it is nice they are remembered; not just
as a seller of early rotary power mowers, but of their own store
brands. We have a great collection of ads for the record.

'Tecumseh' never appeared on the first Kirby licenced copies of
Tecumseh engines here. The reason is simple. Tecumseh acquired the
great old company Lauson in 1956, but a decision was made by
Tecumseh that 'Lauson' still appear on Tecumseh-Lauson engines
for a few years, as it had a long-established name. By the mid-
1960s, Lauson would disappear and Tecumseh branding would prevail.

The LV stands for Lauson Vertical. Kirby would later change that
designation to VK (Vertical Kirby). An LV30 is a VK30.

Patrick, if the piston is not moving it means a failed conrod.
The two likely causes for that are (1) lack of oil, or (2)
over-revving. These were solid motors.

The front wheels are original; the rears are not. The blade
holder is, I believe, a 'universal' replacement - designed to
take a number of manufacturers' blade designs.

That the Eric might be used as a re-purposed garden trolley does
raise certain philosophical issues though. Will it be half a mower,
or half a trolley ? ...

Thanks Patrick for giving us great record images. I really love the
first shot - of the Eric on the centre strip - prancing down a
deserted road. Canberra is that sort of city.

Cheers
-------------------
Jack

Yes, it was! Compared to decimal currency, which was the reason for changing to the decimal dollar, in 1966.
Calculating interest, and compounding it, was rather a nightmare in those pre-computer days. Books of look-up tables called 'ready reckoners' were much used. It was an inheritance from the Brits...

The old system was 1 Pound [symbol �] = 20 shillings [symbol s] = 240 pence [symbol d]. The symbols actually stand for the Latin words used for old French currency. Separators used were slash [/]or apostrophe ['] e.g . � 5/12/6; 7'6 or 7/6.

And as NormK says, the 'guinea' was 21s, used to fiddle the numbers to make items appear cheaper - much as prices ending in $99 or 99c still are.

THIS Wiki page goes into more detail.

The average Australian weekly full-time base wage in 1961 was �18/4/7 [source: ABS 1962 Yearbook] or ~$36.55 using the 1966 dollar conversion.

So one of these mowers cost about 3 weeks wages, back then. Equivalent to ~$4400 today!

Most people would buy them on credit, in the form of Hire Purchase [a form of 'vendor finance'], which became readily available in the 1950's. But the goods were the 'security', and could be repossessed, if payments fell into arrears. Ownership wasn't transferred until the final payment had been made, just as with car loans of today.

Gadge, I also forgot to confuse Kye with those other bits of currency we had back then, the half penny, the penny (12 of those to the shilling) the thrupence, the sixpence, (the ones they stuck in the Christmas puddings if your grandparents were rich, otherwise you got the thrupence) it wasn't all that bad. I guess you are right as to what a mower would be worth on todays pricing, I just took a stab and figured $2000 would be near enough

Wow! very complex and expensive! At least the Victa Automatic's value might have gone up. Is there any other mowers worth around what the Auto is worth?

Nothing like a Canberra public service carpark after 5pm!

Sorry I forgot what I call the 3/4 shot, the evocative type one used in car adverts taken low down from the angled front of the car with the late afternoon sun.

Smart guy, this Kye: He's not going to be sidetracked!

Thanks for all that info, Jack. I had noticed the blade carrier with the multi position- boltholes and had come to the same conclusion.

Thanks for the thoughts Kye, and I may just take you up on those parts yet.

Gave it a degrease and pressure clean up today- but had to hide it again before the BOSS got home (and cook and clean too) so no photos (yet).

However I did note the "burnt orange" finish seems to be just that... burnt by the environment. Paint hidden under the cowl/petrol tank and also under oil/grease shows a much deeper, red colour, almost an orange-red. Not helped by some resraying don on a couple of parts... but I'm guessing paint hidden under the cowl/fuel tank (or perhaps under a washer) will be my best bet of a match.

Oh, the wheels are pretty well toast.

One nasty thought I had:

These Kirby-Lauson engines were running in the 50s and 60s when fuel was leaded.

What happens/happened to them with unleaded fuel? Were the valve/valve seats hardened (I'm guessing unlikely if the machine was built in Oz), and/or could this be a cause of them failing?

Also Grumpy said in the past that:

Does anyone have an idea about what grumpy meant by "not a nice engine to operate"?

Thanks,

Hi Patrick.

Yes, the standard Kirby colour was an orange-red.

Unleaded and leaded.
My understanding is that it is simply not an issue for these small engines.
There is no shortage of debate on fuel in these forums though.

https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=17050

Thousands would disagree - including myself.
They made over 1/2 million Kirby engines here.
https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=66618

Cheers
-------------------
Jack

They seem like a good engine Jack! I wish the one on my Victa Ambassador wasn't stuffed, would have been a great mower! Hopefully I will find a Kirby engined mower soon (hopefully as cool looking as the Eric!) and do that up, maybe my favorite type of mower, a Pace! haha

Hi Jack,
Thanks for that. The reason I asked is because my 1980 Briggs ( or the user manual I have for it from that era) is quite specific that it doesn't require leaded fuel. A Nov 1976 factory service and repair manual I just bought says ULP will reduce deposits and actually extend engine life.

But the Kirby-Lausons are Aust built from earlier. May not have had access to hardened seats, valves? But certainly likely to run, maybe at worst valvesaver required. Just checking, to be sure. Have to get my hands on a manual!

I find the Briggs manual quite interesting. In the Governor section for example, roughly 1.5 paragraphs and one diagram is dedicated to the air vane governor, whilst 6.5 2-column pages and umpteen diagrams are dedicated to the mechanical governors.

And with half a million made, they've gotta be scattered around all over the place even now? Surely???

Well, being an aluminium alloy block, they are fitted with inserted valve seats [i.e. steel or a hard alloy]. So I'd say they will be fine with unleaded fuel, with the low compression ratios these engines run. Just take particular care to avoid any E10 fuel, for the sake of the fuel system!
I suspect he thought of them as a bit agricultural and unrefined - a bit prone to hard starting, excessive vibration, and not the easiest to repair [these days, at any rate].

This quote from one of his past posts is revealing:
They aren't uncommon, for sure. But not that many of them are still in running condition. I can't recall exactly when Kirby ceased making engines, but it would have been around the late 1970's.
Scott Bonnar had certainly dropped them from all models by 1978. Victa had done so by 1973, and gone to Briggs on their sole 4-stroke offering.