OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Finding and Swapping Idle Chatter ARCHIVE: Austral Villiers Adaptomatic Rotary

Look at this bizzare machine, I wish I had the cash on me, this is the kind of odd i like!!

Enjoy: Austral Villiers on Ebay.
[Link no longer active]

For archival sake, here are some pictures:

Vintage Austral Villiers Lawn Mower Mark 5 G Two Stroke Circa 1956





The add says the handles are not original

Hi Ty, that certainly is an odd looking machine mate..I have never seen anything like it...especially the kick starter....what a ripper!!

Who knows, maybe I'll have some good luck prior to the end of auction!

That's rather unique. I've seen a cylinder mower with a Villiers kick start, but not a rotary. Be interesting to see what it goes for. Good luck Ty.

Handles are stolen from a victa

If it were slightly more local I would have a bid, got other things to worry about at the moment though.

Hopefully the handles have not been drilled into new holes, that way originals can still be obtained an fitted without alteration.

If I get the chance I'm getting more and More keen on this one, It's terrifically ugly, and as a few of you know, I like to have a few ugly mowers (they tend to be more unique...I guess because no one wants a butt ugly mower)

you passed up a butt ugly one at the tip when we all went though! that self propelled ugly as sin american thing with more rust than your average falcon.

Yeah, it just did't work for me, I dont particuarly like steel bases, i dont like newer motors, and I'm just not geting into anything with that much rust (grandfather was a car salesman)

It was butt ugly though, and the first time i have seen a dog-on-wheel swing fram drive system, implimented across the front two wheels!

If it had been in better condition, I would have grabbed it, and fitted an older motor, but seing as the base was buggered, and i didnt want the motor, it just was not for me.

This ugly thing however, realy looks like some kind of early science fiction contraption.

If I do decide to go for it, and I et it, I'm calling it my Cantakerous Gurfunkling Contraptomobile!

I agree about the A-V's ugliness. Personally I can't imagine wanting to own anything that ugly and that badly designed (the draftsman had to be laughing when he put that old British fuel tank on it, if he wasn't stoned out of his mind), but if we all liked the same things, the prices would be as ugly as some of the mowers.

I will add that it's not Just Ugly I'm after, in this particular case, having an old kick start rotary is also quite an alluring prospect.

Not only is this the first time i have seen a kick start implemented in such a way on a rotary, it';s one of the first factory kick start rotary's I have seen, and while it looks like it may well be quite an impractical design, it is unique, and that adds to it's intrigue as part of a diverse and unusual collection of uncommon mowers & machines.

After all, what was poorly designed, unpopular or ugly back then, is often rare and collectible now (though generally still ugly) Plus I'm curios to get in there and have a look how the mechanism functions in detail!

The key requirement is that the ratchet for the pinion on the top of the crankshaft does not run all the time - it needs to disengage when the pedal has returned to the top of its movement, as it does on an old ATCO. From your first picture it looks as if it would have when it left the factory at least - I'm not sure whether it does now. You'd only have to shorten the chain by one or two links along the way, and the little ratchet would be unhappy.

Yes, it does seem to no longer be resting on the return pin, weather that is just play from age being exposed by gravity in the chain, a lack of return spring tension, or indeed a missing link or two, is beyond determination from the photo alone (at least for me) but maybe we will find out more if Myself, or anyone else from the forum ends up with this, or anything like it.

Hey Ty, I still think it is one crazy-ass machine!!

A favorite little trick with terms like that is called hyphen shifting, you can change a sentence by moving nothing more than one hyphen.

in your case, it still holds similar meaning:

"Hey Ty, I still think it is one crazy ass-machine!!"

However, it becomes dangerous when complimenting someones Sweet-ass car!

Yeah, I'll drink to that Ty!! mate

A History Record is now available on the Austral-Villiers:-
https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=65537