OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Victa Lawn Mower Frames Question about old Sunbeam Victa

I'm new here and I have a historical question. Not sure if this is the right board for this?

In my pre and teenage years it was my chore to mow our quite extensive lawns in South Africa. It was a job for every Saturday during Summer and we had the native Kikuyu and some Buffalo. Mum was very poud of her lawns which were copiously fertilised so you can appreciate that I could NEVER miss my Saturday task!

Anyway, the mower was a gold coloured Sunbeam Victa (imported from Australia in the early 60s) on a cast base similar to the Rotomo and it has a red two stroke engine. I don't know the engine type, but Dad eventually replaced the engine with a Briggs and Stratton in the early 70s when the original wore out. The base was extremely tough and solid.

I have been looking through old pics of the Victas but I haven't seen a base exactly the same. It had a molded side ejection chute behind the right front wheel. The other feature was a Z crank to quickly adjust the height, but I have not seen this type of adjustment on any of the Victa photos I've been able to locate. Has anyone seen one of these?

bruceT,

Can you post a picture of your mower so we can supply information?

It turns out that my memory wasn't too good and it was a Southern Cross, not a Sunbeam. (The Sunbeam Victa came later) This mower was manufactured in South Africa for Southern Cross Industries, which had it's head office in Toowoomba Qld. The company is still manufacturing mowers in Soth Africa today, and many of them have Victa engines.

Notice the height crank I mentioned. Ours originally had a Kirby 2-stroke engine, and later it was swapped for a B&S.

Here is an ad as I don't have a pic of the actual mower.

Hi All That pic of the Sothern Cross advert etc is about the most exciting thing seen on Forum for a long time . Cogratulations on knowing how to send a pic like that into ODK Joe

Just trying out some of these buttons
See I missed the O out on Southern Joe

4 Ok So I hitNo 4 Key Joe

Just in case something happens to my host, here is the original link to the ad: http://www.southx.co.za/history6.jpg