I don't know why they didn't sell better than they did. Apparently they have a lot of zing for their size and would have made a neat alternative to a larger mower in a lot of cases. Now they are collectable because of their rarity now. I just want one to use.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
Probably a number of contributing factors:- 1- 16.5 inch deck means it was more suited to smaller lawns - many people in this situation probably just went electric - like the Victa Qualcasts and regular Electric Victa's. It's still a bit of a stuggle to sell 16.5 inch petrol mowers now - like the Masport 550 series mowers.
2- probably the regular (beer drinking) Aussie male, wanted to push a Victa 'Mustang' or 'Corvette' or 'Commodore' around the lawn on Sunday - not something with a big 'LIGHTWEIGHT' sticker on it.
Wasn't the sticker changed to 'Compact' in the last year or so of manufacture?
MF, its on my list as well - one of those things that is nice to have, but I don't intend to be paying exorbitant prices for (a 500 twin or Supreme is also on the list)
Tyler plenty of 16 inch mowers out there now with Chondas on them, all the yards in the new housing estates are so small that all you need is a 16 inch one. I have quite a few of them here, I just don't bother looking at them because they never end up here with catchers for some reason
It's funny that the Lightweights were a known niche market in the day. These were the 'terrace' mowers for the emerging smaller gardens in the 1970s. They were, literally, half a Twin!
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Wasn't the sticker changed to 'Compact' in the last year or so of manufacture?
Introduced in late 1977 for the 1978 Victa Range, they were named 'Compact'!
Tyler has asked a great question here. It's not clear cut at all. The earliest ads I have (from late 1977) clearly named the mower as a Compact, with lightweight being an adjectival descriptor.
By about the third season, the mower was re-labelled and know as the Victa Lightweight. The last models were named 'Lightweight Compact' returning the name to its first use.
Folks may find what I have to say now interesting, amusing or disturbing.... but consider Victa's great models and advertising campaigns of the '70s and '80s.
Yes ... sport ... but, specifically, auto industry references. I mean Mustang, Cortina, Corvette, Utility, Charger, Commodore, Lancer, GTS (Guaranteed to Start)...
Here's the joke and an insight into the Victa marketing influences at this time. Of course North American advertising was the best in the day and the great AUS advertising companies all looked to the USA for inspiration.
'Compact' had a specific auto meaning - at least in North America. Consider the blurb about the Lightweight in the 1980 range brochure (see gallery).
I like the Lightweight. The 85cc worked in a way that its twin brother never did.
Yes there are lots of those little bloody chonda's around - all priced at the rock bottom of the mower market. I think that has something to do with their success.
Must be the fact that the catcher design is awful (both blade throw and catcher construction) so they are turfed early on.
One finally point that may be interesting, amusing or disturbing. Tyler raised an interesting point about the Aussie male psyche and the Lightweight name sort of neutered that whole thing. Advertising is all about inflating egos. Lawnmower naming has certainly followed other, broader, conventions.
There must be a truth in that - about branding name and size. Big is better ... right? ...
For the record, I do believe it was Merv Richardson was responsible for convincing us that 18 inch should be the standard size for an AUS rotary.
It was certainly the standard in the 20th Century. Nowadays, the toy-like mowers offered make the Lightweight look totally masculine!
We are living in the age of the domestic metro-sexual lawnmower.
CyberJack, Domestic Metrosexual Lawnmower made me laugh.
They sometimes use pretty interesting names. A name like the Sanli 'Lawn Beetle' is quite fitting for that mower - anyone who likes their lawn would (and quite literally could) squash the thing under their foot.
With regards to compacts, it's like when the VB Commdore was launched in 1978, in the middle of a fuel crisis, a smaller more compact car (albeit powered by the same inefficient 173 and 202 motors in the HZ) made sense. Ford only had the Cortina 6 to compete (although the Commodore wasn't that much smaller than the Falcon or Kingswood) it was perceived to be.
Then the fuel crisis went, Holden went through the VC, VH, VK, VL, progressively losing share to ford, before the VN full sized Commodore came out in 1988.
Edit - meant to add - This is the other end of the spectrum
One thing, I wish they made the engine east -west orientation like the 125 and 160 high arch mowers. I never liked the absence of an engine head poking the side though the cowl on the Twin and this. That was a defining feature of Victa high arches and it gave the illusion of a physically much larger engine than the low arches with north south engine fitment.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
MF, that east/west orientation is a real pain, the spark plug is so vulnerable sticking out the side. I guess the reason the 18 inch mower is popular is because it is about a comfortable weight to handle. As soon as they go to 20/21 inch the handles get longer and they are a bulkier mower and because of this they usually make them self propelled and that makes them bigger and heavier again
Not really Norm, unless you intentionally or wrecklessly scrape it against walls and rocks, they are fine. That's why the full cranks have spiked bolts on the head that protrude out and the Powertorque has that sloped guard. The Power Torque is designed for east west fitment from the outset and east west facilitates work on the head, be it access to the spark plug and plug hole or engine head work and de -coking the piston.
Maybe they found the barrel stuck out too far for east west mounting the 85cc engine on a 15.5" base and found north south better for these ends.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
MF I have to replace the plug top on every Powertorque, people obviously hit bottom rail on the fences with the plug top. Less than 50% of the ones I get have the guard fitted. Not sure if they were never fitted or they have come off. All the FC's before the sidepull were fitted north/south, same as the twin and the 85cc. . If they had made them a 20 inch it would not have been a problem
MF Victa did solve the problem later, they built the Tornado and on those the plug sits well inside the Chassis/wheels, they should have started building them much earlier that extra bit of cut makes a big difference on a bigger lawn and the motor is more than able to cope. Think of all those stupid big cut MTD's with a little Briggs on them, motor always flogged out when I get them
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