OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums The History Forum The Old Soap Box What about Now?

So A thought has just occurred to me... What about modern history? (Modern relative to what we normally discuss)

I'm just roughing out a timeline of milestone's and flagships to help me write up a few articles, and it's occurred to me that there are some things that are, well, hard to pin down because they are recent... but if we don't make note of these things now, well, they wont be there in future...

Writing up my little roughout timeline is easy for the early stuff... First Recoil Starter, Victa Special, First Catcher, Sheerline, First Rear Catcher, Viceroy, First Hi Arch, VC-160, first Mono-Bloc Engine, Vortex...

But Victa used to care more about such things, half of this info I don't even need to dig hard to find, old V-Code posters with images, parts books, etc, it's basic dot-pointing for skeleton-ing out an article...

But I get to first "Mulching Mower", first Mulch or Catch, and well...??? Proper Mulching wasn't something domestic mowers were fussed with till much more recently, you either cut or catch, and even the commercial scene didn't get it from Victa till more recently in the timeline... But when?? On What??

Are there things we should be recording here now so they are not forgotten when we need them...

For example, it's likely we can record the last Victa 2-stroke produced, because it's unlikely they will bring in a new line of 2-strokes... and there is only one mower you can still buy new with the power torque on it... the 560 Mulchmaster (MSP562).

When did Victa last offer a 2-stroke Domestic? Did anyone take note? I think they had 3 in 2015, but that's the last time I checked...

It might be an idea to think about how to save these facts for when they are history... I mean if you can't trust it of the kind of folk obsessed enough with mowers to do what we do, who can you trust to record it? Thoughts?

They still had the PT commando on their site up to around april (last time I looked) but now the link gives a 404 error. I also know directly from a Victa dealer that Victa was offering them at 'quite a good price' to them in mid may.
They are still available in some dealers, but I havent seen one in person.

The Victa NZ site still has an identical listing. I think the Victa aus site said $699 from memory

G'day everyone,

Hiya Mr Davis! gees mate the last time I spoke to you on here was back in 2011. I had the old fast idle problem on my original 1982 Victa Commando full crank as pictured in my avatar. I can gladly say that the mower still works great to this day with those 2 brass washers that I installed in the carby as you mentioned to me here on these forums all those years ago!

I don't know if I can help much with histories mate but the Victa Commando full crank lawnmower as pictured in my avatar has been in the family since new.

Also as Tyler has already said, you can still go a Victa dealer and purchase the one and only last remaining Victa 2 stroke lawnmower model which will still be available for sale until the 1st of July 2020. After this date they will be banned from sale. They were meant to be banned from sale from the 1st of July this year, but the government gave them an extension for another year to sell the stock.

I have gone into my local Victa Gold dealer a couple of times and have seen the mower there in person. I think they can also still order them in from the Victa head office if you want to buy one, but who knows how many they still have left now?

I have added a picture here of the last Victa 2 stroke lawnmower that's still available for retail sale from the Victa dealers until the 1st of July 2020.

It's a "Victa Commando" model number "CMS462".

Gosh, I remember that one, 8 years later and the Idle is still good! I'm Glad to hear it!

https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/37900/old-victa-2-stroke-idle-problem.html

Hmm, there's a mower shop one town over that I used to pop into as a kid, they were a gold dealer back in the day, might be time I stuck m head in again... they had a couple of nice oldies on display too by memory... I'll take a camera!!

G'day Mr Davis,

Yes thanks again for all the help mate, I don't think the carby has been removed from the engine since then either. I have been using this mower for all the regular mowing here since that fix and believe me it gets well used all the time during those years. I constantly bring the machine back to idle speed when emptying the catcher, seriously it doesn't feel like it's changed at all since I fixed it back then! Great repair mate!

I recorded some video of it earlier this year to upload to these forums. Here is the classic beast with the lazy lumpy barking idle today just like it was when I fixed it back in 2011 after your great help on this forum!

Victa mulch and catch has been around for quite a long time. I remember the first tv commercials for it being ages ago.
I did have a golden anniversary Victa a few years ago, which was mulch and catch, so that would put it at 2002 -50 years since Victa began in 1952 when Mervin Victor Richardson built his famous peach tin fuel tank prototype for his son.
So M&C has been around since 2002 or prior. I have a hunch it was introduced in the late 1990s some time.

G'day everyone,

Speaking of the mulch or catch lawnmower, the only thing I can add here if it's any help is the tv commercial that I uploaded the other day from 1996 featuring the Victa mulch or catch lawnmower. It also says on the ad it's the "the new generation". So at least it's guaranteed that these could have possibly been released or were in production in 1996. This commercial was broadcast in September of 1996. So yes I think your pretty close there Mowerfreak with the release date of the mulch or catch.

Well, that's narowing the field for the start of the mulch'n'catch... it's another story as to wether any use of a mulching specific... well anything... predated the much'n'catch, however, I'd guess the Mulch'n'catch to be a good one to pin down as a guide, plus it seems to be the flagship for the idea!

So we can say it was there fro sure by Sept 1996, and studying the model records I have, I can confirm it was not there prior to the new model releases during 1992 (Sept as well I believe) as this book covers up to the mowers released late 91.

So it's likely we've narrowed the M&C's release down to a 5 year window, and it's likely to be at the later end of the window by the discussion.

...At work, I've been organising old paint catalouges, the ones released each year or so with the popular colours, the library of pamphlets at work covers a lot of brands, and in some cases goes as far back as '83... the owner kept the library as it proves usefull when someone comes in wanting a paint tinted to... "Oh... well, we picked the colour about 30 years ago... it was a Haymes colour... I just can't remember the name..."

I wonder if any of the still around, old and opened gold dealers have kept any such old things for any reason... I'll find the moment to go chat to the one near me, as that shop has been there at least 25 years, probably longer... anyone else got a moment and an old gold dealer nearby to ask?

The major Victa gold dealer down the road here aren't really the classic old school type, they have changed owners a few times over the last 10 or so years. It's more of a fancy new age shop with all the latest type gear. Except for the one lone Victa 2 stroke lawnmower still sitting in the showroom. When I last went in and asked them about it I have to walk them down to the front and show them which one it is..lol Then I ask what price they can do on it first time I got $550, then I went in and asked again about 2 weeks later another bloke in there told me $499. But this was before the government gave them an extension to still sell them until next year. So I assume the prices won't go down much now for a while.

Speaking of old gold dealers, I went into a little not so gold dealer a while ago. He is a great bloke but when I was in there asking if he might have any old Victa black plastic carbies with the idle screw on the end he answered me back "those darn idle screws never did anything anyway". I was like yeah the carbies wear out over the years but I got mine working again with a couple of brass washers installed inside, he sort of paused for a bit, and was like "oh yeah ok". I don't think he believed me at all. lol oh well.

I know a gold dealer that I have personally known about since 1993, run by two Aussie Greek brothers to this day. One of them is particularly knowledgeable but they're always busy with other customers.
What questions would you like me to ask? I don't want to exceed my quota but I will go in there and see what they know.

Sorry for the delay there Mowerfreak, it has been an incredibly busy few weeks, if there is any chance they may have kept old brochures etc. that may narrow a timeline for models?

I plan to get into mine this week if possible and see if, like my workplace has with old paint catalouges, they may have kept any copies of old brocures, updates, service bulleteins, etc. and if so, might I quietly be able to sit in a corner and take some photo's of them lol!

What I have narrowed down, is that, at least as far as I can ascertain now, the Mulch'n'catch was not present in 93 or 94, and it looks the same for 95, and I'm strongly statring to suspect that it was introduced in the new line up around september of 1996.

Essentially, this model seems to be the first one I can find that signifies the addition of "Mulching" to the technologies sold on domestic victa mowers, and like the move of the catcher to the back, the addition of governing, the birth of the hi-arch or the introduction of the powertorque, it is yet another milestone in victa's history.

Working out what counts for a milestone can be tricky, but at least at the higher level, victa seems to have had a new model bring each one in or at least a good fanfare, there is a definite first 4-stroke, there is a first twin and there is a first mono-bloc...

I'm not sure if the G4 counts as a milestone or simply a move forward and a radical new carburettor design for victa, it's certainly the first rotary-cam carburettor... the LM was a new carburettor, but not a milestone, it's only a re-design of the g4...

I guess it's all about working out what the big dates are, and then looking at what ones are more recent, and might not have been recorded in our archives as they tend to fall outside our vintage thoughts, but are worth capturing now before they become harder to pin down...