GregR you were so fortunate to have experienced the unboxing of a Mustang GTS from new. I used to constantly admire them on display in the appliance stores and Grace Bros who used to have a great range on display in that period.
I have the white Mustang V40 which uses the exact same base and it's been a trouper.
An English guy actually wrote a lengthy article on E bay about choosing a mower and he described some pretty fancy equipment we don't generally see in Australia and he spoke highly of the red Victa Vortex mentioning how nice they are to push around.
The VC 160 has the best high arch shute in the business. It is cavernous when you look underneath. No wonder they made the claim it could handle wet grass. It's shaped like a pipe which is what water passes through. The clippings were shot upwards and down into the catcher for maximum filling.
I think Victa whittled down the size of the high arch shutes with subsequent models. Also note how they deleted the two piece rear flap on high arch models? I only recently learned that was designed so you could immediately insert the bottom lip of the catcher onto the mower without having to lift the lever first. I always lifted the lever slightly regardless but tried it for the first time the other day and lo and behold its true. It goes straight in. I guess it's fortunate I'm used to doing it the other way, but I now view the earlier high arched decks with more esteem than I already did.
PS you can easily fit a four blade disc on the GTS. I have one on the V40, but I honestly think four blades are overrated which is why I only have two on that mower now. It makes a nice purposeful whirring noise to accompany the engine note though.
