I've been told by a backyard mower repairer years ago that those hi arch Scott Bonnar chassis are the best.
He fitted a Honda OHV to his after what I presume was a Briggs that gave up the ghost.

I found a dark charcoal one with the same orange Briggs engine and ended up giving it away on our last move as I just wasn't into it's looks even though it was in excellent condition.

I have since found a SupaSwift with a magnetron version of the vertical pull Briggs and even though it has seen better days, I'm really attached to it and like it's styling with the catcher on when it doesn't keep falling off during a mow, which it does very well.

I always viewed the 1980s Powertorque thumblatch series as a further modernised progression of the fascinating and ahead of their time 1970s styles. It helped that they were the ones available new in the box when I first got into these mowers. Getting drawn into the hype of Victa's touted guaranteed to start electronic ignition ad campaign of 1987/88 (even though it had been around more less since 1980), together with the extremely stylish looking top line Vortex and Mustang GTS domestic models with their claimed quietness (over hyped a it turned out) as well as the slightly cheaper thumblatch Powertorque models, all if which felt fantastic as you pulled slowly on the rope on display models, is what made me continue my interest in the 80s models despite being a significant departure from the VC 125 mk 3 and purple VC Sports, the two mowers that started it all.

It's nice to finally see someone who appreciates those models for their spectacular aesthetics.
Consumers in general must have been drawn by their striking appearance I'm sure, as plenty picked them over the cheaper models.
Too to it off, they performed extremely well and pack the catcher better than the cheaper steel decked versions.
So it's a win win and the fact they are so sought after decades after production stopped, shows how good they were.

Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!