OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Victa Walk-Behind Rotary Mowers My First Mower

This story began with the family lawn mower back in the late 90's, an aged Morrison with the Briggs 148cc 3.5hp engine. Dad bought this second hand when he bought the house after I was born in 1986. Dad was never into gardening, so a lawn mower was a necessary evil to him. As such, when something broke, he's butcher it back together with whatever he found lying around. When the deck height adjuster broke, he welded in back together and froze the height in place. When the muffler rusted out around the bolts, he just looped a piece of wire to hold it on. When the poor engine started blowing plumes of smoke from worn piston rings, you'd think he would have gone and bought a new mower, but no, both my father and I stripped and rebuilt it. This is the genesis of my love of small engines!



With me getting more and more interested in this sort of thing, and my desire to mow lawns for pocket money, I hounded my parents to buy me a lawn mower for my 14th birthday back in December 2001. While most teenage boys would be asking for a bike or a computer game, I wanted a lawn mower! I rode my bike all over town looking at what I wanted, the internet was not a thing in the household in those days. I decided I wanted a Victa, because that’s what my grandfather had, and I wanted the Briggs and Stratton Sprint 375 engine. Don’t ask me why I wanted that combination, I guess it made sense to my 14 year old brain at the time, probably because it was the modern version of what was on the Morrison. I remember on dealer trying to upsell me, but no, I wanted what I wanted! I even have the brochures I collected at the time.





This mower went on to make me money on the weekends cutting lawns, then helped me start my garden maintenance business after I left high school. Over those early years, I was working this mower hard. I landed a big job mowing for one of the richest families in Australia, thinking I'd have to get something bigger because it made me look lame. Apparently, they fired the last guy because his huge ride-on just make a huge mess and that my little mower was just fine with them. The amount of income this little red Corvette generated is immeasurable! I eventually got so busy that I decided I needed to buy something a little bigger and more powerful, but I decided to keep the Corvette.





From day one, I looked after this mower fastidiously, changing the oil, cleaning and re-oiling the air filter, spark plugs, blades, regular cleaning..................in other words, I took care of what was making me money. And just because it was gift, I didn't take it for granted. Despite the amount of work it has done, the Corvette has been very reliable, a testament to regular maintenance. It's had a replacement throttle control, the deck baffle came off with a thud at one point and needed to be refitted, and I've put a set of front axle bushes and new clips on it. Until recently, that's all its needed.









The Corvette's replacement a few years later was another Victa, the then new Razor with the funky handlebars and the Briggs & Stratton Quantum XTS60. In summer, that integrated drink bottle holder was pure generous, as was the handlebars as they were very ergonomic. I wish they still offered something like that. The Victa Razor was actually one of THE best mowers I have ever had, I'm actually annoyed I traded it on one of the worst, a Honda HRU197. I've been on the hunt for another one of these Razor's, ideally with the 2-Stroke on it.







Even after upgrading to bigger and better machines, I would often take this mower with me, it's just so light and easy to use. It owes me nothing, and so I have kept it as a reminder of my youth. I haven't taken it on a job for a very long time now, but it gets the occasional run on my own lawns.