OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Collectors Corner Identification of Particular Machines Victa Model 4 Automatic Specifications

It was brought to my attention that a series of engineering drawings surfaced some years back that detail the front and rear Predicta assemblies. As mentioned in earlier posts, the release date for the Automatic is proven to be no later than the 24th of August, 1957 as demonstrated by this Canberra Times advertisement of the same date:




The engineering drawings, which are dated 17/5/57 for part No 6-004 - Back Carrier Plate, 24/5/57 part No 6-005- Front Carrier Arm Cover, and 20/9/57 part No 6-006- Front Carrier Arm, pose some interesting questions.

Whilst the first two drawings are comfortably dated three months or more BEFORE the confirmed release date, indicating when the development phase of the mower was underway, the final drawing post-dates the release date by almost a full month.

To be frank, this initially confused the hell out of me...Why would a drawing be done after the release of the product? Then I remembered this earlier image of the front Predicta setup, which I originally assumed must have been a concept drawing:



To confirm that this was not simply a design in concept alone, I rechecked other images of the front mechanism. The following is a photo from the Automatic manual, and matches the above image (take note in particular of the right hand carrier arm), confirming this design for the front carrier arm extended beyond concept and into production :






Compare now the following images, again, with particular attention to the right hand carrier arm:






Now how do we reconcile all this information? Why would an Engineering drawing post date the release of the Predicta, and why would two different carrier arm designs be known to have existed, beyond design and into production?

There appears to be only one possible explanation , that being, nearly a month after the release of the Automatic, the original design had proven to be faulty, requiring a rapid redesign of the offending component, and in all likelyhood, a recall of all existing Automatics for upgrading with the amended component. The Women�s Weekly advertisement of the 4th of December, 1957 (pictured above)confirms the newly amended carrier arm had been adopted by this date, and also marks the start of an aggressive advertising campaign for the Automatic. Did they think they�d finally worked out all of the bugs?

So what can we conclude from all this? Here is a breakdown of events as far as I can determine:

17/5/57 � Automatic in design/engineering phase
24/8/57 � Automatic on sale
20/9/57 � Updated carrier arm designed, and likely recall after this date.
4/12/57 � Updated carrier arm adopted, also the commencement of a major nationwide advertising campaign
13/3/58 � Last advertised mention of the Automatic

It can be concluded that the front Predicta setup did indeed appear in two forms well into production, but even the amended design was not enough to save the Automatic from its ultimate demise. Do any examples of the first version front Predicta still exist? Yet to be confirmed...