Could someone please give me an idea what model this mower is. I have two identical ones that I will one day refurbish and wish to make sure that the parts that are purchased are correct for this model. The second mower does not have a recoil starter but has the normal starter pulley that you wrap the starter cord around.
From searching through a number of threads I am guessing that the engine serial numbers listed below would suggest that these mowers could possibly be standard model 4 Victas - would this be correct?.
#1 156156 with a number 4 underneath front of engine has "Victa 125" and drain plug
#2 132523 with a number 4 underneath front of engine has "Victa 125" and drain plug
Thank you in advance for any information that you can provide.
cheers
Pete
Last edited by belly1066; 25/11/2104:29 PM. Reason: Photograph did not show choke mentioned in thread
In my opinion ,I would say these 2 are Victa Model 4 Automatic mowers but bases may not be original for the motors ,example if there are no traces of them ever having side skirt bolts or traces of front or rear flaps being used ( no wear in axle covers were the flaps pivot) then I would say the bases originally had 180,000 range motors. 180000 range being the start of the Victa Special.
I cannot see that there is any wear evident where you mentioned so that would rule out the mowers being automatics. However, I seem to recall reading that because of the failure of the automatics Victa continued to use the stock of automatic bases to produce a standard model 4.
Could this be a possibility?.
I am fairly sure that the mowers were original when I purchased them but I cannot guarantee this.
A lot of other people say the Auto stopped at around 130,000 but at the start of February 1958 Victa had already sold over 150,000 mowers then the Victa Special comes out around March 1958 ,so it's impossible for 130,000 range to be a model 4 standard especially when Victa gave away the 150,000th mower that was also an Auto and this was given away in February, this 150,000th mower could have easily sat in the factory for a couple of months until Victa found a good home for the mower.
Around this time Victa made over 2,500 mowers a week ,so this would mean 150,000 range and 160,000 range were made as Auto ,of course the 150,000 range and 160,000 range may have been converted back to manual throttle control fairly quickly when the Special was released.
I own multiple mowers every 10,000 from 110,000 to 200,000 and have seen many early Victa mowers from 100,000 to 200,000 and my 110,000 range have auto badge and other auto parts ,120,000 range have auto badge and other auto parts , 130,000 range have auto badge and other auto parts ,150,000 range have auto badge and other auto parts , 160,000 range have auto badge and other auto parts.
What people call a standard model 4 is really a mower made as an Auto then converted to manual throttle.
The 180,000 range had the 4 drilled holes for side skirts but never had alloy side skirts or auto parts and had a Victa Special badge in the handle bars (first model Special)
When I mention a number range it's just the majority of that range .
I think the 160,000 range were made as an Auto but possibly changed back to manual throttle before selling.
Thank you once again Max - that is an incredible amount of information and I sincerely appreciate your efforts. Some very interesting articles.
I do have a few hard to get items such as the groove cover and an automatic badge but will probably never be able to obtain any of the other items that are unique to the automatic.
Now all I have to do is find someone that can mix a close colour match for the Galmet Avocado green.
Thanks Jack ,just looking for more accurate information like yourself instead of hearsay.
When I do the math on mowers sold ,the 160,000 range would have been definitely made as Auto mowers.
I still think from evidence the 160,000 range were sold as Auto mowers.
The start of May 1957 is documented as 88,000 mowers made ,in 1956 production reaches 3000 in one week also documented.
If I say roughly 240 days from May to end of December you get 34 weeks then a modest 2,500 mowers per week x 34 weeks is 85,000 mowers so we already had 88,000 + the 85,000 for the end of December 1957 and we have 173,000 mowers made by the end of December 1957.
No harm Pete in building your mowers as a Victa Special as that's what most of the Auto mowers were converted to.
Thanks Max - Just so I can use the automatic badge I may have to refurbish one as an automatic and one as a special. Will have to look out for a special badge but they seem to be just as hard to get as the automatic badge.
One final question Max if I may - I hope I am not being too much of a nuisance.
I have a big black choke complete with filter, the large snorkel clamp and the short snorkel. One document I have seen on the forums indicate that these were available for models from 1957 to 1961. As you stated in one of your posts the Victa Special arrived on the scene around March 1958 so the choke would be appropriate to use on the Victa Special but, could they also have been used on any earlier models during 1957. I am sure I have seen a scan of an ad for the standard with this type of choke.
Here is a scan of the document I was referring to.
Ads aren't always correct Pete regarding the air filter but as far as I can tell the big black filter was fist released on the 3rd model Special ,the base that has no alloy extensions for the front or rear flap to pivot off.
The Patent for that filter came out in September 1958 so this filter wouldn't have been used on earlier models than Sep 1958.
I would just build your mowers how you like Pete as most early mowers are never going to be 100 percent original, now you can only make them look close to original.
