OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums The History Forum Model Histories VICTA Models VICTA QUALCASTS - Does Anyone Remember Them?

Hello ODK History Lovers

WE don't see a lot of Villamos these days do we?
But how about the Victa Easymo or even the Victa Electric Rotomo?
How about the Victa Sprinter or the Victa Jogger?
How about the Victa Turfmaster?
... No?

I am seeking information for the History Forum on these Victa Qualcasts.
They were sold here in the mid-1980s. These were Qualcasts that Victa rebadged
and sold here.

Now, I believe Victa's marketing strategy in the 1980s was one that embraced
re-branding to position Victa as a garden products company, rather than, simply, a
domestic lawnmower manufacturer. And they did this by any means...

Consider:
The Victa Vortex was manufactured under licence with the C.S.I.R.O (a domestic agreement)
Victa's ride-on range used re-branded American machines.
Victa had powered (petrol and electric) reel mowers from Qualcast.
It had manual push mowers from Qualcast.
It had a range of electric and petrol lawn trimmers.
It had the Victa Vac, Victa Shredder and Victa Tiller.
It had the Victa edgers and Victa sprinklers and . . .

You get the idea. Victa didn't actually 'manufacture' many of the machines it offered.
In the Victa catalogue pages represented below there are a number of machine that I
do not know any collector has. I know a collector with a Jogger (these appear occasionally at auction),
and I know a collector who found a Villamo on a roadside collection heap. It was ODK member Sir Chook
that first identified that machine as a Qualcast Concorde.

Wouldn't it be a lark to own a Victa Rotomo - the electric Dinky-toy-like one!

All very forgotten.
---------------------------------
JACK

Victa-Qualcasts appear from time-to-time on auction sites:-

VICTA VILLAMO




VICTA JOGGER




VICTA TURFMASTER

For me, the most interesting of these must be the Rotamo 300 - a hilarious
dinky-toy for Australian conditions. That Victa would re-brand it here as a
Victa Rotamo really was a dis-service to their own history. Disappointing.

Or, maybe, someone had a sense of humour at Victa ... with a
play on the names Rotomo and Rotamo. Who knows!

I guess it was a harbinger of the battery-electric toys that double as
'lawnmowers' nowadays. Many domestic lawnmowers could have easily
segwayed into the hit movie Toy Story.

I have recorded two electric Rotamo's offered at auction - in 2016 and 2018.
I feel these should be considered collectible; because they capture a
specific time in Victa's history. Alas, no one seems to care for these odd
Victa-Qualcasts.