OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Collectors Corner Rotary SUPA-SWIFT: Some Models

My SupaSwift You don't see many around, there is some other models on this forum but not this one that I could find
What I understand they started making mowers in 1955 but used other brands of engines
SupaSwift is still in business today and still Australian owned? If so that would make it more Australian than Victa
How many different models of SuaSwift are there and why do you see very few around the rally grounds
Ian

Hi Ian,

That is a very tough looking chassis design mate, and would make a fantastic restoration.
I couldn't find much info on that model....could you please post the model, type and code stamped onto the metal air cowling...that will at least give us the date of manufacture of the Briggs and approximate age of the machine.

Here's what I have found:

Nice looking mower,Ive never seen one like that before even has a cast iron bore biggs nice.....

The engine numbers
Been a bit slow getting to the mowers we have another one of those windy things of the coast again
Ian

Thanks Ian, for the reply.

Your engine is a 11 cu.in, vertical shaft with a Pulsa-Jet carby, plain bearings with a vertical pull starter, manufactured on the 6th September 1984....I can't tell you the plant, but it would have closed prior to 2011.

hi all here's a pic of my old superswift, engine is a villers torque major 140 deluxe, 4bhp , 142cc, two banga, mower still runs well and gives a nice cut, mower deck is alloy and very well made, these old girls were built to last not like the cheap tin decks on the mowers made today.
cheers damo

I like the handle it is different
Ian

Found some interesting paper work in my to many boxes
Ian

As usual Ian, you have come up with something that is of historical interest for our members and for the ODK archives...Well done mate!

Just acquired.



A nice machine. here it is.does anyone know what the catcher on this model would have been?

Catcher would have been the same as that shown on the Model 747V2 above.

Not sure what model yours is; it could be a later 747, or something like the storebrand MSAA Craftsman shown in this 1973 newspaper ad.

thanks gadge. it has galaxy gt on the front cowl. and i have seen those catchers around from time to time so will keep my eye out for one.cheers

Here is my old Supa-swift, don't know a lot about the mower, but it works well

shes a beaut

Here's another for the archives , same base as bunipper's but different donk,
apparently the one which was hard to sell.

Cheers
Al

Hi Al, and my on another brilliant restoration, mate!
I see that your machine has the ubiquitous Villiers Mk7F 'Torque-Master' 2 stroke engine fitted as also used on Pace machines; whereas Bunipper's machine has the 4 stroke Kirby Lauson (Tecumseh) engine that was coming into vogue at that time.

I really like to attention to detail on yours Al, and particularly the wheels ( with the whitewall effect) that you have chosen to use....a very nice job.

Hello ODK members,

Supa-Swift is very much an underrated and under-appreciated make.
I have been struggling to get quality information for years.
Here is my response to some issues:-

First, Ian -
- I understand they started making mowers in 1955 but used other brands of engines
- SupaSwift is still in business today and still Australian owned?
- How many different models of SupaSwift are there and why do you see very few around the rally grounds?

I cannot find any evidence that 1955 is the start date Ian.
My best guess at this time is late 1959.
The original model does not appear in this post.

The 'brand' does continue and the range is quite large.
I do not believe there is any real DNA heritage to the original Vulcan company.
In fact, I can't find any confirmation that Supa-Swift are made here at all.

The current owners, Allpower Industries, present as a distribution and marketing company.
They manage several brands, some sourced in Europe,Japan and China.

Allpower do present the Supa-Swift as "a truly Australian brand".
Yet there is no suggestion that this brand is still made here at all!
Of course they're not.

Ian has asked a very interesting question:
"why do you see very few around the rally grounds?"

I've asked that myself. They are certainly deserved to be.
These were quality machines. It may be that vintage mower collecting
is a very fickle thing: subject to the vagaries of fashion.

Dodegy has also said something thought provoking:
"these old girls were built to last not like the cheap tin decks on the mowers made today."

I have observed that too; but I have also noted that some
vintage mower bases have weathered better than others.

I may have found some sort of answer in early Supa-Swift advertising.
This may explain their durability and longevity. It was the
quality of casting and the emerging trend for skirted bases.



Bunniper's machine dates from the very early 1960s.
It is a deluxe base, and highly collectable (in my view) because it
has the catcher. There is a short period in history when side-catchers
were all in vogue and they were steel. Supa-Swift had this from 1959.

Alwil says:
"Here's another for the archives , same base as bunipper's but different donk,
apparently the one which was hard to sell."

Al is the master restorer. I don't know how he does it!
When I first saw his machine I was curious about the very unusual
carby manifold and carby placement.

Deejay correctly says this is:
"the ubiquitous Villiers Mk7F 'Torque-Master' 2 stroke."
It is original to Supa-Swift; though clearly not the standard Villiers spec.
I date this machine mid 1960s.

Supa-swift are important to vintage mower history.
They were one of the first to use 4-stroke engines on rotaries
[Briggs, Kirby, and Villiers (yes, Villiers!)] and they were one of
the first in introducing side-catchers. They also appreciated the
effect of larger wheel sizes on manoeuvrability.

All very super and ... swift.
-----------------------------------------
Jack

I had one very like Dodegy's. My father bought it new and ran it for about 20 years until just before he died in 1987. It had become unusable due to its old 2 stroke Villiers being just about impossible to start. I immediately took it over, replaced the magneto (the cause of the hard starting), fitted new rings and re-bushed the strange governor butterfly valve in the intake pipe, and it became a first-pull starter again, for 18 years. By then it had become hard to start again - the second-hand magneto I'd fitted in 1987 had given out. The only other work it had needed in those 18 years was a second-hand replacement spring for the impulse starter - I don't think I even replaced the sparkplug after the initial repair job in 1987. I hate 2 stroke mowers, so when the magneto failed I dumped it on the nature strip, still in pieces.

The Villiers engine was amazingly light and remarkably easy to start, but I find impulse starters very unpleasant to use. The thick aluminium base was completely free of damage or maintenance requirements through the machine's 38 years of regular use, but it was ridiculously heavy - I'd say the whole machine weighed as much as a Honda, despite a very much lighter engine. The rear catcher had no maintenance, but was not particularly effective by modern standards.

I acquired that machine in 1987 to replace a Kirby-Lauson engined store brand (perhaps H.G. Palmer?) mower which I had by then detested for about 15 years, after buying it second hand in a run-down condition, which I never remedied. The SupaSwift was a big improvement on the Kirby-Lauson, being far more powerful and having an at least somewhat-effective rear catcher, compared with the strictly ornamental nature of the store brand one. However two magneto coil failures in a mere 38 years is a pretty poor record in my opinion, and the stink and uneven running of the Villiers was pretty awful. I bought a 30 year old Briggs-Victa to replace the SupaSwift, and I wish I'd done it about 15 years sooner. That 1976 Victa Impala 4 was the first good mower I ever owned. I moved from that to a 1984 Honda, which was another big step up, and is still my favourite mower, though I've upgraded its cutting system, and I use a 2007 Honda HRU in winter because it can handle wet grass.

All that is quite possibly off-topic, but my point is that by the standards of the time (1960s) that SupaSwift-Villiers was quite a good mower in my opinion. By the standard of a good Briggs mower, its engine let it down, mainly due to it having a British magneto - but those good Briggs mowers didn't arrive until ten years later. A ten year life-span as a good mower by the standards of the time, is a pretty good record.

For sure, finding accurate information on the Supa-Swift brand history isn't at all easy. It's not made easier by the brand name having changed hands quite a few times over the years, either.

Despite Allpower's claims, I doubt that Vulcan was the original owner of the brand; probably just one of the succession of owner companies. They did own it in the late 1970's, going by ads for 'Vulcan Supa Swift' mowers that appeared then, but by the mid 1980's it had passed on to Jetfast Industries in Sydney [founded as Bragg Industries], later Jetfast Supa-Swift P/L. Supa Swift also distributed Greenfield ride-ons for a time [1970's on], co-branded with their name.

Allpower Industries has a bit of interesting history too. As their website says, it was founded in 1977 as Ariens Echo Australia, but there's more to the story. The founders were a group of former managers of Mobilco Limited, the previous importer of those brands among others, and also a manufacturer of farm equipment. Mobilco had been closed down after an 'asset stripper' got control of its parent company, Pizzey Limited, in 1976. The youngest of the ex-Mobilco crew, Keith Billing, ended up as sole owner of Allpower, and sold out to a 'private investor syndicate' in 2007. Reference - industry mag article

CyberJack is on the money about Allpower ceasing manufacture, but this seems to be a recent occurrence. Allpower's CEO from 2011-14 lists 'outsourced manufacturing to China' as one of his achievements in that role...

Quite so. Their ignition reliability issues led me to take to calling Villiers engines 'villainous', in my time in the family garden/farm machinery business in the 1970's.

Hi Gadge and ODK members,
Thanks for posting this concise information to the forum, it all adds to an interesting archive.
Trying to pin down manufacturing time-lines is made all the more difficult when there are so many mergers and changes in company ownership.
But Supa-Swift....all very enigmatic
Thanks again, Gadge.

Hi ODK members,

I never tire of Grumpy's anecdotes and considered observations.
"...two magneto coil failures in a mere 38 years" is outrageous.
This is a classic to-die-for Today Tonight story.

I couldn't agree with Deejay more, about the challenge in constructing
time lines for vintage mowers.

I especially thank Gadge for his research into this. I had no idea about the
Mobile Industries link.

I can't help but agree that the original manufacturers were not Vulcan.
It may be, though, that they introduced the Big Bob utility mowers in the '80s.

So far, this is what I have on the puzzling question: who first made Supa-Swift
mowers. I have already said that I believe their start date was 1959.

In 1959 advertisements I have, there is a sole Australian distributor:
H.C. Paul 106 Kent Road, Pasco Vale. No mention of the manufacturer!

In 1960 advertisements in Vic, the manufacturer is listed as Swift Motor Mowers,
with the Victorian Distributor being Hynes Bros. Fireplaces Pty. Ltd. of
491 Nicholson St., Carlton. Telephone 34 2643.

In an early brochure (copy) I have 1959 or 1960), the manufacturer is listed as
Swift Motor Mowers, 270 Broadway, Reservoir, Tel. JM1164.

In an early 1960�s maintenance guide (p24) there is a very interesting list
of mower manufacturers. One is Swift Foundries Pty. Ltd., 50 Carween Avenue, Mitcham, VIC.
[I reproduce that page below].

In a 1966-67 original brochure I have for the range, there is no manufacturer listed,
nor any contact details!

In 1971 advertisements I have, the manufacturer is listed as
Super Swift Mowers Pty. Ltd.
Head Office: 32 Radford Road, Reservoir, Vic. 3073 Tel. 460 2122.

A NSW Branch: 25 Major�s Bay Road, Concord, NSW 2137, Tel. 73 5360, 73 5357.
Interstate Representatives:- Brisbane: Tel. 53277; Adelaide: Tel. 376477;
Mt. Gambier: Tel. 2 3643.

By the late 1970�s, advertisements are listed as Vulcan Superswift,
but with no manufacturer's address.

So ... all we can do, I guess, is keep finding pieces of the puzzle.
In the amazing list below I have identified all in the left column
except for three: J. Bartram, K.B.C. Limited and Swift Foundries.

Thanks all for an enjoyable post topic.
All very interesting.
----------------------------------------
JACK

I'd say you're dead right there. Every 'first-generation' Big Bob I've seen has been branded 'Vulcan'. Like IanOZ's in this thread

'First generation' here is just my description of the handle bracket construction, that had successive modifications in the 1980s. As illustrated in that other thread. It's about the only visible design change on the Big Bobs!

just been told my supa swift should have a windup starter, so I have found the parts and will fit a new starter setup , thanks dodegy for the help with this.
I will post new picture when I have it completed
cheers
chris

Hi Bunipper,

That's right.
If you want it totally original, the Kirby would have had an impulse wind-up starter,
not the later trip-release lever one. Housing (12) in the illustration.
I believe the starter cups for each type are different as well.



Cheers,

JACK

thanks for your imput jack. I assume that an impulse starter you wing and close the handle to start the mower, I will print your diagrams and check it

thanks again, I will post picture when I get the starter

cheers chris

Hi Chris and ODK members,

Yes, That's right.
There was no lever to release.

p.s. These impulse starters were very reliable but were replaced by
the trip lever design after just a couple of seasons.

The anecdotal evidence is that this was because there was a safety concern that
a repairer of the starter would not read the spring casing's instructions -
that the spring should NOT be removed from its casing.

The new trip lever design was repair-friendly; in that the spring could be
safely removed from its alloy enclosure for replacement.

All very interesting.
---------------------------------
JACK.

THANKS FOR THE INFORMATION

CHEERS

CHRIS

Correct, there is a fixed pin in the upper part of the winder handle, that trips the starter when the handle is closed. It was always confusing that this pin was never shown in the Victa parts diagrams, but the corresponding hole in the lower section is.
Might be more to it than that, though. The first-generation impulse starter spring came in a pressed sheet metal casing, and was installed and removed as an assembly. This was a single-wound spring. For sure, if the spring came out of the casing, forget about getting it back in without special equipment!

The second generation, with the trip lever, used a 'double-wound' spring like that shown [pic pinched from EBay],



This spring is much heavier gauge than the first-gen one, and it winds up as two layers. Thus more turns of preload ['windup' if you like] can be applied, compared to a single-wound spring in the same diameter space.

So I'd expect it to achieve a higher initial cranking speed. This is the critical factor in getting the engine to fire [assuming all is well on the fuel side], and the critical minimum speed is higher on the breaker points ignitions of that day, than it is on modern solid state electronic systems.

I have got a mower that's a supa swift base , as per the ones in the photos, but with no name "supa swift " on it. anyone have any info why and what it is. I am doing up a supa swift with a Villiers motor as per the al 's mower. the bases are quite retro looking and look even better with the Villiers engine.