I have always wondered about how MSAA got the Craftsman name without Sears getting narky.
My first line trimmer was this old MSAA Craftsman. Carby and points clean and it still goes great. From what I understand, TAS Tanaka had some sort of input as there are similarities.
Hi Converse, its been a while since I've watched that and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to review it. I have gained more appreciation of the later Victa range since I last saw that video and have since been on here and learnt of the two stroke's demise. That design reinforced how good the Victa two stroke looks compared the four stroke engines on the same base. The four looks like a lump of machinery plonked onto the base with little thought for integration for the whole mower's appearance, whereas the powertorque blends in so well and completes the whole look of the machine perfectly. Four strokes have been making inroads on this lately though.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
All this effort and this is where it all went so horribly wrong. just goes to show that when you put bafoons like this into the frame and not mower men then this is what you come up with, ............. a colourful toy.
Oh and those awful kiddy handlebars.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
I have never seen that clip before last night, I noticed it was made back in 2003, so this was before the ownership of Briggs and Stratton, didn't they take over Victa in 2008?
Did they ever introduce that different handle with the throttle control in the middle? I don't think I have ever seen them, I guess it didn't get the go ahead by Victa. Much cheaper and possibly more reliable to just keep the existing handle and throttle design.
Hi Mowerfreak, speaking of the Vortex style, did you notice in one of the design sketches there was what looked like a full cover over the mower from front of deck to the back similar to the old Vortex.
Anyway it sort of brings a tear to the eye knowing that the Victa 2 stroke lawmmower is no longer in production, and there is only a few still left in Victa dealers around the country. I tell ya what they have made trying to find and buy a Victa 2 stroke almost as bad as buying a pack of cigarettes now. It's like they don't want you see them and they are hidden away..lol. Just wait until after the 1st of July this year. If there is still any Victa 2 strokes left in any dealers they will be literally getting rolled out the back door with a cash only payment if you want one...lol. I'll be keeping an eye out at my local Victa dealer, with some cash on hand..lol
One thing we didn't see from Victa (Briggs and Stratton). They could have at least captured on film for Australian lawmowing history the last aussie made Victa 2 stroke lawnmower being assembled and finished on the production line. It's sad day but at least it would have been something to remember.
Cheers!
Last edited by Converse; 10/03/1901:12 PM.
Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay, another trash picked Victa, hip hip Hooray!
Sorry I couldn't watch that vid, I got to 3 mins and my attention span left me. Not sure what the handles you are talking about Converse but some of the Tornados had the throttle control in the middle with the 2 handles coming together. Very hard to find an air cleaner cover for them because they were obviously a flimsy setup. I have had a couple of those here and I throw the handles away and replace them with the standard set of handles, they take 2 people to assemble onto the base and it is made more difficult because of the design that incorporates the rear flap and the handle brackets. Obviously design for the sake of design just to make it look different but with no improvement in function. Probably why you don't see too many of them because Victa would have quickly realized it was more complex to assemble so it was costing them money
Couldn't agree with you more. Just basic rubbish to stand out amongst all the other colourful trash in Bunnings Toyshop section and then on to Hard Rubbish because that's all it is.
I just gotta question how some of these 3rd party design people actually make their money ???
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Hi Bonnar_Bloke yes I also hope they have recorded and saved some footage of the last aussie made Victa 2 stroke going down the production line at Victa (Briggs and Stratton). I don't know if they are still assembling the 2 stroke engine though, the only thing I can go one was the dealer that has listed 10 new Victa 2 strokes for sale on Gumtree from Queensland has a picture of the sticker on the boxes. One sticker is dated 4/9/18. If this was the production date then they were still assembling them about 6 months ago. Maybe I should contact B&S and see if they have any footage that they might make available to the public one day. Or if not maybe if they are still assembling them (which I doubt) they can save something from the factory.
As for banning of new sales of 2 strokes I am only going by news articles and also from some information from other members on this forum. Here's a news article:
So yes it seems that any new 2 stroke engine that isn't exempt will be outlawed as of 1st July 2019.
Hi NormK, ok so you have seen these funny handles coming together at the middle with the throttle control in the middle, I thought that was just a design sketch that never made it into production. Can't say i've ever seen them before I saw that video clip.
Hey Maxwestern, gees mate where was that good old Victa Corvette ad hiding on youtube? I never saw that ad before, it's great! Good old Holden HR stationwagon with the Victa being unloaded from the back. My dad used to have a white HR Holden sedan when I was a kid.
Cheers!
Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay, another trash picked Victa, hip hip Hooray!
Hi Converse ,I've seen a few mower ads that I have not found on youtube so that ad was a recent upload for youtube.
The good old HR Holden ,don't see a lot of HR Holdens around now.
This ‘Tornado’ lawn mower is the 7 millionth lawn mower produced by the Victa company since in began manufacturing lawn mowers in 1952. It was presented to the Museum as part of a celebratory event for Victa staff and media at the Victa assembly plant in Moorebank, NSW, on 17th November 2004. It is one of a series of new products in the redesigned Victa product range. It represents a contemporary redesign of an iconic Australian product. By redesigning its mower range Victa aimed to reinvigorate...
Lots of Victa mowers were made and sold with this handle.
After a clean slate, they still insisted on the the single bolt method for the handlebar attaching. Proves that it was a deliberate ploy for planned obsolescence.
Beautiful ad there Maxwestern. 160 power so you can mow infrequently lol. Clever marketing for use on holiday homes, which receive less mowing in general. I knew of one that had a yellow Vortex in the shed back in 1995.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
Another thing I dislike with those Tornado type bodies is that the bodies rust out very easily in places none of the standard PT's rust. I think what they did was reduce the thickness of the steel to compensate for the more material required to press out a bigger body. The only reason I repair these is if I end up with a long shaft motor that I want to use up. I could make up 20mm spacers so I could jack it up and put it on a standard base, becomes much of a muchness as I usually have to spend a fair bit of time welding in repair sections where the Tornado body has rusted out, usually on the left hand side between the wheels, not up high in the left hand corner as the standard base does
I found a newer Victa ad on youtube featuring this redesigned handle and throttle control.
Speaking of the original handle design on the Victa's with the one bolt. I think on mine a few years ago now one of the handle bolts did break off at the head of the bolt. I think it was because of age and possibly a bit of rust. I think what I did was take the good other bolt with me to Bunnings to compare and got 2 new bolts that were the closest to the originals and I replaced both of them with new bolts. I think I may have even used the original nuts still from the Victa. They were a bit long at the top so I just cut them off at the nut with a hacksaw. That's the only thing I have ever repaired on my original Victa handles in the 37 years that i've had this mower. Not a bad run I reckon!
Cheers!
Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay, another trash picked Victa, hip hip Hooray!
Looks like they had a few problems when developing the Tornado base.
powerhouse museum ,info and pic.
This is a result of a test of the tooling for manufacturing a new range of Victa lawnmowers designed by BlueSky Creative in partnership with Victa Lawncare Pty Ltd in 2002-2003. This test piece represents an important part of the design and manufacturing process - the design and construction of the tools and dies from which the final product is made. This test piece was made by G. A. & L. Harringtons to test the tool design for pressing the mower deck from sheet metal at 50% scale. It shows that the test failed because the sheet metal ruptured during pressing.
I would say they used a lower tensile sheet to press the bodies in the end and this is probably part of the reason they rust out and they just feel flimsy, but I guess Victa never wanted their mowers to last as long as we expect they should
Here's a punter demonstrating his toy shop Victa. It looks to be an overseas generic model with Victa stamped on it, yet he acts as though it's a modern day VC Auto Drive when there's nothing home grown about this model at all.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
I am ashamed to say I watched it through to the end waiting to see if this idiot cut his feet off. As for cutting grass it was hard to see where he had cut. One interesting thing is they have gone back to giving the operator throttle control although there is many out there who should not be given this much control over a machine
