OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Collectors Corner Rotary Austral Villiers Hercules 20 inch mower

Hi All,

Not a lot of A V Hercules mowers on this site so I will add my mower for the records.

This A V Hercules is not in bad shape for an early sixties mower.

This mower new in 1960 was 61 pounds and 19 shillings (equivalent 59 Guineas) when I
convert that into today's money it's $1,835 dollars and 2 cents.

This Austral Villiers Hercules 20 inch mower is equipped with the Villiers 7F Torque Master 2 stroke
engine 98cc.

Previous to this Hercules mower Austral Villiers sold a kick start mower,see patent below.

More information on A V mowers.

https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/u.../austral-villiers-20-hercules-mower.html

https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=68456

https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=65537

https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=72961&page=all

Cheers
Max.

G'day Max
This brings back memories of very unusual mowers.
The Everyman reels are best known; the Hercules rotary gets little mention.

Not too many makers were doing larger domestic rotaries in the late 1950s / early 1960s.
The Alex Grahame 21" Automower springs to mind; then the 20" A-V Hercules.

The surprise for me was your finding the patent for the Adaptamatic.!
I will see if I can get that into the History Record. Fantastic! - and we have
inventor names - Cyril Clifford Fogg and Harold Patrick Sinclair.
[Cyril and Harold are not popular names today ]

Many thanks - again - for adding to the record on AUS lawnmowers.

I attach a significant ad on the Hercules' release.
Note the 'Teflex cantilever cutter bar' on the Hercules ...
meaning that bar blade holder (in your images) appears original!

Cheers
--------------------
Jack

Gidday Jack

Thanks Jack for this info,I was not sure if that cutter bar (Teflex cantilever) was original.

I see this Hercules mower had wheel scrapers before Turner. It looks like 2 wheel scrapers have fallen off my Hercules mower.

Cyril and Harold had a lot of patents in the toilet industry (flushing-cistern for lavatories)
and I saw one other mower patent.

Cheers
Max.

Good afternoon ODK members,

Here is a pic of my AV Hercules, the colour of the base is a deep plumb and the green Villiers shroud is an interesting contrast. The mower is built like a truck, very heavy duty.

Can you even partly imagine a manufacturer building a base with that much alloy in it these days, you would be locked up if you proposed something like that now

G'day Max, Paul and Norm
Hi Norm - I understand why this was named 'Hercules'

Paul, that's funny ... and I will add that the Hercules appears to
have had a front bumper...

The only image I have seen of this comes from the Vintage Mowers
website. [see below] My best guess the bumper was purely aesthetic -
continuing the automotive theme of fenders and pumpers.
Any ideas?

Max, I've got to digest the info you have supplied.
Toilet jokes aside, the wheel scrapers is certainly new information for the record.
A-V do appear to have been the first to use wheel scrapers on AUS mowers!

Cheers
-------------------
Jack

G'day Jack, Norm and Paul

Good to see another Hercules mower survived the test of time.My mower could do with a re-paint,
someone has used a paint brush and the colours are a poor match for the original paint scheme.

The Victa Super 24 I think of like a Truck in the mowing world, lots of alloy in that base,
not that this Hercules base is lacking alloy.

The Hercules mower weighs 25kg and 25kg is what a Power Torque Victa with a steel
base from the late 1980's weighs also the early Victa 18 with the alloy
base weighs 23kg.

The engine number on this Hercules mower starts 294X and I think the original
engine should be 305X,(I think 294X and 297X are original Pace and Villager numbers
because these numbers are on the mowers I have)

Cheers
Max

Hi Max,one big difference with the 24 and the amount of alloy in it, it is competing in a market of its own as a slasher and is priced accordingly at around $1800 at the moment, the Hercules if was being built in todays market would be up against the many 20 inch mowers available out there now and most have a pressed body except for the Hondas

Hi Norm and all,
I'm not disagreeing about heavy duty mowers the base on the Hercules is 4mmm to 5mm thick,
just pointing out they don't always weigh a lot more.

I have a Husqvarna mower and the base is 4.3mm thick .

I agree most of the mowers are steel or thin cast alloy bases these days.

Husqvarna advertise certain new models as having a heavy duty base.
The old price it says is $1,520. you do get self drive though and a 20.8 inch base.
Not sure how thick the casting is on the new Husqvarna.

Cheers
Max.