OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums The History Forum Model Histories AUSTRALIAN Rotary Models MOBILCO - Rota Cruiser - c1956

Hello ODK History Lovers

The great Australian engine historian Eric Schulz posted an image of
a Mobilco Rota Cruiser on ODK in April of 2019. I had never seen nor
heard of this one. Here is the image Eric sent me …



This is a great story about how I, in fact, missed a vital clue.
I had written a History Record of the Mobilco Cruiser reel mower
that I dated to 1956. That record can be found here: -

https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/61145/mobilco-cruiser-c1956.html

It is now clear to me that Mobilco also made a slasher mower –
then described as a ‘motor scythe’ - following the British propensity
to name these slasher mowers in this way. We have generally called
these ‘rotary slasher mowers’ in the modern era, but ‘scythe’ is such
a beautiful historical word in describing the development of the
powered rotary lawnmower.

Eric has finally given this Mobilco machine a name:

The Rota Cruiser!

To be continued …

PART TWO – Missed Clue …

I missed a vital clue in a Melbourne Argus news print article of late 1956.
It was clear that the Cruiser reel mower was introduced alongside
the Cruiser ‘motor scythe’. We now know this was the Rota Cruiser …



Whilst the scarce evidence suggests this mower did enter
production, I can find no other modern evidence of it.

The Rota Cruiser remains enigmatic.

But here’s the rub …
It is now conceivable that the Rota Cruiser was Australia’s
first self-propelled, ride-on, rotary lawnmower. But wait, there’s more …

TO BE CONTINUED …

PART THREE - Self-propelled and Ride-on
The Mobilco Rota Cruiser may be Australia’s first ride-on by virtue
of an engineering semantic – it was self-propelled … and sort of
a ‘ride-on’.

The argument seems to depend on how one might define ‘ride-on’.

The trailing seat was an accessory, but it permitted the operator
to ‘ride-behind’ the machine. Others have argued that anything
that removes pedestrian (walk-behind) operation is a 'ride-on'.
You decide.

This is contentious and important. In a 2015 article in Power
Equipment Australia, Theo Reinhold (of Rover and Greenfield fame)
said that Rover made their first ride-on in 1961.
The article said this was the Rover Ranger.

I do not think that is right at all.
I think he was referring to the Rover ‘Rider’! Ever heard of them?
Note the accessory … See the gallery below …

I think the reader now understands my argument here.
If the Rover Rider is a ‘ride-on’ then Mobilco was doing it
a decade earlier than Rover!

The rest is history