Yeah, I needed another lawn mower like a hole in the head....................
I needed another project, thinking it would be something like a 90's Rover or Victa, but then I spotted a local listing for an OG Victa 18 on marketplace and well, things got out of hand. That led me to looking at restored examples and it was like, NO, stop!
If I had bought a beautifully restored example, I would be frightened to undo all that hard work, which is not the point of a lawn mower, I want to hear that engine and smell the 2-stroke smoke mixing with the aroma of freshly cut grass. Besides, I already have enough garage ornaments that don't get used enough. So, I regrouped and decided to reach out to the owner of the unrestored locally listed example, then drove the 20-minutes to the neighboring town to look at it.
As always with stuff like this, there is a story behind it. The seller is a retired vehicle and small engine mechanic, he bought it off an old customer to display in his showroom and was never ran afterwards. The old guy only sold it to him because then he knew where it would be, with instructions to never sell it. I'm told the original owner had special stainless-steel blades made for it so that it would extend past the deck so that he didn't have to use a trimmer to cut up against the fence....................suuuuuper dangerous and something I WON'T be replicating. They called these the Toe Cutter for a reason!
After closing his shop, the seller wanted to restore the mower to a showpiece but decided he already had enough showpieces..............a fully restored burgundy Model A Ford and a Model T in restoration...............I should have snapped photos! With no intention to restore it, and the old gentleman now passed, he felt now was the time to send it on its way.
I will admit, on first inspection I was quite disappointed that the throttle was jammed, the choke flap on the air cleaner housing was missing, the recoil was very stiff..................and it hadn't ran in decades. But.................I was there, the thing was mostly original and clean (the byproduct of being stored indoors for the past 30 years) and, well, I fell in love with the back story. It also had the original owner's booklet. For some reason it wasn't obvious, but at this point the seller asked if I was interested and I was like, here's the money! I'm not a haggler, I just pay the asking price like a gentleman and figure it out later. Yes, it was a bummer that it wasn't a running machine, but then it wasn't covered in grass, rat droppings and grease. So, the seller carried it out in his arms like a baby, loaded it up and even attempted to teach me how to tie a knot properly...............yeah, some things are virtually impossible, but that's ok, we can't be good at everything.
Doing some research, I'm pretty sure this example is a 1st gen Model 5 that were produced between 1957 and 1960. This one has the optional rewind starter compared to the pully which you would hand wind a rope around. Bizarrely, the rewind starter uses wire cable instead of rope.
https://www.vintagemowers.net/Victa_Specials.php
These plastic "Special" badges are hard to find in this condition. "Special" denotes the adjustable deck height function and mounting clips on the handlebar for the supplied spanner, which were over and above the "Standard". You could also option a "clip on safety rim" and an edger attachment that would gear off the engine and would reside in a recess on the deck.
As mentioned, this machine came with the original "Instructions Booklet". Having a read over coffee, it's amazing how differently things were worded back then, such as the directions for starting...........
"........place left hand on top of the starter and pull handle smartly to you.......".......yeah, you wouldn't want to pull the handle dumbly.
Or instructions for cleaning the air filter.................
"
........tap the sides of the housing sharply......to remove dust......".
The booklet also suggests how an owner can remedy common running issues, which these days would end in a lawsuit, it's just easier to say "contact your closest dealer".
Also supplied was a supplement for the later low-mounted air filter/choke arrangement. There is also a paper slip which carried the "complimentary" medium duty blades............
"you may find greater satisfaction and obtain longer blade life by using the Victa medium blades as enclosed and which we ask you to accept with our compliments". Again, today it would be like "you will get what we give you, take it or leave it".
The Villers leaflet is a mystery, its clearly a Victa engine but not related to this mower as it's for a 140cc engine not the 125cc. Oh, and a Lifetime Guarantee card, I wonder if I can claim a warranty on a 70-year-old mower?
Once home, the first thing to sort was the plastic fuel cap, which was welded to the metal tank. A little penetrating fluid and a set of multigrips, I very carefully cracked it free without damaging a near 70-year-old part. The tank was dry but had a lot of rust residue in it. So, I threw some mineral spirits in it, swirled it around and then dumped it out. I then put a small amount of 25:1 fuel into it, opened the brass fuel tap and watched fuel flow down the rock-hard fuel line. The fuel tap was leaking when open, then leaking fuel through the line once closed. I then noticed fuel leaking out of the carb bowl from a perished o-ring.
None of this surprised me, so I made the snap decision to just remove the carb so that I could at least clean it up and then figure out what I needed to rebuild it. I first removed the perished intake tube, which will need replacement, then undid the clamp holding the carb onto the intake manifold. I then couldn't get the throttle cable free, which having never seen one of these carbs before, I didn't realise that the throttle slider had frozen in place, which was also preventing the throttle lever from working. So, I decided I would leave the cable attached until I had done some research.
Also of concern was the starter and its wire "rope" feeling very stiff and reluctant to recoil. Two things were happening here. First, the engine hadn't turned over in decades, so she was a little stiff. Secondly, these things didn't have a compression release like later Victa's, so I was also fighting some pretty decent compression. After a few pulls, it started to free up, although still needed some muscle to spin properly.
At this point, I decided to see if I could get the engine to lick off on starting fluid. This was mainly to determine if it had spark, but to at least satisfy my curiosity as to if the thing could run. After two "smart" pulls, I detected the brief hint of a cough. One more pull and bingo, she briefly roared to life.
So, I decided to set the camera up and repeat the trick..................
This brief burst of life basically changed my attitude from "what have I done" to "yep, I've got this!".
After attending to other things, I returned to the little Victa and made another attempt at removing the throttle cable. By using a small flat screwdriver, I levered up on the throttle slide and pop, out it came. I've now disassembled the carb and have it soaking in kerosene. Reading the instructions booklet, they suggest rubbing the brass throttle slide with fine emery paper to allow free movement in the carb barrel. As you can see, it was pretty crusty in there.
I'm trying to resist the urge to complete strip this thing down and restore that classic green and red colour scheme. However, I may decide to clean it down and lock in the patina with clearcoat. In any case, I just want to get it running so that I can occasionally run over my own lawns with it as a novelty. To do so, I need to order a few parts, which to my surprise, you can still get rebuild kits for the carb. I need to find a replacement intake snorkel and air filter/choke housing, and it needs blades to operate safely as the ones on it a wafer thin. Also, I need to find a replacement fuel tap, and figure out how to clean out that fuel tank.
So, I'm equal parts excited and daunted by this little project.
For US readers - These Victa's were invested by Mervyn Victor Richardson, hence the abbreviated VICTA name. The Victa 18 was like the VW Beetle or Ford Model T of the mower world, the people's mower if you will. They were extremely affordable, making them attainable for just about every homeowner. They used a 125cc 2-stroke engine, a cast aluminum disk for the chassis, and two small flail blades on a round disk. They became known as the "toe-cutter" due the complete lack of safety or containment of the blades. It's been said that on a Saturday morning during this era, the air would be filled with plumes of blue smoke as everyone went out and cut their grass. These mowers evolved over the years, becoming more safe and more versatile as they evolved into what most people would associate with a lawn mower today. Victa was bought out by Briggs and Stratton in the mid 2000's and continued to make their 2-stroke engines until the mid 2010's. In my opinion, they are still THE best mowers on the market for cut quality, catching ability and overall durability.
