My new motorized restoration project.

[Mailman]

My dad guided me along the way and I learned an amazing amount of things through the process.

Good for your dad! And all dads who take the time to teach their kids how to be hands on and fix things. My dad was always the patient teacher, he also helped me fix up an old pickup truck I bought , when I was in high school.
There were lots of things we didn’t agree on when I was a teenager ( like the length of my hair and rock music )
but we always shared a love of all things mechanical.

 

[Beags64]

Somewhat related...

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/458225609613482/

 

[Mikey]

Is there a stand that it sits on ? to be able to start this

 

[RustiePyles]

Somewhat related...

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/458225609613482/

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Sweet Flymo! gonna clean it up? Is that a Cub on the right?

 

[ThatXS650Guy]

I mowed lawns for money as a kid as well. It's sad you don't really see that anymore.
My friend has a newer Lawn Boy 2-stroke mower we used at a house flip. I really liked it, when it ran.

 

[46th Georgia]

What a cool little bit of history and a fun restoration! This one hits close to my heart, my dad owned a lawnmower sales and repair shop in Phoenix in the late 60’s, I cut my teeth doing simple mechanical work on Briggs and Stratton engines there. I literally learned which end of a wrench to hold working there on weekends with my dad.
He sold Toro and Sensation mowers and edgers and such. As a byproduct when I was a kid I had a little lawn mowing business in my neighborhood, I had the best mower on my block, an electric start Toro which was pretty rare in the 60’s,
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The Sensation lawn mowers were what the professional landscapers used to use back then, they were tough as nails and dependable, with a cast aluminum deck, a handle that flipped over so you could push it from either side and it had a unique catcher that was metal mesh and a big swing open door on the end so you could quickly dump out the grass.
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Here is another late 60’s dud, the Toro Flymo, a hovering , wheel less lawn mower with a fiberglass deck it was light weight, and it really hovered like a charm on your driveway, but as soon as you pushed it into the grass, it wanted to tip this way and that and it made a choppy mess out of your yard. We had one that my dad couldn’t sell!
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Keep us posted with your resto Fletch!

When I was a kid in the early 60's, my dad had a powered reel type mower. if I recall it was a light green color. I used to love watching him hook and wind the starter rope. You were working on them back then, do you recall mowers like that?

 

[46th Georgia]

Like you guys and probably most in the forum I mowed our grass and earned money mowing as many yards as possible to save what for a 10 yr/old seemed like stack. My mower was just an old Briggs and Stratton with who knows how many hours on it when I started. A couple of years of heavy duty mowing and it needed help.
At 12 I rebuilt my first engine. That 5hp B&S.
My dad guided me along the way and I learned an amazing amount of things through the process. Not quite the same as putting nuts on bolts with the erector set. The mower lasted me for many years after and the proceeds allowed me to buy my first street bike at 15 which allowed me to drive with my restricted license.
It was a Honda CL70. That was a great little bike which allowed me to travel for a real job that supplemented my mowing. That allowed me to buy my first car at 15, a 1966 Mustang. I built that motor with a lot of goodies the same year preparing for my unrestricted license at age 16.
I fell in love with wrenching all because of a worn out 5hp Briggs and Stratton and a father that had the patience to use it as a teachable moment.
I've wrenched ever since. No doubt there are many here that grew up in that time with similar experiences. Rustie it is super cool that after all these years you are able to refurbish the very mower that you pushed as a kid. Yet another very interesting resurrection from you.
Looking forward to this rebuild

My father was like yours. We were blessed to have dads like that.

 

[Beags64]

Sweet Flymo! gonna clean it up? Is that a Cub on the right?

Not mine just something I ran across on FB

 

[Mikey]

When I was young my father had a reel type mower too
But his was kid powered with 6 boys someone was always available
and when that reel was sharp it would cut like a damn and when it wasn't Damn Old Lawnmower

 

[kshansen]

I actually have two of the push powered reel mowers hanging on the wall out in the shed. One is old enough to have steel wheels no tires and the other is a bit newer with hard rubber tires.

One of my dad's odd jobs when, when he was not working over time at the local stone quarry was mowing lawns mostly for old ladies in the city. As soon as my couple year older brother was old enough to get his drives licensee we were given those mowing jobs for earning spending cash. We both kept at it till we were out of high school. One side benefit for me was one of the old ladies had a 1950 Buick Special sitting in the backyard. Which once I got the nerve to ask her about it I managed to buy it for $25.00 and with little work I managed to drive it on the road for a couple years.

As for powered push mowers I've only bought two in my life. One back when I was mowing lawns during last year of high school that I gave to the kid who was mowing lawns with me at that time. The second was in1972 to mow the lawn at the house we rented from the company where I worked. Lost track of the ones I acquired and then either sold or gave away after getting them running. Right now I have two that I use weekly to do trim mowing only problem is the mower decks are getting to the point my lousy welding skills are having trouble keeping the wheels on them! I bet there are dozens of those mowers sitting unused in sheds if I could only find out who has them! Maybe I should talk to the guy who picks up our trash and recyclables.

 

[WideAWAKE]

Can’t wait to see the end result!!!

I don’t mow the lawn so much as I blast through weeds/small bushes haha. Gotta use something with a seat haha.

 

[azman857]

In my 50's (a few years back) I would mow lawns for $$ for Seniors and young couples. One customer gave me 2 Honda OHV 16 inch mowers. I use one for parts for the other. Great mowers. Back in my teens, my Dad had a Yazoo mower powered by a 3 1/2 Hp Clinton engine. It too, had the hook and wrap the starter cord. 3 wraps. Set the manual throttle and pull for all your worth. Pray the knot didn't hit where it hurts a lot. No safety features. That mower lasted for 2, 3 decades.