Mower Enthusiasts!

[hoover300]

I found this wreck in the woods last winter. The tag says Starbrand corp, which i here is related to the Red Cap brand. Other than that, I cant find any information or even pictures of this specific mower. Does anyone know anything about this? Is it hard to find? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
~K

 

[bisonian]

Found this...

From the Indianapolis Star, April 22, 1951

 

[human]

I don't know anything about the mower, but as hot as it is today, that little touch of snow on the ground looks absolutely heavenly.

 

[tolivac]

Unusual deck design!Wonder what this mower looked like when it was new.Since the end bell was removed from the motor-wonder if something was wrong-the "repairman" couldn't fix it so ditched the mower in the woods.Yes-the snow around the mower looks refreshing at this stage of summer heat.

 

[justjunque]

So cool!

I really like the unusual deck shape!
Too bad it's so badly deteriorated.
Otherwise, I'd say try to cosmetically restore it; even if you couldn't get it to run again.
And, yes. With the weather we're having right now, I'd like to lay in that snow!

Barry

 

[hoover300]

yeah

Its a shame. I am thinking of going up this winter and just bringing the deck down, just for wall art or something.
~K

 

[hoover300]

also

That bike motor looks really cool! Thanks for the info!
~K

 

[lesinutah]

Hmm

Snow would be heaven. I do have the river but smelling like wet fish maybe later.
Pressure wash the motor put it on a table boom centerpiece.
I'm going to dream of snow. It's not like tommorow is going to be 105.
Tonight I'm gonna be with out clothes and take soap wash and cool down.
Lex

 

[huskyvacs]

It looks like a very very very early push mower. The staggered wheel pattern was not used very long, and being a smaller deck, it was made for tiny suburban yards of the 50s.

It's worth preserving it and fixing it up. Just simple sheet metal patching to the deck to stabilize it and then bondo the holes and sand it all down. There is no surviving photos of assembled mowers from this brand.

The closest deck I could find is this one by Eclipse.

https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/...e-Duo-Master-F-21-push-mower-Manufactured.jpg

 

[hoover300]

cool

I will this winter. I did end up finding the ad for it, it appears the woods is missing a lot of engine parts.
~K

 

[tolivac]

Probably will have to get another motor for the mower if its missing a lot of parts.The picture showed the top end bell gone.

 

[hoover300]

Well
I went back up to grab a couple things, and took a look at the mower. The entire side is totally gone, but the rain did clean out the engine. Should I still save it? If so I will go up later tomorrow. There are lots of metal pipes and tubes so there is a small chance the handle is in there.

 

[hoover300]

@tolivac

Yeah the people that made the pile did not try to fix it. In fact, most of whats there has been destroyed just enough to not be repurposed. I found an antique Western Flyer pedal tractor up there. The hood was removed and someone purposely twisted the bottom part up to make sure no one else could use it.It was rolled up and torn in places. Jokes on them, I untwisted it, mounted it as best as possible, and am now using it for garden art. There is more like that too, I brought down a 1960s bicycle today, there are several broken welds and the rear wheel was crumpled in half. Like the Hulk got to it. It was clearly run over by an atv as there is a now very overgrown atv path leading to it. I am still going to try to fix it, but it is very aggravating. Sorry for that rant but it just ticks me off.

 

[texaskirbyguy]

As much as I like a challenge and reviving old machinery, this thing almost looks too far gone to restore. The deck is ready to fall apart it seems.
Now it might be good for a resurrection, just to see if the engine will fire again and run under its own power! Or like you said, a piece of yard art or such.

As for the staggered wheel design being short lived (per reply 8), Lawn-Boy used this all the way into the 2000s. All of our mowers are like this (all LBs). The staggering was said to help reduce scalping the grass when mowing uneven ground.

If anyone has in interest in old mowers, I can post about the restoration of my parents old 1966 Lawn-Boy 7221 mower. I plan to do it this spring.

 

[hoover300]

Mmm, that is a good idea. I will try to bring it down tomorrow. I say try because the hill is incredibly steep and slippery, and it was hard enough bringing a bike down by its handlebars. BTW if anyone wants to see it, I will make a post about it. There is half of another engine up there so I will bring it down for parts.