This restoration is on a 1965 Toro Flymo 19 hovering lawn mower. It was patented in 1963 and you can see the exact patent here: patents.google.com/patent/US3...
I believe Toro only manufactured this in 1965 before selling the Flymo brand to Electrolux. The hovering action was especially useful for mowing ditches or golf greens.
A viewer sent me this lawn mower in 2017 and I am happy to finally get to it. Despite looking like it had been used quite a lot, this Flymo had remarkably clean engine internals. The engine still needed new gaskets as they were most likely contributing to a loss of lubrication, fuel, and compression.
I decided to only repaint the parts that were not aluminum or ones that would get hot. Personally, I dislike painting those types of parts.
The fiberglass base was the most difficult to restore and I did not get it back to 100% new. I first cleaned it with degreaser and then slowly used a razor blade to scrape off any damaged or discoloured fibres. I then gave it a clear coat of two-component fuel-resistant paint. There were some deeper stains, but it definitely looked much better. This is literally the first time I have had a tool with fiberglass parts.
I had all the digital art for the decals recreated by Jeff at formagraphicart@gmail.com. He has done a bunch of recreations for me and does a fantastic job. I then had the digital decals printed on vinyl at a local shop.
As for the function of this mower...it's amazing! I had way way too much fun cutting my lawn with this and I might just keep using this one from now on. The biggest downside is that you have to carry it to your lawn when it's not on, as it does not have wheels. Luckily, the whole unit weighs 25lbs, so it's relatively light.
I am surprised these are not more popular in North America, like they are in the U.K.
I would like to thank Evapo-Rust for sponsoring this video.
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