The original Craftsman rotory mower
- Thread starter unclelee
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mechanic mark
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Good post!
Snapperfreak
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That is cool!
unclelee
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Here is another example of the Lawnboy/ Craftsman connection.
This is a Canadian Simpsons Sears model from 1953 one year after OMMC purchased RPM...notice the Iron Horse engine....same as the 1953 Lawnboy modle.
Lee
$ 89.50 in 1953! Sears sold a price leader model similar to that through the mid 1970's for $99.99. The later ones had a Power Products 2-cycle. Power Products was bought out by Tecumseh. I use to work on those. If you had it tuned right, you could spin the flywheel with your hand and it would start
reynoldston
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When you think about it you can still buy a cheap 2016 push mower for not that much money with a lot more safety features.
bertsmobile1
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No they are insanly cheap now days
Got no idea about US historical wage rates but I would guess that $ 89.00 in 1953 would have been some where from 1 to 2 months salary.
Down here it was 8 weeks of average male adult wages including overtime & shift allowences.
In 1970 I was making $ 75.00/ week & the national average was $ 90 so it was down to a weeks wage, ie 1/8th the price.
In 2014 the nation average was $ 1250 /week so the $ 200 bg biox cheapies are less than a days wages or 1/40 th of the 1954 price.
When looking at historical pricing you should always relate it to wages at the time and it is helpful to convert everything into hours of labour to acquire the mower.
The top end Honda self propelled sells around $ 2500 down here, about a week & a half.
The average mower is around $ 500 or 2 days wages.
reynoldston
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Back in 1959 I was making 35 dollars a week repairing appliances and living on it with a car payment. It seems I got by OK.
unclelee
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The 16" in the middle used a power products engine...however it was not made by RPM.
Using an inflation calculator the $89.50 price tag in 1953 is the equivalent to $794.50 in 2015
reynoldston
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Late 1940's and I was very young so I don't remember very much about it. My father brought home a electric mower that ran off of house current and mowed the lawn with it. As I recall it was a big thing back then. Also it just seems it didn't do a very good job, but as I said I was just a child and that was close to 70 years ago.