I have 2 mowers that are on CL as we speak, hate em both. 2 Craftsman key-lectric start. one red one black. the black one is awkward, deck is longer than any other walk behind I have ever run. then the red one, both need new ni cad batteries, glad they have recoil start as backup. Expensive when new, cheaply made, thin deck shell, had to straighten deck so wheels stand straight again. Heavy for a push mower. Mulch/bag only, I would rather mow and blow. and I hate the killer bail. Yeah I know, Ralph Nader was responsible for those...… along with the spring loaded side discharge cover that is too small to pass much grass if you try to mow that way, just plugs up easy and makes it "not worth it"...
For keepers, I have a 1980 Deere self propelled, 4hp Briggs 100000 series engine. Low use from new, got from a neighbors' shed when he passed, his family was cleaning out and put it to the curb. said "take it". Type of guy that goes out and buys a new one whenever the existing one falters. wheels show very little wear. Probably had sat in the shed unused for 30+ years. Cost me the grand total of a set of points and condenser to get running. On my 3rd season with that one now. just upgraded to a Magnetron coil that I found laying around. Uses no oil. No killer bail. I can walk away to pic something up in the yard, mower won't die unless I move the throttle. I like that. It looks very Snapper-ish or maybe Toro-ish from that time. cast aluminum deck.
my 2nd mower is an old 22" fabricated deck, made by a company called ROOF (think "Palomino") late 70s vintage. Has the handlebars that meet at center then flare out, has bicycle handgrips. everyone loves that mower. I wish I could find another. I have had this one 20-25 years now, was a $40 garage sale find then/ Very heavy built, but super easy to push. I go thru about 2 steel ball bearing wheels on that thing a year, that's how much it gets used. Im thinking it was a "commercial" mower from back in the day. My son is trying to steal this one from me. on its 3rd engine since I have had it. I finished the season and most of the next before the 92000 Briggs scattered. I found another 92000 for $20 at a garage sale mounted to a hunk of plywood. got a couple of seasons from that engine.
Then I found a brand new 5hp Tecumseh on Ebay, still in the box from about 1985, that engine was 15+ years old when I got it. That engine will not die. Its been on there probably 12-15 years now. ran low on oil more times than I can remember. it bulls thru about anything it'll roll thru. have had to soak that carb exactly one time, in all the years of having it. That engine has needed damn little over the years. Thought I killed it last year, ready to roll it to the curb, but no. A new flywheel key and its still running. That is the machine I take when I have to mow elsewhere. Last year before the flywheel key, I noticed it was getting quite rusty. Baffles falling out, holes in top plate in front of the engine. due to my son's insistence, I took the engine off, fabbed and welded in new baffles and a top plate old one in front of where the engine sits.
I have a brand new 1984 Briggs 4hp I/C here that I found at an auction. Never had gas or oil in it. Waiting for me to find another ROOF deck in better condition or else a Bobcat, Sensation type heavy duty deck in good shape to put that onto.
back when I was a kid, I remember other kids my age comparing their Dad's mower to what the neighbors had, like as in who's mower would broadcast the clippings "the farthest".... the old Sears Magnesium decks were some of the best for that.... kid down the street mowed with a machine from Monkey Wards, maybe Aldens, that was the "champ" in that department.