This 90 Year Old Lawn Mower Still Works!

We love a good story about antiques that still get the job done after decades of service. This antique mower still runs like a champ after nearly a century, making it one of the oldest machines we’ve featured. This is a perfect example of how things were manufactured to much higher standards when pride was a job requirement, an asset it seems many companies lack today.

The mower is powered by a small gas burning engine that requires only a little finessing to fire up and run, and once it kicks over, it runs like a top. The mowing mechanism itself, a reel-type blade, separates and can be pushed by hand, but by attaching it to the front of the engine. As the engine runs, a friction clutch on the handle engages the drive wheels and the engine pulls the weight of the whole machine, allowing the operator to walk behind it without having to push the bulky mower.

The engine is tuned by adjusting the carburetor to adjust for weather conditions and to raise and lower the engine speed. While it’s certainly no 6 foot deck, zero-turn ride on mower, but for century-old technology it definitely gets the job done faster than pushing the reels by hand without the aid of the engine. We can’t help but marvel at the reliability and craftsmanship shown in this mower, and how amazing it is to think about the things that have come and gone during the lifetime of this mower. Most mowers built today would be pushing it to last a decade, much less ten times that long, and this thing looks like it just might run for a few more decades before it finally gives up the ghost. We hope to eventually see a shift back to this kind of pride in craftsmanship and quality in manufacturing so customers get their money’s worth.