April 1951 Sears Craftsman Power Mower Ad

It's been a rough spring up here by the lake with all the rain.

As of last Sunday, I've already mowed my lawn FIFTEEN times this season – and almost every time I've had to bag it for at least part of my lawn, usually the front which grows pretty fast and easily gets too long to mulch. If it's been more than four days between mowings, I've had to bag both the front and the back – ugh. And when the mandated paper recyclable bags sit for more than a few days and get rained on, guess what? They tear open, spilling the wet, stinky, moldy contents all over the driveway while you're taking out the trash. (I know this from fact, having had to re-bag all eight bags of grass at ten o'clock at night in the dark!)

So, since the beginning of April, lawn mowing has been on my mind constantly. That's why when I saw this ad, I had to post it on this blog. It's from a Sears ad that ran in the pages of the Lorain Journal in April 1951. (Click on it for a larger view.)

It's pretty intriguing, this 1951 power mower with the belts on the outside. I think I saw one like this in a Tom and Jerry cartoon.

Both mowers in the ad are kind of cool to look at. My grandmother used to have one similar to the Dunlap model shown, with the grass catcher that hung off the back. At least it never ran out of gas.

Anyway, if antique lawn mowers interest you, here's a YouTube video of a guy starting up the 1953 version of this mower. Amazingly, it still runs!