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At the Sussex show, I talked with a gent who claims to have a Simplicity one wheel garden tractor. His claim is, that there still is a "Simplicity" decal on the fender. I admiited anything is possible, but my vast collection of "stuff" starts with the two wheel variety. Has any one ever seen one or have papaer work on one?

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quote:Originally posted by rokon2813

Here ya go Bob, found this in the archives, right from the horses mouth so to speakhttp://simpletractors.com/Club2/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=66709


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id="quote">Al Edens' post in that thread is great.Bob, I might be remembering incorrectly, but I think Josh (talentdmrgreen) has an old one-wheeled Simplicity. Maybe he'll pop in in a few minutes with some info.
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Yes Josh did or still does have a wards 1 wheel. Or if you want to see a little more on it zippovarga has a YouTube video of the one he use to have as well. Hope this can help out some

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I have one in the shed here also,Bob I was hoping to bring it down to Sussex this year but work called. maybe next year we could get a bunch of little joy stick wondeboys and all the 1 wheelers in Wisconsin bet we could get 1 there.

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Yes, I still have my Culti-Cutter.

The Wards variety was made from '37-'40, and then Simplicity began badging them under their own brand as well. The 'Culti-Cutter' is the Wards model, while the Model A is the Simplicity. The Simplicity's wore a Briggs Model A, the earlier Wards, a Lausen RLC 406 (3/4hp). Both are essentially identical mechanicaly. The Wards also used a Wards Riverside tire, but the Simplicity, a Firestone, I believe.

It was the first garden tractor design for Simplicity, and I've heard that mfg volume was south of 400 units, because of the beginning war effort. This was also the reasoning behind the temporary drop of the Wards brand on the machine...refocusing resources on war efforts, and a big drop in L&GT sales. It left Simplicity stuck with remaining inventory that ended up being sold later with their name on it. By the end of the war, L&GT demand obviously skyrocketed...two-wheel develoment was well under way, even before the war, and before the single wheel. It probably never became very relevant.

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Here's some Wards Farm Catalog scans. It's 15 pages, but I only pulled the first few showing the Culti-Cutter. One thing I forgot to mention was the design change to the fender. I'm told the fender shown (more tire coverage...more of a art-deco look) is a later style, possibly introduced nearer to 1939-1940. The Simplicity's I have seen also have this style fender, while the earlier ones have a simpler fender design. I think Zippo's is an earlier Wards like mine, repowered with a Briggs. (I'm also told the Briggs Model A that a Simplicity would have worn, is a very rare Briggs model). The one I found still has the Wards serial # tag riveted to the fender.

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quote:Originally posted by Old-Prospector

Bob,Yes they did, in 1937. It was made for Montgomery Ward, so I'm not sure if it would have had a "Simplicity" decal on it. See this link for more info:http://www.simplicityva.com/preww2tractors.html


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id="quote">I just did a little figuring. For the 19" reel mower, it says the capacity is 2.5 acres per hour. An acre is 43,560 square feet. With a 19" cut, you'll cut 1.584 square feet per foot of travel. 2.5 acres is 108,900 square feet. So, to cut that you'd have to travel 68750 feet. 1 mile is 5280 feet, so you'd travel just over 13 miles in that hour to cut the 2.5 acres. That's quite impressive for a walk behind mower. I guess they really don't make men like they used to!!!( I know that was probably just a misprint in the literature in the link..but I thought it was funny. On the other hand back in the day it was up hill both ways to school and when the neck deep snow finally melted, the grass probably grew well!!!)
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