Thanks for the welcome. I have looked at the Gravely's, but they are even more overkill for my average suburban lot than this 38" GMT. All I need is a better/bigger mower than my 21", and this more than fits the bil - and is way more mower for the dollar than any new unit would have beenl. I will try to post a scan of the dealer lineup brochure when I'm back where I left the copy - it has good pics. The service manuals for the power unit, deck and engine are all online, as are a multitude of exploded parts diagrams.
Mostly curious if any enthusiasts have any idea what happened with it - failed launch? Poor marketing? Bean-counters killed the accessories? Entire industry moved to vertical shaft engines making this one too expensive? Once I get it back together I'll post some photos, maybe start a "What's this?" thread.
I picked this over a cheaper ride-on because my brother, former lawn-care professional, recommended a wide-area walk-behind. All the Scag, Exmark, etc. I found were nearly scrap, bare skeletons, or 2-10x as expensive. The three belts it has are all constantly in tension, rather than being used as a clutch, so they should hold up a good long time. That it is definitely "different" is kind of a plus to me. I like old odd stuff, and the chunky commercial-grade parts on this are easy to work on.
I'll get it going and just use it as a mower for now. If some accessories turn up or it happens to be adaptable to other model attachments, and they won't cost an arm and a leg, I might pick them up. If it turns out to be super-rare, well, either someone will be interested in it as a collectible or I'll just have a really unique mower. There are several snowblowers on CL for not much money, might pick up a cheap one while it is still summer and I can grease it/make sure it runs right before the snow flies.
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