I wish I knew what brand of engine they used in the old "Fly-mo". I would have been tempted to pick that one just for bringing back wild, amusing, and frightening memories. The Fly-mo, as I recall, was some kind of weird, 2-stroke, hovering lawnmower. In my first year of high school, I took a small-engine class as part of the shop class series. Each student had to get hold of a small engine that (presumably) didn't run and bring it in to work on. One guy brought in a Fly-mo, complete with deck and handlebar.
One day before class, after we'd worked on the engines for a while and whilst the teacher had left to get something from the office, a heated discussion broke out about whether the Fly-mo would run again. Premix was tossed in, and the cord was yanked a few times. And I noticed as the cord was being pulled that the handle bar was not attached at the left side of the base. The Fly-mo started, and the right side attachment of the handle bar broke loose too.
And right as our teacher walked in, every sane student was climbing onto the work tables as a rogue Fly-mo went slowly bouncing around below like a pinball. Mr Swickt (sp?) had steeltoe boots on, so he went up and stepped on it. People went to the office. Some were there the next day. one or two were suspended. Principal asked lots of questions. Gad, it was hilarious looking back. We were so scared of that thing sliding around and trying to slice our toes off. One of many of my favorite small engine memories.
