late 60s craftsman mini mower/cruiser build

Recently got this little craftsman and have been building it to go fast. I've been searching the web for a while and apparently its rare and from the late 60's. I've only seen two with the same body style and one other with the same paint scheme. I haven't been able to find any further information on it, so if anyone knows anything about it let me know. Originally it had a 3 speed chain drive trans to a axle with a differential, and it was powered by a 7hp single. Currently, I'm working on making it drive-able with the opposed twin and a 7-3 pulley swap. once it warms up enough for me to work on it outside I plan on race prepping a 5 speed 700 to swap in along with a 36"x1" live axle mounted 4" lower than stock. Future plans include lowering and widening the front end, redoing the steering to something tighter, and either dual carbs or a large round-slide carb.

Cool find! I love the styling. One suggestion: if you can, polish those chrome hubcaps and keep them on, they would fit your build really well!

dude! that thing is stupid rare!!!! tallies up as two side shaft 10hp models and your vertical! any info much apriciated! love the project! just know its crazy rare! edit i own one of the 3 known ones! so do you! my specific one was a 69 and 70 only

Cool little machine. Like how the opposed is stuffed in there

@Budget_gokart do you have any more information about this one or the craftmans of this style in general? im mainly trying to figure out what year it could be. the other guy i talked to who had one has had it for 20 years and hasnt been able to find any information on it either.

Not 100% sure but yours is vertical but has same rims tires and deck and grille as my model mine seems to be even more rare ive seen a few videos with your mower but mine was made on 1969 or 1970 and when i searched 60s and 70s craftsman mower on youtube mainly those popped up

got the opposed twin in and got to drive it around today, the trans whines really bad and pops out of first, also its extremely narrow which makes driving it sketchy. So to solve these problems im gonna swap in a race prepped 5 speed and a live axle on pillow blocks. one thing im trying to decide is if i should slam it to the ground or if i should lower it a little and put some 18" atv tires on the back to make it like redzz02's haspin build. im leaning more towards making it a rally tractor that i can take on tamer trails while still being able to go fast on the road. If anyone has input on which direction i should go then let me know.

put the live axle in and she rips! im having some trans issues though so its parked for now and im just gonna swap the 5 speed into it instead of screwing with the stock one. The rims are off a john deere 165 and i painted them red and put the stock hubcaps on

Good afternoon everyone I was just doing some research on a lawnmower I got from a friend and found this I have the same mower and curious to know what anyone has to say about it. Should I leave it alone or is it just another old lawnmower that I could build a badass racing mower out of. Sorry for the bad pic. I’ll post some better one

All depends on your skill and desire.  Anything can become something you want with those things and of course some $$$.  

My big thing is it something that’s stupid rare and shouldn’t be chopped up

Crazycraftsman wrote:

My big thing is it something that’s stupid rare and shouldn’t be chopped up

I concur!


Based on what i can find, it's most likely built by Roper as they were the only company building Craftsmans in the 60's and based on the pictures I can find there's many similarities style-wise.