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Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

choices choices!!

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My 20 th lawnmower has now been acquired, the garage they are stored in has no light and no power and is a few minutes drive away from home, no big deal if I want to pop in on the way back from work and say hi, but I'd like to restore a few of them but cant make my mind up which gets to come home with me, any of the Ajax's, the little lawn edger, the miniture, the galaxy or any of them in fact?.

I was wondering how my fellow club members make their choice of which machine they would like to tinker with or restore next?

Is it looks? It's a strong word but I think some mowers are quite pretty, the silens messors are bloody gorgeous. 

Is it rarity, which order acquired, the most knackered,  the easy fix?

Everyone chooses differently, the comment on the forum 'its been sat there long enough', made me chuckle, have you got a unique way of choosing your next project?

I have amazingly made my choice whilst writing this and I'm basing my decision on........ I'll bring it to MK next year you can ask me when you see me. 

 

 

Clive1997 Thu, 04/10/2018

Hi Lee

Firstly wish I had time for some restoration, however to answer your question, I tend to focus on a mower that I have perhaps just found out some interesting facts about & has a story to tell. It is difficult. You will find as many members do that its a pleasure to own a particular mower even for a short time, perhaps restore it, use it & then move it on and another person will get the same enjoyment. You can then seek out a replacement.This does happen quite a lot within the club with some mowers having changed ownership several times. 

Its like any form of collecting you can't have them all, but in time you can have owned a good number of them. Keep records & images & you will have lots to look back on.

I was trying to think what my 20th mower was, but its more likely I will remember the 200th!!

 

Cheers for now.

Triumph66 Thu, 04/10/2018

I think for me the ideal lawn mower to restore or rejuvenate is one that is practical to use as well as being iconic. As it happens my JP Maxees been gathering dust for some 12 years before I rescued it from a skip where it been at the back of the owner's shed for years. I hope to do something with it and get it back to its former glory.

Chris G Fri, 05/10/2018

Fairly new to older mowers and really enjoying it, just wish I had more grass to try on. I struggle a bit with the fascination in something you push - philistine that I am.

Currently it has to have an engine for me to get interested in making a restoring mess :-) Could change, by which time I'm too old to push it!

But each to their own on this slightly quirky & fun hobby (apart from the deadly serious that is.. :-) 

Lee Smallwood Sun, 07/10/2018

It is a fun hobby, and the people I've met within the club have been brilliant with help and advice, I like the old motor mowers but as I'm not mechanically minded I only stick to the SIF lawnmowers as I somehow got a 75g off a Colt to work with help from the magneto guys. So on my bench at the moment is a two stroke rotary which isn't behaving, got to delve in a bit deeper to the sparking side as a new plug, fresh fuel and a carb clean hasn't made the little engine live. So will need a little help from a mechanic. That's where my engine knowledge ends. Nuts and bolts and cleaning I can do, sanding stripping and painting I can do, engines I cannot. But it's not putting me off getting another motor mower in the garage as I enjoy it,and I think it's the main reason we collect these old machines, I like to think of the person who went into the shop over 60 years ago and bought it, with excitement, the same thought probably went through his mind as mine when I saw a picture of it on an auction site. Every mower has its own story, every lawnmower has probably been sworn at more than once, and every lawnmower has probably been put on a bench and been lovingly worked on and repaired. It's what makes these machines loved by collectors and looked at with fondness by all. 

hdtrust Fri, 02/11/2018

Hi Lee,

Very good question, which one next! So will it send us to drink, there is a bottle hanging on the door in the rear!

So which Patent Motor Mower first! hey Clive!

Kind regards

Archivist

The Hall & Duck Trust