Ginge ride on mower info

[carlharper]

Hi all I recently got a ginge ride on lawn mower off ebay. Not sure of engine size
Have got engine running . just want some info. Thanks

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[wristpin]

Only ever seen Ginge side wheel push mowers! However, from the shape of the air cleaner the engine looks like a Tecumseh / Tecnamotor; I guess around 5HP. There’s no listing for them in the May 2012 Garden Machinery Price Guide – the last that I had before retirement.

EDIT
Should have looked here first.
Vhttp://vhgmc.co.uk/forums/topic/ginge-mower-info-please/

Ginge mowers and tools

[dorigny]

Resting in the shed I have a Ginge 4 wheel steel deck push rotary which looks early/mid 70s. The steel deck is tired but the Tecumseh derived engine was a very long lived runner, gifted to me by a neighbour when he upgraded to a Honda HR17 a few years ago. It was in turn a replacement for his pre recoil starter Suffolk Colt which also lurks in the shed, along with its friends….

Clive.

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[alan]

When I wrote the article that Wristpin has kindly linked to, I think I got to about 1980 with research on Ginge in the UK, but then things get a bit sketchy. There’s been quite a lot of Ginge branded items over the last 40 years but sadly I have nothing to link items to such as brochures, adverts or an importer.

My notes say that Ginge did make the ride-on mower, but I don’t know when so never included it, but I guess it’s beyond the 1980’s. However didn’t Alko buy Ginge eventually? The Alko 620 (and the 700 model too) have a similar tubular method of construction to the Ginge ride-on although they have a different overall design ( I may be incorrect – but see how my thoughts wander!)

I’ve just seen a 1980’s UK Ginge brochure for sale on’t internet, it doesn’t have a ride-on mower listed in it, yet that doesn’t mean it wasn’t here then, it may just have had it’s own brochure.

[wristpin]

Not relevant to the original post but the ride on under the tarp in the background is a Lawnflite 504 or 506. I’ve plenty of info on those !

[carlharper]

Today got engine running and driving around the garden needs some tuning on carb.
By the look at it pos 1960s. Tecumseh engine pos 5 to 6 hp. The other mower is a mtd. With 5hp briggs engine

[wristpin]

The other mower is a mtd. With 5hp briggs engine

MTD / Lawnflite – the same thing in the UK

[dorigny]

As it’s very much not a day for digging the garden, as I was doing yesterday, I’ve had a rummage and found some of the machinery directories from a former career..

Entry update 4/86 shows Ginge with Gardenflex Ltd at a Milton Keynes address, listing 2 handmowers, 2 rotary mowers and a petrol cylinder mower but no riders.

Update of 2/87 shows Gardenflex Ltd at a Newport Pagnall address with a longer list of machines including 4 ride-ons under the names Rider 5, Rider 6 and Rider 8. There’s a Rider 6 listed as a 26″ with 6hp Tecumseh recoil start.

Update 10/88, a much bigger range of machinery but only 3 ride-ons listed by model numbers 421/203292 and 422/203392.

By the last of my stock of old books, July 1989, with an update of 4/89 it shows Ginge listed under JT Lowe Ltd at the same Newport Pagnall address of earlier Gardenflex entries, with quite a range of machines but now only 2 ride-ons a 6hp and a 8hp both listed as elec start but no size info.

C.

[dorigny]

Amazing what you end up finding on a wild windy day with time to sit at the keyboard..
http://liberallawnmowers.com.pk/products/lawn-mowers/manual-lawn-mowers/ I’m off at a bit of a tangent here but there is a Ginge link to one of the side wheel push types.

C.

[alan]

Clive,

Many thanks for the extra info on Ginge machines. I would never have found all that! I’ll update the Ginge article in due course.

The name J. T. Lowe does appear quite a lot with various machines, but I’ve not come across the GardenFlex name linked to Ginge before.

The link to the Liberallawnmowers website is really interesting. I see the mowers are in Pakistan. I looked at the copy of the Webb mower they have and thought it looked brilliant. Sadly postal charges might be high, though.

[wristpin]

When I knew JT Lowe they were in Wimborne, Dorset and I believe that they ended up being bought by Flymo / Husqvarna.

[dorigny]

Yes, I would always associate the name with Wimborne..
In the old price guides by 1988 JT Lowe, Wimborne, had one Norlett cultivator in their entry. Previous year a listing was for 2 cultivators, 2 “handmowers” and a cement mixer and the (division of Flymo sales ltd) was no longer part of their title.
During 1986 though it shows a full list of Partner, Norlett, Kawasaki engines.
Partner was in 1987 listed under Partner UK, (a division of Hyett Adams).
I always found it interesting piecing together the curious world of who owns who.

C.

[Author]

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