Howard rotavator identification

[vhgmcbuddy]

Hi All,

I’ve just acquired this old rotavator, buried in a bush on an allotment.
I’m keen to restore this back to service on the allotment as a nod to the past allotment holders and their history.
Amazingly the gear lever still works and after a bit of an oiling, the handle height and blade depth handle move, even the existing Briggs & Stratton engine still turns over! Not that I’m contemplating restoring the engine. I’m actually considering keeping the tilling and drive unit as it is, just maintained in a good working order and fitting an electric motor unit, batteries and gear box to power the drive pulley, I own a battery powered lawn mower and find it works fantastic.
But I’m finding it hard to identify which model I actually have, I think it’s one of three, maybe a later production model since the handles are in a different configuration from what I can find online. It would be really helpful to narrow this down as it’s missing various levers and bits and bobs, even the name plate with the serial numbers on is missing.
Anyway any information as to what model it is or the engine specs would be very handy, maybe someone has already retro fitted an electric motor on one of these before and could offer advice?

Best regards

Aaron

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[andyfrost]

Howard Bullfinch , with the more unusual loop handlebars. It’s had an engine transplant to a Briggs at somepoint in its life.
Personally I would get the Briggs up and running , as you will need an elactric motor of at the very least 1 1/2 hp for it to work.

Andy.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Thank you Andy,

It was the handle bars that were throwing me off!

I am tempted to do a basic service and see if runs, if it does why not keep using it. As they say “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”.

Regards

Aaron

[ted20]

with that handle it looks more like a Bulldog if it is they are quite rare ( a word I do not use often )

[vhgmcbuddy]

Bullfinch or Bulldog? What are the main differences? If it is a rare machine I don’t want to start chopping and changing.

[charlie]

I believe the only difference was the name. Howard had to drop the Bulldog name after a legal challenge by Lanz tractors, Bulldog was one of their tractors.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Hi out of interest I’ve located the serial number on the worm drive it is 8092 is there a way of getting a date from this at all?

Regards

Aaron

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