I have just bought and got going a mountfield monarch rotovator in not to bad a condition.do I paint it or leave original.please see photo any information on age.
If I hav eread the engine number correctly 78 01 09 06 equates to 1978 Jan 9th the 06 indicates plant and assembly line. see Briggs & Stratton website for information about engine numbers.
To paint or not to paint will always be difficult to answer. It is your machine so up to you.
To paint or not to paint always divides opinions among collectors.For me personally I prefer not to paint, unless I absolutely have to , indeed only one of my machines in my collection have I painted , and that was because it was really rough when I aquired it. I’m far more interested in mechanicals, whether it starts ,runs and performs as it should , and doesn’t leak oil all over the place.
As Charlie says , it’s yours , so do as you wish.
Nothing like lighting the touch paper then standing well back!
As said previously you own it, so please do what you see fit, there are no hard or fast rules. Just one point I need to pull you up on. original condition is brand new, not pulled out of a barn with rust on!
There are those which say they conserve for the future (what ever it holds) I’ll keep my thoughts to myself on that one.
In our end of the field the age of the machines we handle are mostly irreplaceable, with parts missing where we have to have parts made at the foundry, then machine them out, so painting is part of the process but again its not for everyone. What ever you do you’ll make a lot of knowledgeable friends here!
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