When did Geests, Wrigleys & Bonsers begin?

[futtock]

Just getting my 1 1/4HP Geest out of post-covid hibernation and have at last unearthed (or unpainted) the Villiers engine number which is R56A749/53. Reading up about Villiers engines it seems that the last two numbers, after the / show the year – in this case 1953. Geests in the UK only got into bananas in a big way in that very year, 1953 but I think it unlikely that they started making autotrucks straight away. The engine may not be original of course. Bound to wonder if it is in fact a Geest. Wrigleys and Bonsers seem similar. When did they start being made?

[charlie]

The only information, (taken from Brain Bell’s book 70 Years of Garden Machinery), I can find is Wrigley motor truck was invented in the early 1930’s and Geest made their motor trucks from the early 1950’s.

[Author]

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