Vintage Horticultural and Garden Machinery Club

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As it stands, there’s now nothing anywhere that explains what the free trial is.

What free trial?

Have others got their copies of The Cultivator yet? I know some have received them, but mine must be stuck in the post again – it was delivered 10 days after everyone else’s last time.

As you’ll know, Bridges became Stanley Bridges as in the later Stanley tool company.

The cultivator was advertised from the late 1950s for about ten years. Adverts say it fitted a Stanley ‘Neonic’ drill.

They also made a lawnmower that fitted a drill, but this later had a fixed motor and called the Lawnmaster. A hedgetrimmer called the…[Read more]

It is the cutting width of the blade from tip-to-tip. The deck will be a couple of inches wider than the cutting width.

The measurement may not be exact either, a 30″ blade may measure 29.5″ or just be converted from centimeters to the nearest inch for putting on a brochure.

Urbanalfa – Yes, there was a Westwood Gazelle with a twin cylinder Briggs engine, it was the 16hp W16, and it had electric start and a 48” angular deck. This would be the later 1970s, replaced in the mid-1980s with the similar T1600 with the same engine but a smaller 42” rounded mower deck. At the same time as the T1600 was the identical T1200 but…[Read more]

My Westwood tractor list gives initially the:

W6 – 6hp – 28″ deck
W8 – 8hp – 28″ deck
W11 – 11hp – 36″ deck

Then from 1984-86 the:

S600 – 6hp – 30″ deck
S800 – 8hp – 30″ deck
S1100 – 11hp – 32″ deck
T800 – 8hp – 36″ deck
T1100 – 11hp – 36″ deck

All had Briggs & Stratton engines – all electric start apart from the basic W6 and the basic S600.

Hello

The Westwood is usually an easy machine to work on and get replacement bits like belts etc.

I take it that it is a twin-blade mower deck? And 36″?

The mower deck is the earlier version with the angular sides, rather than the later rounded deck. That indicates it might be a later W11 model with the black front nose. This would be late…[Read more]

I have looked at Geoff’s scans of the original factory records for the Steed.

Number 422 was sent to the agricultural dealership F. C. Adamson, Swanland, East Yorkshire, and is dated 13/04/1965. It was sent out fitted with grassland tyres.

On the same date, the preceding Steed 421 with standard motor car tyres was also sent to F. C. Adamson.…[Read more]

I am not aware of any Uni-Horse clubs or groups.

There is the Lea-Francis Owners Club, which mentions the Uni-Horse, but the club generally seems more geared towards the cars that were made.

https://lfoc.org/index.php/unihorse-tractor

I hope you manage to find a tractor and a plough to continue your ploughing.

Thanks for the extra details.

If any members want to correct the following information, then please do so! Info is a bit scarce and hard to search for.

Indeed, the USA company Troy-Bilt uses the Bronco model name – although, as far as I can tell, there’s no connection between them and your machine. It really muddled things when I were doing…[Read more]

Also, to the right of the Bronco name on the casting it says J.S. and then a number. What is that number?

An interesting machine!

There seems to be very little information on the internet. However, from what I have seen, I assume that the tiller is the Bronco brand, possibly with an address in Villareal, Italy?

Do you have any further details which may narrow down the search?

I see that there is an ID plate on the engine. What are the details on…[Read more]

Thanks for the extra information.

I couldn’t find anything in online archives for your machine; it’s a bit of a mystery at present.

Parts of the machine match other Shay products; these include the handles and wheels.

I’m unsure if Shay manufactured products for any other manufacturer, potentially the machine may be listed under a different…[Read more]

I know nothing about Shay, but I thought I’d have a look in the corners of the internet and see what I could find.

I cannot see anything similar. Shay did produce the Countryman, approximately a 1960s machine, photo attached.

Do you have any further information that may narrow it down, such as the width of the cut, the size of the rear wheels,…[Read more]

It looks like a Geest truck, made by Geest, the same company associated with bananas.

I do not know models, but trucks were manufactured from the 1950s to the 1970s. Addresses were advertised as Geest Industries Limited (Truck Division) Spalding, Lincolnshire, and Marsh Lane Truck Factory, Boston, Lincolnshire

Brian Bell’s book ’70 Years of…[Read more]

It does look like the slitter and others were fitted on the back in place of the rake bit. I’ve found a photo in the 1985 brochure with the slitter attached.

Until I looked, I hadn’t realised that the Lawngroomer Mark1 was such a short-lived attachment – just 1983 to 1986.