[alan]

Angus, it does look like Beta did marine engines and a lot of other applications – the internet turns up all sorts of things!

I have some 1980s adverts for Italian mowers by Concord-Mechanica with Beta engines, although they also had B&S and Tecumseh. John Harston and also Central Spares Ltd imported them. In 1985 the Saturn 21″ had a 4.4hp Beta 2-stroke at £580+vat BUT a HTJ report says it is a Lombardini 4.4hp instead of Beta….was Beta based on Lambardini or vice-versa? Or did the HTJ report accidentally put Lombardini! Interesting anyway.

Thanks for mentioning Poulan, I looked in newspaper archives for Poulan and adverts for their chainsaws stretch back to the 1960s and advertise them as being ‘The quality saw from Sweden’. In 1980 Chain Saw Products of Manchester were selling the Poulan saws from 32-85cc.

[alan]

Chris, well spotted! Yes Kohler, how I missed that I don’t know as there’s one sat about 3′ away from me at present!

I also see some mowers sold in the UK in the 1980s were fitted with Italian-made 2-stroke Beta engines – I haven’t looked to see if there were any 4-stroke.

Thanks to everyone’s input, here’s an updated list with the additions in bold. There are 49 on the list. Any more?

Aspera
Bernard
Beta
Briggs & Stratton
BSA
Clinton
Douglas
Ducati
Homelite
Honda
Husqvarna
Iseki
JAP
JLO
Kawasaki
Kirby
Kohler
Kubota
Lauson
Lawnboy
Lister
Lombardini
Loncin
MAG
McCulloch
Mitsubishi
Norman
Ohlsson & Rice
Petter
Ransomes
Robin
Ruggerini
Ryobi
Sachs
Solo
Stihl
Sturmey Archer
Subaru
Suffolk
Suzuki
Technamotor/Fiat
Tecumseh
Toro
Victa
Villiers
Vincent
Wisconsin
Yamaha
Yanmar

[alan]

Excellent, Angus, (but how did I miss them!) – Ohlsson & Rice, Lauson, Subaru (something to do with Robin, I recall), Sturmey Archer, and the relatively new Loncin.

I’ve just ordered a new mower from my local dealer with a Loncin engine, it’s a leap of faith on my part and time will tell how it does, but it was recommended over some established engine brands – in the future it may become a vintage collectable machine!

And I’ve just remembered the Wisconsin engines to add to the list.

[alan]

I’ve had a look through some Hayter brochures and info over Easter, they did make quite a lot of different machines!

I did find the Hayterette from the 1990s, in dark green paintwork, with a 2-stroke Suzuki M120X engine.

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[alan]

That looks like a great solution! And the mower lives to see another day and many more lawns.

I always think that many mowers and machines could be saved and, as with the Marquis, be working again. I wonder how many folk have scrapped a machine when it could have been saved.

[alan]

I have scanned the 1984 four-page brochure and the relevant bit of the price list which I’ve put at the top of the last page.

AL-KO had relocated from their Barnsley site to Consett in County Durham in 1984 – the new address is on the back page of the brochure. I found a trade report where they stated that the new premises were nearer to a port and thus reduced transport costs when importing their lawn mowers, trimmers, cement mixers, bench equipment etc from Germany and Austria. They seem to have imported a large and varied range of equipment.

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[alan]

It was called the ALKOTRAC. There were two engine sizes, the 8hp just for mowing and the 10hp with the grass collection.

I’ve never seen one in the tinwork but I thought that it’d be a fun machine just for the novelty of the collector!

Yes, they were 1970s/80s but it looks like they were 1970s in mainland Europe before filtering through to the UK going into the 1980s.

I have a brochure and price list and will get those scanned and uploaded for you.

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[alan]

Brochure picture, also has the Cushaire sticker on the cowl.

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[alan]

I would say it is a Contractor GT2 model with a 2-stroke 98cc JLO engine. The GT2s had 19″ (47cm) cutting decks, and were available from the late 1970s.

[alan]

I would assume it means to place the pump horizontally onto the engine rather than in at an angle and then trying to straighten it up. I’ve rebuilt many Kohler engines for our tractors and made sure the pump is square-on when replacing.

I’ve taken two photos of a pump that I replaced. The first photo is a side view showing the lever angle, the second photo shows a shiny spot where the lever has been in contact with the cam.

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[alan]

The info says to make sure that the fuel pump lever is positioned above the camshaft, and that the correct gasket is used if changing from a metal-bodied to a plastic-bodied pump.

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[alan]

Images and details of the K-series engine fuel pump, also as a PDF:

Usually, to make the images bigger, left-click on the thumbnail as normal then right-click on the opened image and choose ‘Open image in New Tab’ or similar and it’ll open it in a new tab for larger viewing.

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[alan]

Indeed, in the second half of the 1980s the Honda polymer decks hit the market in the UK.

I’ve done more research this evening and found some March 1986 adverts and an editorial report about the new decks – but nothing advertised earlier in 1985. You are correct that it was a smaller model first, it was the 17″ HR173 and available in both four-wheel or rear-roller versions. This led me to find the Honda manual online which is dated 1985.

Amazing that it’s 39 years since they introduced those polymer decks!

[alan]

Hello

Thanks for letting us know, it’s much appreciated, and I’ve had a look at this.

I’ve checked the club email and there’s been no emails sent out to members from there.

Indeed, unwanted emails are an unnecessary aggravation, but as said it’s advisable to just delete such emails.

I will add that the club never sends out global emails or messages to all members. If there’s important info regarding the website then we’d put a post on the site, or to contact everyone we use The Cultivator magazine.

Alan

[alan]

Thanks for posting a picture of your Bernard tractor.

I had a look to see if I had any adverts for Bernard tractors but couldn’t see any. There is a 1983 advert for Bernard pedestrian mowers and a 1985 list of the mower models with an interesting list of engines that were used.

I haven’t seen a Bernard mower in the UK but one would be nice to go with the tractor!

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[Author]

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