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The Westwood Groundhog machines were introduced in the 1970s. There’s no mention of the groundhogs in 1973, but in autumn 1974 adverts were promoting the ‘NEW’ Westwood Groundhogs. When launched the 3 hp model was advertised at £95.
The date of your GT5 machine could be determined by the code stamped into the cowling on the engine.
The attached advert from 1976 shows that the Groundhog could be had with 3 to 5 hp engines.
A Westwood factory advert from Plympton in 1975 (the factory was brand new at this point) shows a row of Groundhogs in the background.
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I hadn’t heard of ABC engines so looked them up. Sources say that a company called A.B.C. Motors Ltd, London, were started in 1912 and was known for aircraft engines including vee, vertical and radial types.
This reminded me about Wankel rotary engines used on a few mower brands including Wolf.
Indeed, Drayton engines and also Blackburne to add to the list.
I have seen on adverts (but don’t know the manufacturer):
Acme & Intermotor (Danarm/Bertolini cultivators)
Oleo-Mac (on their chainsaws)
Komatsu ZenoahThat is an intriguing item!
There’s a TV show called ‘Would I lie to you?’, and on that theme there could be some interesting ideas as to what this mushroom shaped copper item is… so could it be for catching earwigs much like putting an upside down plant pot full of straw at the top of a cane. Here though, a small pot of straw would be put in the device attracting the crawling insects – although with a small candle it could attract moths instead.
Or could it be attached to a paraffin heater to distribute heat downwards to warm a greenhouse bench for seedlings etc – preceding the later use of electrically heated cables.
Or could it be for fumigation as Charlie suggests?
What convincing ideas have other members got?
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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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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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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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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