He can't remember it until later in his life. He lived way out bush and had very little money so probably had little choice but to use whatever he had, so what went in the car probably also went into the 2 strokes if they were lucky, otherwise they just got the recycled sump oil.
Speedy, this build has been so troublesome and expensive I doubt I will ever take on another complete restoration and renovation. I am still short of a number of parts with little hope of obtaining them any day soon. Pope parts are near impossible to get, so I have borrowed from Tecumseh, Victa, Briggs and Stratton, and even resorted to making some parts. I got on to a few N.O.S. parts but the seller was not very sympathetic and just threw them all into a flimsy box which fell apart during transit. As a result a lot of the parts got bent and badly scratched up and one part went completely missing. Today's paints are also bothersome as my first paint job on the handlebars went wrinkly and cracked overnight for unknown reasons. Yet I put the same paint on the hubcaps that same day and it went on perfectly. But then the fumes from the glue I used to fix the hubcaps in place reacted badly with the paint and overnight caused it to peel. I could not believe it. I'm still looking for a glue that will not react with paint. I later repainted both and had the handlebars hanging up, but for some reason the wire support decided to break, sending the handlebars crashing into the dirt and on to nearby rocks and pavers. So I had to clean it back to bare metal again. Third time lucky, I hope!
I rarely do renovations, least of all hybrid ones, but I wanted to do this for my uncle so he can at least see a version of his beloved old Pope back in near pristine condition. I am not doing it for myself, I am doing it for him. The lawnmower may never be started if truth be told. It all depends on how I feel at the end of it all. As this build has been so troublesome I am in two minds about ever starting it. All it takes is for a drop of fuel to land on the painted surfaces and days of work can disintegrate before your eyes. I've been there before! I may end up just placing it inside as an ornament and conversation piece.
I rarely restore vintage mowers to "as new" condition these days, just to working order. It is just too expensive and finicky and at the end of it all I don't feel like getting them dirty again. Once we use them, moisture gets in and promotes rust all over again. A moron came to paint the shed roof a while back and he obviously had no idea what he was doing, as he hosed upwards instead of downwards, sending an avalanche of water into the shed, and drowned a lot of my restorations in mud. This sent them instantly rusty. I only found out a few days later when I opened the shed and by that time the damage had been done. Spare parts too, all covered in water and muck. They will never be the same.
So, there are some I restore from time to time to near new condition and then keep in storage, others I start, others I just get going and never fully renovate but use around the place. No build ever turns out the same or for the same reasons. I dislike painting immensely and prefer to just tinker and get things going. The Pope was an exception. The few parts I managed to scrape together were all in such terrible condition that I felt they had to be restored.
I'll post up some photos when it is finished, but that may not be for a while. Rome was not built in a day. Persistent cloudy, rainy weather has once again put me well behind schedule.
