I picked up this little red cylinder mower this morning and have been trying to work out what it could be.
The guy told me it had a Resto about 8years ago where they probably changed over the engine to this Tecumseh one. It doesn't have any plates on it that I can find. I assume it's a Scott Bonnar with a paint change or a Rover of some kind? I would love to buy some decals for the catcher and handlebars but don't want to get the wrong thing.
I am fairly sure the 14inch was long dead by the time of the red colour change. (1990s).
May be able to give you some of its history though.
Given a few identifiers (which could just be shear coincidence) I would dare say it could have been one of the many hundred (over the years) SB mowers restored by Les Smith.
He ran Les Smith Mowers in Malaga and did a lot of quality SB restos. A lot of them in that red regardless of original colour.
Additionally, all the ones I have seen that he had done nearly always were missing the ID plate (would fit on the 2 holes under the clutch cable in picture 2).
The only thing is he would have never done the catcher like that with rivets.
That motor is a 2002 build by the way.
Here is the link to the clearance sale photos when Les Smith retired in 2016.
Love all the great insights people bring on this forum.
I like the idea of trying to keep the decals as close to original as possible (regardless of the paint colour change) Possibly a little less confusion for the next person that might own the machine after one day I upgrade to a bigger unit. Googling a Rover mower 14" only brings up the thoroughbred models.
One day I hope to score a cheap bonny and do a Resto myself 😊ðŸ‘
