I have recently aquired a Pace mower, well the base is definitely a Pace but going by the air filter, snorkel, The motor is of a Mayfair 125 (73-74) however Production of the pace ceased before the 70s. Something else I am finding a bit odd is the zip start, Any thoughts?
Last edited by Topcat58; 23/06/2205:18 AM. Reason: add thoughts
It looks to be a typical early 1970s G3 carb 125cc with zip start. Very common at the time.
That base is where I'm at a dead end. It looks similar to the Mayfair low arch bases but with unique moulding. Those 125s are a gem when it comes to longevity and smoothness. Better than the 160 in those respects.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
G'day TC and Mf,
It's a 1971 125 cc motor ,these Pace bases came out in the late sixties and continued into the early seventies ,the
later bases don't have Pace cast on the front.
The cowl with the chrome front doesn't look original for a 125 cc as they are on the 160 cc motors.
The air cleaner number is Mayfair so probably swapped when the motor was changed.
Cheers
Max.
Definitely a bitsa, or “hybrid” as they’d term it now.
The pace premiers had that cowl and zip starter. The more upright vented zip starter was discontinued in ‘74.
I’ve seen a 72 Pace premier with that cowl style and the square starter. It was a Mark 2 70 series 160cc with a green painted cast base with “Pace” in raised letters, the cowl, and starter were red.
The cast “Pace” logo kept going til the early 70’s. There’s a choice magazine review floating about somewhere that I can remember seeing that shows the cast base with logo.
Bit funny putting a ‘71 125 into that frame with the plug so close to the grass chute. Might be an optical illusion but it appears as though it might be close to earthing out.
It’s possible the base, cowl and zip starter are original, with it having started life as a 72 or 73 year model. I think I can see the aperture for the later model muffler in the base, so it wasn’t originally a fishtail muffler model.
The chrome valance at the front may have been swapped, it’s missing rivets so that’s suggesting a change.
It seems very late for that fuel tap which I suspect may have also been swapped along with the tank from an earlier model.
Last edited by Ironbark; 24/06/2203:02 AM. Reason: Added links
WOW Ironbark.
Thanks for the world of information.
Really impressed with your amount of information and the threads.
Absolutely astonished at the Choice Magazine article. Had no idea the mag. was around then.
I remember as a young fella, my dad at the time bought a brand new Pace with the wind up starter which he had to wind up as I did not have the strength to start it. I do know it had a catcher that was metal. It sat under the house for years at one time and I dragged it out, threw some clean petrol in it, cleaned the plug and away it went.
Happy that some of the stuff I store was in my head is of use to someone.
Jack in Tasmania would know way more, he’s the real expert.
If you do a search on Pace it’ll turn up interesting stuff.
From my memory though:
Pace was a post World War Two company that developed in a very similar way to Victa. A bloke (who went on to found Dreamworld) working in his backyard in the mid 1950’s.
Pace grew in parallel to Victa but had some technology that was a step ahead.
Mervyn Richardson, founder of Victa bought out Pace in secret in the late 50’s. He acquired a lot of important IP in the process.
Victa kept Pace as a separate company until 1965 when it was completely absorbed into Victa and became a sub brand. Treated, after that point, similarly to Mayfair.
The capital raised by the sale of Pace presumably eventually went towards development of Dreamworld.
