OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Finding and Swapping Rare Finds & Donations Scott Bonnar 35 with Lauson 4 stroke.

I drove past a house yesterday that I have driven past for about the last 2 years.The only difference this time was the fact that they had pulled down there old fence,leaving in perfect view was at least a dozen mowers sitting under a tree.So due to being at work couldn't do anything until this afternoon.Now due to them being placed under a tree and in knee high grass most of them were fairly roached out.
However I did manage to see one that caught my eye which was sitting on top of another mower closer to the back fence.The take down was on,it was removed from there and taken to a clear area.I then perused the rest and besides a rear catcher type Rover (With Briggs,Blue base)the rest was as I said before roached.Rusted corroded,seized all that bad stuff for mowers,basically just scrap metal is all there good for now.
So I went back and examined the Scott Bonnar model 35 that was found there.It was one of a couple that were there that still would turn over.
So a deal was made and in the boot and home it came.
Now I've never seen one like this before now I knew they had four stroke engines on some of them,but I've never seen one with a Lauson 4 stroke.
Here have a look for your self.

Unfortunately no starter and I don't think I have a spare one for it either.I have one I could pull off another mower to test,but I will have to find one now.

The guy was trying to tell me it hadn't spent much time outside,but clearly it has at some point.

It has the LV30 engine which is the same the Victa Four Star mower had.
Serial Number 069827.


The model number on the compliance type plate at the back is Model Number 35 12134.
I've not herd of this number before.If somebody has any documents sales brochure etc.I'd love to see them posted up.As I would love to know more about these ones.I have two other model 35's with the 2 stroke engine.So when restored all three will look great together.



Even though it has seen some sun it still has the writing on the top of cowl saying.Stand on this to start.

The height adjuster seems to be different than that on the 2 stroke version.
I will take some pictures of it during daylight hours and post them tomorrow some time.
So please any documents on this model or in fact on any Scott Bonnar rotary would be much appreciated.
Thanks for having a look at this different Scott Bonnar 35.

Scott Bonnar 35 K8.5 Kirby Lauson/LV30 Equivalent so its pre 63-64 VK30 fitted after. SB Model "350696"....35 12134 is the Serial number. It was fitted with either the "Sure Start" Impulse or EZE Start Recoil Starters(Victa Style). All 35's ran the same consecutive serial number sequence style as Victa,regardless of engine fittment of which there are 5 variants. BS,Villiers Torque Major, Kirby LV30 4ST,Kirby K11.82ST and the SB 201. You will find more info on 35 in The SB Models Thread.....

Blue, are you sure the LV30s came from Kirby? If they did, I'd expect the manufacturer's plate to have James N Kirby on it, not Lauson. If the plate says Lauson, I'd guess that somebody - probably James Kirby - was importing the Lauson 3 hp engine in commercial quantities, before Kirby began assembling them locally under his own name. I hadn't heard before of that happening. The simplest explanation would be that Kirby obtained a concessional deal with the Tariff Board allowing him to import the engines while setting up his factory, but that's just a guess. If the plate says Lauson, anybody other than Kirby would presumably have had to pay import duty to bring them in, as they had to for the Briggs engines.

Yes and No Mate.... because it reads Kirby 8.5ST / AND The LV30,2 different Engines. My last sentence in regards to Kirby LV30 is indeed incorrect and as I incorperated both engines in the same description....merely a typo. My appologies.

Thanks Blue, but I'm still unclear on some details. Did the LV30 engines sold in Australia have Lauson or Kirby shown as manufacturer on the ID plate? Were they assembled in the US or Australia?

Sorry mate Im not sure as this info is straight from SB Manuals And sales sheets. My LV30 on the 62 Turner is Australian Marked but it doesnt say made in Aus and it is titled Lauson only. When I find the plate ill post an image. I have seen later Nos Engines that are marked US but cant remember the city of manufacture though. Not my forte kirby or lauson, Only some of the mowers they were used on and the info gained on rebuilding my Turner/ Lauson LV 30. Sorry there really isnt a lot of Factual info on them grumpy:)

Update. ...Tags read.
LAUSON
4-STROKE PETROL ENGINE
Manufactured in Australia under licence.
Then lubrication instructions
Storage instructions,
Then tuning specs
plug .030"
breaker .020"

This applies to LAV30 and LV30.
From memory My VK 30 Is Kirby Lauson with the addition of the mower manufacurer it was fitted too(Victa).

Thanks Blue, that clears it up. No indication so far of Lauson-assembled engines having been imported in substantial numbers. The VK30 used Kirby's own, different, model number system - I think the VK came from Vertical and Kirby.

OK guys all interesting,but you have confused sorry.So I guess really this sort of dates this mower in the earlier 60's? Is that right?
On my four stroke which also has the LV30 engine with the same carby.
It looked like this before I gave the mower a good bath and all the printing came off.Believe me that was very upsetting.

Which is what blue had there's just a bit more writing on there as well.Sorry the picture is not great.
Also took some other pictures of it after a bath.




It really doesn't look right and it's not really a spare but it can sit on there for now.This is the right kind of starter for it though?Isn't it?


This is how I found the compliance plate on this old girl,pretty roached I know.What I'd like to know is how do they put the printing on the plate and can that be replicated?


I do have some work in front of me.Although she's not seized and turns over very freely she has no spark at all.Has a little bit of oil left in sump.So I'm thinking sparks gone so they got rid of mower.
I was told it was put into a shed in a suburb called Willawong where it sat for some time until only a week ago when it was picked up from the guy I got it off.
He kept telling me it was stored inside.I thought it may have been inside when he found it,but it certainly has spent some time outside.
Just would be nice to know where about's in the Scott Bonnar line up it was in.
Thanks Guys keep the information coming.I'm sure we will work it out.

Yes the starter is accurate. Most likely its a 61/62, looks correct in every way as per my sales sheets. The serial would indicate it being in the middle of the 35 Run and would sit near or alongside your other SB 35 201s running the magister. In any case its simply a part of the SB 35 family just with a lower volume/rarer engine....No mystery. Restore it with this starter and get a sticker replicated of SM maybee. Im not aware of any reproduction process that would make it look original, although It almost looks like a form of anodizing,and possibly is.

Hi to all ODK members,
Here is some history of the introduction of the Lauson/Kirby/Tecumseh 4 Stroke engines into Australia as written by Mr. Steve Coleman, who was responsible for the introduction of these engines, in his capacity as CEO of Pace Mowers (which was secretly owned by Victa Mowers....but that is another story)
Here is Steve's story.....

In 1961 suddenly Mr. John McEwen then the Minister of Trade announced that no more import licences will be required. I was interested and immediately wrote to the three well-known small motor manufacturers in USA, namely Briggs and Stratton, Lauson and Clinton. B&S did not even reply since they were represented by a large company, whose name escapes me although I passed them twice a day on Parramatta Road, Clinton replied that they have nothing to offer for lawnmowers and the Tecumseh company, making Lauson engines replied that James N. Kirby are representing them and they will quote for supply of engines to Pace Mowers Pty. Ltd.

I was surprised to hear that since Kirby's, who manufactured the Tecumseh compressors for use in refrigerators and air conditioners, also manufactured (or assembled) the Johnson Iron Horse engines for mowers and they showed me some weeks earlier a new 4-stroke engine, which they planned to make more powerful than any on the Australian market.

In 1961 you did not pick up the phone and dialled a Michigan factory, so I sent a cable to Tecumseh to advise them that I will be ringing their export department next day at a certain time and asked that they should stand by for a discussion. When I did ring next day Joe Galazzi answered and I spoke to him with a stopwatch in my hand, since a call in today's money would have cost about $40 per minute, I did not mince my words and asked him if he is aware that Kirby's make an engine competing with theirs and even preparing to produce a 4 stroke in Australia. Galazzi was quite surprised but could only repeat that their Australian agents are the Kirby organisation and I should get in touch with them if I want Lauson engines.

Next day I had a telephone call from a Kevin Kirby and he came to see me in our Wetherill Street factory. I told him that if I cannot buy engines direct from the factory, I will be buying them from Briggs and if I will do that the Tecumseh Company might not be very happy with Kirby's as an agent. Kevin, who became a lifelong friend of mine, rung me next day that having discussed the matter with his father, Sir James Kirby, they will recommend that Pace should be appointed agent for the Tecumseh-Lauson engine.

I rung Carney Fieldhouse (a solicitor who was a director of Victa) and told him what happened. That evening, with Harry Horton (GM of Victa), John Craggs (Finance Director) they came over to my office and I explained to them how I blackmailed myself into becoming agents for the second largest small engine manufacturer of the World and we discussed how Merv Richardson, everso proud of his Victa/Tiger engine will accept the news of his fully owned subsidiary becoming a competitor to him.

It was only a couple of days later that Harry Horton told me that they calmed down him by suggesting that the situation is to his advantage since he will be both a manufacturer of a two stroke and an importer of a four stroke engine. It also helped that Richardson was convinced that 4-stroke engines are useless, as they do not have the power and torque to deal with Australian grass and in any case they will be extremely expensive.

In actual fact Pace at this stage was buying Villiers engines for something like �28, Victa/Tigers at around �23 and Lauson's were to land for �15. (I might not be entirely accurate with my numbers.) And I may add, the America engine included the Wind-up Starter never before seen in Australia.

Fieldhouse arranged to transfer for us to use the name of Barclay Trading Company, the same Company which used to be retailing Victa in George Street, whose Managing Director I became, I arranged for 10 engines to be air freighted and we prepared 2 of them on a Pace base plate. I took one over to Victa to show them and Merv looked at it from a distance and with disgust and made some disparaging remark about the colour of the engine. But I was left alone to do my worst.

About two months before I ever heard of 4-stroke engines, I circularised all the mower manufacturers I knew of (there were frequently new manufacturers who have decided to become the next mower millionaires) and suggested that in the interest of the orderly marketing of mowers we should enter into an Australian Lawnmower Manufacturers Association. John Mason of Victa supported me and the first meeting took place in Melbourne with about 12 representatives. We agreed that we will be sensible with our discounts but we agreed virtually in nothing.

However, I had a mower with a cheap engine and while I went to all the makers I also called for a meeting of the Association, where I showed them the engine on my Pace and suggested that we all agree in a price. I could not do this lawfully these days, but the anti-trust legislation those day did not forbid this. At the time, the usual accepted price of a mower was between �46 and �53 and I suggested that we all agree that the price of 4-strokes will not be less than �56. Some of the manufacturers, I remember Pope and Turned were in unison, suggested that we should not do so. I countered that if we do not agree and what is more, if they do not wish to make a 4-stroke mower, I will be able to price my Pace 4-stroke for considerably lower, somewhere around the �38-40 mark. Knowing that no-one was as advanced as we were in importing a 4 stroke engine, I knew that all who were wishing to make a mower with a 4-stroke next season will be buying the engine from me, i.e. from Barclay Company.

And so it was, Victa, Turner, Pope, Villager, Scott Bonnar etc. all placed their orders. Most bought standard engines, but some wanted some changes and I felt that it is imperative that I should go to the manufacturer and also that I should arrange my US $ Letters of Credit in New York at a better rate than was possible in Sydney. And so I suggested that I go and all my fellows in the Pace "committee" agreed. However Merv Richardson did not and actually forbid any further talk on my trip. As he made clear, if anybody was travelling oversees it will be him or him and Harry Horton, who used to go on so-called business trips to Tahiti, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

I gave up, but Richardson and Horton were leaving for their overseas tour in a week or two and no sooner were they in the air, I was ringing Garry who agreed immediately that I should go, so on 12th May 1960 (I remember the day as my nephew was born and I visited his mother at RNS in the morning on my way to the airport). To travel OS was a great deal those days, so I was not surprised when in one of the rented rooms of the Mascot tin shed which masqueraded as the Sydney Airport building I was farewelled by Kevin Kirby, my bank manager, my production manager, John Mason of Victa and one of my mower competitors,David Hynd of Turner, my wife and one of her girlfriends.

In America I visited Tecumseh's offices in Tecumseh and in their private plane went to see the Lauson engine factory across Lake Michigan, where the engines were made. My visit to America was most interesting, but generally speaking I thought that while the production facilities were most efficient, nothing else in sales or accounts were.

Joe Galazzi, the export director of Tecumseh was a gentleman and and I was glad to see him a couple of months later in Sydney at a reception which the Kirby organisation held for him. When I was introduced by his son to Sir James, he said that he is happy to meet me as he wanted to know if indeed I was as great a bastard as his sons told him I am. He was a most genial guy with two of the most charming sons, who were most efficient businessmen also.

After a few days I returned to New York where I borrowed � million dollars from the Chemical Bank to pay for the engines I ordered. While in New York I had a cable from Carney Fieldhouse to say that the Minister of Trade has reintroduced import licensing specially for mower engines (at the request of Victa). I immediately sent a cable to Mr. McEean, the Minister of Trade, advising him that I have just spent � million dollars on engines and will he please advise me by return if I will receive the required import licenses.

While waiting for his answer, which was positive, there was nothing for me to do so I bought a return ticket to go to London on Thursday evening to visit my parents and brother. Unbeknown to me Merv Richardson and Harry Horton were also in London and apparently they just heard from Garry that I did go to America after all and the two of them decided that as soon as they get home they will sack me.

They could have done it a lot earlier, because while in London my brother arranged to meet me in the vestibule of Grosvenor House, where Merv and Harry were staying. We did not meet and by the time they got back to Sydney, I virtually sold all my engines and thus they had very little reason to sack the guy who was making money for them. In fact Merv, grudgingly at first, more enthusiastically later, accepted the fact that 4 stroke engines are not as useless as he first suggested. But he could never be convinced that they were as good as his two stroke, which were indeed very good, although having a lot more problems than a 4-stroke, made a lot of noise and polluted the air, although in those days we had no climate warming problems and did not count our carbon footprint.

And this is the "brief" story of how a 35 years old "New Australian" introduced 4-stroke engines to Australia. Today, 49 years later, Briggs and Stratton Inc.of Milwaukee, Minnesota actually owns Victa and Tecumseh closed the Lauson engine plant.

With our many thanks to Steve for this information,

Could I possible see this sales sheet please?

Awesome information there Darryl.
I do have one question from it though.
So did make and sell the first ever 4 stroke mower in Australia?
Or maybe that should go into another topic as that is starting to go off topic.

The data plate on the motor looks like it was screen printed. Most early data plates on machinery used screen printing, the down side is the ink washes off with solvent.
If you want to use a modern process you can get metal digitally printed by finding a print shop with a flat bed printer that uses UV ink.
Reproducing the originally art work will be fairly time consuming though. Do you have a clearer photo than the one posted?

No unfortunately I don't have a better picture and I'm not going to be able to now. As that was taken before I gave the mower wash,yes I used degreaser so I lost all the ink. I wasn't happy if I had of know I would have found a better way. I think my four star still had its plate with ink on it.

Artwork could still be done from the photo you have if you went to a graphic designer and know what all of the text should say.
The time required however to get it exact would add up to a few dollars and would probably exceed the value of the mower.

The Model 35 was a most enduring Scott Bonnar model.
It was fitted - at times - with Kirby, Villiers and Briggs 4-strokes,
and Kirby and SB 2-strokes.

Can I please have a Maid like that to cut my lawns as I'd give up running around behind my Scotty's and just sit and watch her do it.

Cheers,
BB