OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Collectors Corner Rotary Pace Roto-Mower - The first 'official' Pace

This weekend i picked up this very cool Pace "Roto-Mower" for $100.
I did not only get the mower though, i also got a very cool Castrol Motor Oil can made for pace, and also the original Pace 'Roto-Mower" instruction book. I am about to clean the pace and after that i will scan the manual so everyone can read it!


I believe it is a pace Model Number 1585 from what i can see in this pic (found on Vintage Mowers.net ).


This is the whole pace


The Manual


Expect to see the manual and more pics very soon!
thanks for reading
Kye.

That's a pretty special find mate. I reckon that's about as common as rocking horse poo.

Great score Kye, I saw the mowers and then my heart sank when I saw the words "sold" & "Kye" on the cowl. I said to the seller "did a young fella buy them mate" yep ! Good on you, I got some good stuff as well :-)

G'day Kye and slashnburn

Yep, quite rare and important.
The doc Kye supplied is a bit unclear. This machine is rightfully
designated as the 1S85 [one - S - eight - five]. The 'S' is for Simplex;
'85' for the cubic capacity of the engine.

Assuming the Pace doc is correct, Pace say their first models
appeared in 1956 for the 1956-57 season. They were offered with
two engine choices: the Villiers 70cc Mk 3G or 85cc Simplex Mk3.
Both engines had fan-forced cooling.



However, John Longhurst (who created Dreamworld on the Gold Coast),
was clearly making lawnmowers before that. The earliest ad I have is
from August, 1955.



In 1955, the engine would have been a Villiers Midget, and it would
have had no assisted cooling. This is the photo that appears on
the Vintage Mowers website.


http://www.vintagemowers.net/mower_pace.php

So, Kye, you own the first 'official' Pace rotary mower.
This mower is important because of that fact alone.
But, it also has the larger Australian-made Simplex engine.
This is an all-Australian machine.

We look forward to following your progress on this machine.
I understand you intend a full restoration.

Kye, if you have ever visited Dreamworld, I bet you never
guessed that the creator also created Pace mowers in his
early 20's from a backyard garage. He also served as an
apprentice for ... Lawrence Hall ... the person claimed to
have inspired Merv Richardson and his Victa. That's another
story.

p.s. Would it be possible to get a low side-profile photo?
That way, we can compare it to the 'unofficial' Pace base.

------------------------
Jack

I started to clean the pace but sadly i ran out of de-greaser, i still tried my best with water and soap.


Sorry about the bad picture.

Did you buy any mowers Paul?

Jack i have Scanned the Instruction Book and i will send it to you. I have never been to dreamworld , but i almost want to. I love the song too! I will take more pics of the base tomorrow.

thanks for reading
Kye.

I am also looking out for a cheap Pace spanner if anyone has one, I will swap some Victa or Villiers spanners for one.

Hi Kye

One for sale here:-
http://www.ozwrenches.com/manuals-mowers.htm

I will think about buying that soon Jack, the thing is i know i could buy one from my local markets for $1 but who knows how long i would have to wait for before one turns up.

I got a picture of under the base, it is still pretty dirty so i will clean it once i get some more de-greaser.


The fuel bowl



Thanks for reading
Kye.

I just set my paces up next to each other (i have 4), it's interesting to see how the first 2, which i believe are 1956 and 1959 are very similar. The 2 others are what i think are about 1965-1967/68. I have dumbied up a Kirby block on the third pace.



I have also realized that the Barclay base is very similar and i was wondering if Victa used the late 50s pace design on it.



Thanks for reading
Kye.

Hi Kye,

Yes, Victa used the Pace base for their stencil brand Barclay.

The interesting thing about the bases is the apparent development,
with the skirt gradually increasing in height and then the use of
safety skirts forward and back.

The 1956 Pace has no safety skirts at all, but it did have a
narrow skirt on the base that gave direction to the grass discharged.
At this time, all Victa had was the 'toe-cutter' skirtless-base.

Kye, I attach your handbook below.

Thanks for that Jack! I will try to get around to taking some better scans.

that manual is gold, it sounds like i wrote it, "few sparks no hurt will be done" but for the life of me i cannot decypher how to get the mower down a concrete path or verge with the description provided.
so now i am going to sweep my law and try not to get lost doing it


cheers Kye
Sean

Haha! People must not have known much about these new "rotary mowers" back in 1956. That is a nice looking Pace Sean!
I will post this manual on my Facebook page this weekend for Pace Weekend.
Thanks again for editing it Jack! I will look out for more mower manuals for you guys, i will post pics of the covers and if you think they are important just tell me and i will scan them!


Thanks for showing my mower in the Simplex article Jack.

Thanks for reading
Kye.

That's something important to comment on Kye.

I believe by 1956 the rotary mower action of cutting would have been
well-known. Electric rotaries sold across Australia from about
1947, and Rotoscythe rotaries were imported into a couple of States
prior to WWII.

The petrol-powered rotary, however, only enjoyed a NSW release for
the first couple of years. Their venture into other States only occurred
from about 1955. By 1956, they would have been equally well-known.

Kye, you are quite right then. These were new machines in an environment
when folks could finally afford their first powered lawnmower. I'm not
even convinced that Pace were sold in Queensland in 1956.

Comments on your collection:
The Pope can has the ying/yang symbol - the union of Simpson & Pope -
so it must date from mid-1960s or later.

The Solo can - I have no idea. Isn't it a lemonade?
ODK does not endorse Solo as a mower propellant.

The manual on the right covers the Model 80 & C80, so it
is the one for your Gardener.

For the record, I would love scans of the Rover manual and the
Villiers MK15(?).

Thanks for the great stuff you bring to these forums!

--------------------
Jack

heres a a few more versions of the pace variants that i have.

Thats interesting considering i am in Queensland, but i guess all it takes is one family to move up here.

As for the Solo can that is my dads, he collects Vintage Chainsaws, he recently picked up a Solo Rex chainsaw, similar to the one on the website. I only just realized that Solo was the name of a lemonade brand as well!
I thought the Pope-Simpson might be of interest to any owners of a Pope-Simpson, sadly it is fairly bashed up.
I will also scan those manuals tomorrow for you.

Those are some very nice paces Gizmo, especially that early one. Paces are my favorite type of vintage mower . I love that one with the Victa engine too! same base as my Pace Super.

Thanks for reading
Kye.

Make that tonight, i am almost finished scanning them now and i will send them to you soon!

thought i would add this to the pace post. i found i had this in the shed.

G'day Gizmo

I can't say I've seen that Pace can style before.
Perhaps BP were associated with BP before Victa was...

The mower of real interest is the one in your second photo.
This is the 1V98 - the first recognised pace (from 1956)
with the Villiers Mk3 Midget engine.

Cheers
----------------
Jack

I like your can Gizmo! not a fan of the pink though haha.