OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Ride-On Mowers A question for Lewis

Doesn't that sound typical! Folks on the sideline pouring scorn on an idea when some bloke has hung his shirt and reputation on the idea!

But he had the last laugh. Is works better than anything on the market and is the very reason folks like me are here raving about the design and it's history.

.......and he had so many other brilliantly simple design ideas!

Dad heard it all his life from engineers and bank managers etc LOL!

Lots of people sniped at him from the sideline !

The Greenfield Drive is probably the most copied ride on drive system

Copy is the sincerest form of flattery!!!

Morning Lewis, Morning all,

On the subject of Theo's famous and much copied drive: Those who can innovate, those who can't imitate.

Looking at the photos of #2 there are a good few differences to the old G40 girl of mine. Up until last night when you uploaded the photos of #2 I had assumed that my machine represented the first production design - we live and learn.I should add here that another forum member, gml has a similar ( identical to mine) machine that he's done an excellent job of returning to pretty much showroom condition.

Differences between #2 and later machines include all sorts of minor things ( cutter height lever ratchet, bonnet grille etc.) but the standout one is the engine clutch. Theo was yet to develop the device which hung on the engine pto of later machines.

Your accountant certainly got good use out of the old girl! . And it's great to see that it's preserved, warts and all, showing it's age and provenance.

I think I read that Theo started but never finished his engineering degree? If this is the case he didn't need one!!

And, if I may ask, what happened at Rover??


Below is a snap of my old girl as I bought it. It's now apart and the rust repair work on the chassis is done and will be painted shortly. The thing has had a hard life and sat under a tree for years. It was also subjected to flooding such that it and a G50 powered machine I bought from the same place had the engines literally full of water!.........and please excuse the state of my shed. All that muck on the floor came off that machine

We were a bit of a cottage industry in the early days

Probably no two Greenfields were the same!!

When we went to red and G65's , we spruced things up!

That's an early one you've got there!!
Great to see

I can tell you about Rover one day

Dad was not an engineer

He studied Commerce at University but was bored and very proudly told everyone that he was a University Dropout!

The very first Greenfield!

Hello Lewis,

I feel it's absolutely fabulous to have a Company Owner / Director on board here at ODK. Normally they wouldn't want to have a bar of any Forum type public communication. This really provides transparency between the ones that know and the ones that want to know.

I must congratulate you on your push mower series the "Enduro". It would without any doubt in the world have to be the worlds best push mower and the fact that it's still made here in Australia is such an endorsement to Australian Engineering and Manufacturing, something we should be proud of, but are sadly losing rapidly.

I have just recently steered my best friend to purchase the "Vanguard Model" from "Strathalbyn Small Engines" here in country South Australia and he (David) claims it to be the best mower he's ever owned and used in the domestic field. It just feels so right in ones hands and has so many features that we all used to have in the domestic home mower which have all now been turned into "Kmart Toy Department" type and looking machines at Bunnings. With all their flimsy highly colourful eye catching plastic paneling and razor thin plastic coated tread looking mag wheels etc. it is so good to still see that there is still one manufacturer left that feels that the trends must be bucked and sanity is to prevail.

If there is one downside to all this and that is that the dealer network doesn't seem to want to promote the "Enduro" range (at least here in SA) and would rather sell a Victa as was the case with David when he went to a major Adelaide Franchise who steered him straight to a Victa after stating that we can't sell those (Enduros) off the floor, but could order one if really desired with a wait of over 3 weeks, thus why we ended up going to a regional dealer who was so glowing of the Greenfield product. I understand that in the domestic market the name Victa and Rover is known by all, thus it's a good spring board to bounce straight off of and not much educating of the purchaser needs to be done in the sales process.

I'm not sure what the real story behind all this is, but I just feel that with such a fantastic product available here on our own shores why are we steering away to foreign owned brands and to make matters worse they are such a substandard product.

I have since David's purchase directed a number of people who have asked "what should I buy" towards the retailer at Strathalbyn and he has sold quite a few Enduros to them all. All these people are so happy with their purchases it's just so sad that none of the Metropolitan Dealers are willing to sell / promote the Greenfield Domestic range, but only the Ride On Range.

Anyway once again I must congratulate you Lewis for coming on board a public domain like ODK.


Cheers,
BB.

The rest of the funky brochure

Thanks BB
I really appreciate your support!

The domestic range has been a tough sell since 1989

Not because there's anything wrong with it but getting dealers on side and promoting it has been the problem

We don't have a complete range like everybody else
It costs us a lot of money to make it and we cannot offer deals

Nevertheless customers buy them and love them! It's a mower designed by someone that really knew what he was doing!

Morning All,

Many thanks Lewis for posting the photos of Birdie. I'd read somewhere that the drive was initially used in a golf cart and that sales were fairly slow. I suppose it was a question of volume as much as anything else - a fairly small percentage of people play golf but most folks have grass that needs to be mowed.

I'm a bit of a history junkie and so find old advertising to be of great interest! Many thanks again.

Cheers,

As far as I know we sold 23 of them before Dad was convinced to design a ride on mower with the drive

The Birdie was a good thing
It had reverse and could fold up and fit in the back of a station wagon

Dad wasn't a golfer by the way

Some old brochures

Some more brochures

great stuff Lewis! what vintage would you put my old red at?early 60's ? not the orig engine but it was all i could find,thank's for all you are doing it is great for the forum and good reading,

What a beauty!!
If I may be bold
You just need to paint the bum seat white and turn the seat Spring around
No offence intended!!

Wouldn't be early 60's
We weren't around!!
Pre1971 for sure because that's when we changed to yellow

Thanks so much for loving the old girl!!

I just noticed the grille
Has it got a tool box in front of the steering wheel?

It's quite an oldie!

What a beauty!!
If I may be bold
You just need to paint the bum seat white and turn the seat Spring around
No offence intended!!

Wouldn't be early 60's
We weren't around!!
Pre1971 for sure because that's when we changed to yellow

Thanks so much for loving the old girl!!

no Lewis no tool box, i have another with the tool box but is a later one.

the seat was red all the way back to steel i completely sanded it back,i would much rather it white so consider it done,and yes i will turn both of the springs around,thank's for the info

Hello Lewis, prd, gml and Mod BB
Many thanks Lewis for this fantastic history!!!

Many thanks for the questions posed here.
History is the BIG winner.

The patent for a Manually Powered Vehicle was covered here: -

https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/u...nhold-patents-1960s-1970s.html#Post78614

Your Father developed the idea for a motorised job at some point.
That is most amazing!

I guess we are talking early 1970s?

Lewis, do you have any memories of the foot powered job of c1968?

All the best.
---------------------------
Jack

hi Jack,this has created a bit of excitement for us