What was the first engine used in the Greenfield? We've read an article that says it was the Honda G30. I've also heard speculation that maybe it was only used in prototype.
Was the G30 used in production and for how long?
There are so many questions I/we would like to ask about the history of Greenfield but I'd like to kick off with this one as it's of particular interest to a few of us here.
Happy New Year to you too and everyone on the this forum
It was very nice to be so warmly welcomed!!
Yes. The Honda G30 was the first engine we used
We weren't spoilt for choice and a relatively unknown brand Honda was just about all we could get
I have the first Greenfield we sold
It was the second one we made
When I work out how to I'll post photos
I don't think we made that many with G30's but will try to find out because supply wasn't strong from that source and we were perpetually running out
We grabbed whatever Hondas we could I think we used G35 and G40's too but will check
We sold those machines hand over fist because they were an absolute revelation! So much so Honda Japan noticed and we eventually had a steady stream of the new more powerful G65
Of course we also trailblazed Fuji Robins successfully
Very much appreciate you looking into this and would very much love to see the photos of the machine you have.
I'm spending a little time over the break doing some work on the very tired G40 powered machine that I've got here. I'll post a few photos of work so far over the next few days.
Hello Lewis and prd. Many thanks prd for the assistance there.
Lewis, prd has sent me a PM about how we might get your insights and experience in a controlled way - as we know you run a large company.
It may be that this topic can be for questions to you, but the topic will be moderated to filter our irrelevant questions. I think the true believers just want to know better history about Greenfield - to set the record straight.
I have many questions, but one at a time, as prd has said. This is our best chance of setting the record straight about Greenfield Products, their great contribution to AUS lawnmower making, and the recognition of a great Australian inventor, Theo Reinhold.
Lewis, thanks so much for the photos!! They show that the very first machines were different again to the one G40 machine I have in the shed. Specifically the front axle pivot is different. The decals are different, the grille fluting is different and the colour- is the grey/silver original?
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!
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
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.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
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.
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,
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
I have very fond memories of the scooter!!! When I worked at our factory in Abbotsford Rd Mayne in the holidays, I used to ride a scooter to the local cafe with all the workers' smoko and lunch orders
I brought them all back in the front basket!
We made a few scooters and they were used by supervisors including Dad to scoot around faster
We were well ahead of the scooter craze with ours!!
There was a HD10 too and I think it had the Honda G80
My HD10 has a electric start 10hp Briggs in it which is original from 1974, i tried to buy another HD10 which was also a Briggs however it was not electric start and owner from new so the Briggs must have been original , I hope this helps
Also Mr. Lewis, my father owned a greenfield tractor that was stickered as and was powered by a victa 160, he recalls its name being a HD5 or something like that. Would you have any more information on this? also I would just love some information regarding my HD10 so if you had any i would very much appreciate it.
I have very fond memories of the scooter!!! When I worked at our factory in Abbotsford Rd Mayne in the holidays, I used to ride a scooter to the local cafe with all the workers' smoko and lunch orders I brought them all back in the front basket!
Hello Lewis and dedicated Greenies, Many thanks Lewis for the wonderful anecdote about the scooter. You have explained another mystery or unknown about your Dad. Perhaps the scooter was designed with you in mind ... ?
I wonder whether their would be a market for these today? I suspect, YES! - and marketed to adults! I think I would use one - traveling to the local shop. The movement to environmental solutions to today's problems is gaining momentum. There is also the issue of health through exercise.
Thanks for answering member questions and adding to lawnmower history.
May I ask for any recollections on the Abbotsford Road, Mayne factory? That's a road that has changed a lot! I guess that factory does not survive.
It is important we record early Greenfield history- as your dad was a true pioneer of early Australian ride-ons.
Many thanks for taking the time to answer member questions. We are so lucky in having access to reliable information.
That could have been the case Jack I'm sure we still had a scooter at work but with the moves if probably was snatched up
I can show you the site where Greenfield was in Mayne There's a building there still but not sure if it was ours
We backed onto Breakfast Creek and I still remember fishing for catfish there
We manufactured HD8, Javelin , IPD Slasher and the first of the Tractors there and it operated as a retail shop as well I remember sitting on traded in Rangers and Ranchers and Mowmobiles and others
There was a small shop next to us run by a man called Roy Gripske He sold aftermarket mower parts
We eventually left there in 1974-75 I think and moved to 212 Beatty Rd Archerfield until a suspicious fire forced us out
I can show you the site where Greenfield was in Mayne There's a building there still but not sure if it was ours
G'day Lewis An address would be great for the record. No one knows the original address and location of Greenfield mowers.
These would have been exciting times in an exciting area with all that industry on Brisbane's CBD fringes. Perhaps Greenfield employees would mosey on down to the local pub after work?
A secondary question is about early dealers. One brochure you uploaded is from Power Mower Sales on Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley. They were close to the original factory, and I guess one of the earliest Greenfield dealers...?
Are there any long-standing, loyal dealers that you would like to record ... for history?
Hi Lewis ( hopefully you come back to us soon) According to the guru guys both of my Greenfields are quite early models One of them was my grandpas and my dads before it was mine, so it will become a 4th gen one when i kick off. neither of them have the original engines, but both still cool to own, heres a couple of pics for you,
My experience is that this format of forum is a bit out of date now, in the last couple of years groups on facebook have really expanded, it is a much more active i guess platform
Much more regular posting and many more active members.
Don't get me wrong though, there is a lot of great info on this site, i still regularly use the parts sections in particular
Yeah I had a feeling that Clique-book had something to doo with it. Australians and UK hobbyists have a proclivity to forming cliques in particular interests. It must be in their DNA or something. I have no time for that school yard nonsense. Facebook is beginning to be considered old hat by many circles now.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
When you have had your family business that your father started many years ago come crashing down around your ears I guess the last thing you would be thinking about is a mower forum and people wanting you to dig up old info on mowers that were being built when he was a kid
The thing that I find interesting about the two formats is that our forum has people that actually write things and explain them while FB is just full of idiots that just post one liners and it seems more about boasting about one's self than constructively helping others with a level of care.
Here you can search up a problem and find an answer while on FB everyone continually asks the same stupid questions as there's no real filing system to store info under.
Sadly it's a direct reflection on how our society has ventured down a path of ignorance and self indulgence along with self gratification.
I've always said that I won't be a part of FB, but have found myself interested enough in having a bit of a look at it and as such I've created an ID that is fictitious as I won't use my proper name on it and registered with all the SB pages just to see how all these pages function and it actually blows my mind that with my 40 plus years of Model 45 experience that all these "Johnny Come Late-lies" that have bought a mower 2 months ago carry on as if they know absolutely everything and have as much experience as I would have in just a couple of months............Really ????
So does this mean that I must be a really slow learner or are all these so called experts just toss bags trying to flex their muscles amongst all the WWF participants on that platform ? It is no doubt a herd mentality that exists on that format, something I certainly don't feel is here on ODK that's for sure.
What really irks me and that is there has been a publication produced called "The Bonnar Bible" and I've had a copy of it sent to me quietly and I'm totally disgusted in how much information has been gleaned directly from ODK and even worse some of it is actually my words written on this forum simply cut and pasted into "their" publication. Many photos have just been taken from here and copied over to them, most with a credit underneath say courtesy of ODK. Sorry but this might be legal but to me it's immoral. I don't mind sharing, but straight plagiarism is not fair in my book.
Now in saying what I have above, you can clearly see that I've spent some time writing and explaining how I feel and anyone reading this will get a full picture of what I'm trying to convey across to the reader, but on FB all this would be written in about 15 words or less and it's no wonder people can't correctly understand what's being said and generally take things way out of context.
Anyway that's my take on the "Toilet of the Internet".
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
When you have had your family business that your father started many years ago come crashing down around your ears I guess the last thing you would be thinking about is a mower forum and people wanting you to dig up old info on mowers that were being built when he was a kid
Yup, that's pretty much how I see things, too.
Particularly as the demise of Greenfield looked like getting rather messy, legally speaking. Though I have to admit, I haven't kept track of the latter happenings! It's all too sad, really.
Now, I do have ways of contacting Lewis, via a couple of non-OPE forums [that also operate in the traditional forum format, a la ODK], which both he and I frequent.
However, given the circumstances surrounding the ending of Greenfield P/L, I haven't done so, and don't really intend to, at this time anyway.
He seems to be quite happy working where he is; this actually involves a partial return to a past business interest, from when he was the Oz importer/distributor of Beeman Air Arms, among other high-end brands in that field. His repairs and servicing had a very good rep, too.
Cheers, Gadge
"ODK Mods can explain it to you, but they can't understand it for you..."
"Crazy can be medicated, ignorance can be educated - but there is no cure for stupid..."
