I purchased these three little "shed fossils" recently. I know very little about them, but have been told the dates of manufacture are probably 1958, 1959-1960, and 1963. How do their dates of manufacture fit in with the original Fairway branded mower?
The really old one was clearly designed solely for the Villier's engine. The Royal has a Villier's engine too, but it looks to be a later model engine. This one has the typical Brigg's mounts with an adapter plate. The adapter plate still has blue hammertone paint on it, suggesting the Villiers was the original engine. The middle one of course has the old style of Brigg's engine.
They all have a few bits missing. All were partly restored in the past and running, but have broken down again and just been sitting idle since then. They all need work, mainly on the electrics. I tested one and it had spark, but extremely weak. They all have good compression. I think I will just keep them exactly as they are and do nothing with them.
If anybody has information on these, I would be very grateful.
I love the expression "shed fossils"! This is a difficult one, but the general dating must be close.
Yes, the earliest machine is the 7F job. Note the rotary hand-wheel for height is placed forward. I think this was to accommodate the Villiers 7F. [Earlier chassis had a mid mounted wheel, I think].
The 7F was released here in late 1957, so 1958 would be a safe bet.
I haven't found a date stamped on that Brigg's engine yet. Usually they stamped the blower housing on the rear side, but on this one there is nothing.
I'm guessing the first two were made at Northgate and the last one at the new Eagle Farm factory?
In an earlier post I made about the Fairway catcher, you posted a photo of a Fairway advertisement in a 1964 newspaper. I guess they were probably still trying to sell off their original production line of the Fairway, as Rover was a northern company trying to compete with larger, established companies. But this does suggest that the Fairway was probably made around about the same time as the first Rover? From our position the dates seem to merge together, but I am thinking they may have been only 6 months apart in production, perhaps less?
Incidentally, I have yet to see an original Fairway mower in the flesh. I would of course love one in any condition to complete this collection of early Rovers.
I inherited a Rover of about that vintage once. It had the 2 stroke Villiers but it was rear low arch catcher with a very solid metal catcher. The reason I got it was because the Villiers was a dud right from new. Repaired under warranty a few times. Previous owner very disillusioned upgraded to a later Rover with a Briggs. I did not try very hard to get it going after hearing its history. I put a Victa 2 stroke on it and used it for many years until I ran out of Rotomo parts. I than found a side valve early Honda that I had on it for a while till it wore out. I gave up then & bought a new Victa Powertorque best thing I ever did.
The frame, wheels and catcher of the Rover were bullet proof but the engines not so good, No real surprises there.
G'day vint-mow, Jefff and Gizmo I feel we are all learning things here.
Early Rover is such a difficult topic, but more information is slowly appearing.
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In an earlier post I made about the Fairway catcher, you posted a photo of a Fairway advertisement in a 1964 newspaper. I guess they were probably still trying to sell off their original production line of the Fairway, as Rover was a northern company trying to compete with larger, established companies. But this does suggest that the Fairway was probably made around about the same time as the first Rover?
This is unclear vint_mow. To me the Fairway was originally a 'stencil' mower rather than a store brand. Stencils sold at various stores, rather than customised 'store' brands. Stencils started appearing in the mid-1960s. Best guess.
The first Rovers appeared with Simplex engines in the mid-1950s. Don't forget the Wizard. These were no stencils.
I feel there was a real effort for mower makers to remain 'aloof' of early stencils. and I have argued this was really to appease the growing factions between the small agencies and the emerging mass retailers.
In other words, the Rover Fairway and the Victa Mayfair were very strategic targets. Later, both companies would own their offspring.
Jeff, that's a intriguing story there. Is the reference to the ill-fated Villier's Lightweight 4-stroke?
Gizmo, many thanks for the extensive gallery. I hope there is firther discussion about that in furthering our understanding of early Rovers.
Thanks for the info and photos Jeff and Gizmo. Some interesting looking machines in those photos.
Yeah I figured that Villiers might be hard to get going. I tested for spark on the Briggs today and got nothing. So I think I will just find the missing bits for them over time, but not try to renovate them or get them going. I'll just leave them the way they are.
Funny thing, I showed the oldest one to an elderly relative and he said he could remember pulling the starter on one of those until his fingers were blistered. So they clearly had a reputation.
Yes I came across some info on this forum about "The Wizard" from 1956 or thereabouts (not to be confused with the US one by the same name). I wonder if there are any Wizards still in existence?
It was definitely the 2 stroke. Previous owner could curse it for quite a while without repeating himself. I wonder if this why Rover struggled in the early days. Engines that were difficult to start. It was improved by the change to Briggs.
Some of the early Briggs could be cantankerous too. I can still recall my father back in the 70s pulling the starter cord on the grain bin and auger engines over and over and sweating and cursing. He'd end up taking them to the shed and pulling them down. Clean the filter, clean and check the plug, clean the carby, pull the flywheel and check the points, give them a clean and re-set, then put it all back together. He would get them going again. Then after he'd been for lunch he'd come back to find the engines wouldn't start again. So there would be more pulling, sweating and cursing. Then of course the cord would end up breaking.
Some engines are reliable, others are not, and that rule seems to still apply today, regardless of the brand name. If you get a good one you get a good one. If you get a lemon you soon know about it. It can be frustrating when everybody else says they bought the same motor and have had no problems with it. "Always starts first pull for me!" etc. On the farm we use to call the bad motors "Friday arvo motors", because they must have been put together late on a Friday afternoon, too close to beer time. lol!
I've had my share of crook motors. Some you just can't fix no matter how hard you try or how much money you spend on them. Others start reliably and never give you any trouble. Often it is just the luck of the draw, but on other occasions some motors did gain a reputation. For example the Villier's Lightweight 4 stroke.
I recall we did have a horizontal 2-stroke Villiers on the farm which was very reliable for the first few years. Then all of a sudden it became hard to start. I tinkered with it on and off. Sometimes it would run, other times it refused. I ended up giving up on it. I'm not sure what ever happened to that engine. It seemed to disappear soon after I shelved it, so it possibly went to the tip.
I personally love the villiers engines. they can be difficult .But when they are tweaked just right they run beautifully. You basically just forget everything you know about victa ignitions and start from there.
If my collection is complete ( then how come i keep buying stuff ? ) 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
I know absolutely nothing about Victa ignitions, or Victa engines for that matter. But I recently purchased a Victa Mayfair which shows strong spark on testing, and compression seems okay, so I am considering renovating this one.
I mainly work on Southern Cross and Brigg's engines. I hope to get into Villier's some day. I started pulling one of the engines apart recently but soon found myself in very unfamiliar waters. Decided to put it all back together and leave it for another day. I'll have to get hold of the manuals and study them in some detail first.
I won't touch anything with a 10 foot barge pole that has Kirby, Lauson, or Tecumseh as a brand name. I only have to look at them sideways and they either break or stop working.
Yeah vint_mow those brands are bit of a nightmare. I guess it depends on the engine. i am pretty good at getting most things running." BUT" i had this pretty new Talon chainsaw that for some reason just wouldn't fire up. I had done everything and quadruple checked everything. replaced every bit of the carbie ,put new fuel lines. it had plenty of spark and was getting fuel but wouldn't even kick at all. after many many countless days spent on it i finally threw in the towel. i gave it away for free at a garage sale to some poor fella. i will never buy talon again.
If my collection is complete ( then how come i keep buying stuff ? ) 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
