Vintage Horticultural and Garden Machinery Club

I’m not too familiar with the mechanicals of the Gunsmith, but I’d say it would probably be easier and cheaper to repair the gearbox.

I have an Elec-Trak 36V battery-powered ride-on mower (often referred to as that daft electric tractor). That has a single-speed electric motor yet still requires a gearbox to provide the required drive speeds.…[Read more]

There’s also quite a lot of British Pathe films on Youtube.

Although nothing to do with horticulture, I’ve been watching the 1950s and 1960s British Pathe videos about caravans. The reason is that I’m trying to get Trusty220 to buy a 1959/60 vintage caravan and he’s putting up some resistance at present and I thought the vintage films might…[Read more]

What? Actually PURCHASED jars? A good Yorkshireman would have borrowed them and saved some money. I think I need to have words with him as he’s letting the side down!

Odd question: In the early 1900s who showed the gardeners how to operate these new machines? Considering that the gardeners at Balmoral had, perhaps, never ventured near or been in control of anything as mechanical, this would be a real challenge for some.

Did Ransomes send out an operative to train the gardeners how to use these mowers?

It…[Read more]

I was also thinking that the Western tiller was also another machine, but with different paintwork and decals.

The smaller Western Wizard ride-on mower is also available as a Landmaster and was made by MTD. The larger tractors, also made by MTD, were available in the UK as Wolseley. Was the tiller also an MTD product?

Depends on whether it is a MK1 or MK2 model.

The first ATCOs were American imports from the late 1970s to 1986 and included several model numbers including 11/36 and 11/36E.

The later ATCOs are the dark green ones with a black front, made in the UK from 1986 until 1992. Again there was an 11/36 model.

If it’s the later model then any good…[Read more]

Having mulled this over, I have decided this is like one of those TV episodes of CSI (or whatever) where they get instant results by spurious methods.

My answer, based on no factual evidence whatsoever, is that Thomas certainly is in the photo. Based on TV crime-solving theory, Thomas is taking the photo. A nearby glasshouse has reflected his…[Read more]

Perhaps Noddy employed Eeyore to pull a mower around the lawns then? Which would’ve been a fantastic photo opportunity for Atco with all the celebrity endorsements that go on.

I searched for some grips for the lift handles for a ride-on mower but couldn’t find what I wanted. I then discovered a couple of old bicycle pumps and the grips fitted perfectly – about 28mm size. They are the harder plastic.

Roger

We have a Huffy Sheraton that’s restored. Unfortunately, I don’t have a manual for it.

Do you have the mowing deck for it? They have a convoluted set-up of a couple of belts, levers and springs sandwiched between the chassis and deck which is quite interesting!

Alan

Our Huffy: https://www.vhgmc.co.uk/huffy-sheraton-twscot2018/

Is that along the lines of the trailer in this image:

Farmers Boy – IMGFarm001

I’ve just had a look on the database on the backend of the website and see there are some wheeled hoes. I’ve put them on a page, it may (or may not!) be of some help. Link below.

https://www.vhgmc.co.uk/photo-galleries/hoes/

We don’t see that many hand tools on or push machines on the forum which is a shame as there’s some really interesting…[Read more]

I’d agree with Charlie, it’s a Honda cultivator with a Honda engine. Not sure of the age or model number, but a lot seem to start with the F prefix such as Honda F501.

It’s good to know that people are still using their trusty B&D drills and other stuff too.

I’ve scanned in the Black & Decker brochure (8 pages) and attached it to this thread. It’s pre-decimal, but I also see that when the first Argos catalogue was out in 1973 they were selling B&D stuff. The basic drill was a 3/8 chuck single-speed with a…[Read more]

Christina,

Excellent! Thank you for posting that you found one of the elusive Husqvarna mowers that I researched and wrote about. They really do seem to be quite rare.

Yours is the blue version which, as far as I am aware, doesn’t have the self-propelled mechanism and so it has to be pushed. This may be rarer than the red version which is in…[Read more]

Did Trusty have some sort of sales agreement with Vigzol oils? Was there any benefit to the machines using those oils rather than any competitors oils?

I know someone who has one of those Hayters mowers with the Tecumseh engine but with electric start – it may be a slightly different model/spec but it’s similar. I have to say it’s not in as good condition as the image by the original poster.

As Charlie has mentioned; What is vintage? I’d also add that some of the lower-spec machines of any…[Read more]