What a ripper Jonesy! fantastic condition and well worth keeping original I'd reckon. If it were mine, I'd just strip the motor down and get it cleaned up and working perfectly, get some rust converter on the deck, get a badge and some new circlips on those wheels and leave the rest be. The only thing I think may be in doubt would be the pulley, as it's a model one pulley - but I might be wrong.
My model 2, which I've almost finished restoring, is number 51015, so just a few hundred off of yours and was probably made in the same week lol! I'll be using your example as a reference to finish mine off, for sure. Mine was a wreck when I got it, and I spent a heap on it getting it up to scratch. I had the base blasted - a bunch of cracks welded and the whole deck leveled out as it had been buckled at some point. I was missing the badge, snorkle, carby and throttle and it also had a model one barrel on it, which I changed to the correct model 2 type. The wheels were full of holes, and I must a spent a week alone just getting those bogged up and painted. The rubber was all good, including the tank rubbers, which are rare as anything. The only thing I'm short now is a smiley face choke (infact I need three of those!)and the stickers, which Rustic Spares do a nice job of.
My electrics were in a state, so I've just dropped the startor plate into my local mower shop to get fully tested, but I'm expecting the condenser or coil (or both) to be shot. That's the worst thing about collecting Rotomos - It seems the electrics are often buggered, and you can't find replacements easy, from what I've seen. I've heard you can replace the condenser with an aftermarket example with a few tweaks, but as for the coil, you pretty much need to wreck a mower to find one lol.
As soon as I get mine done I'll post some pics. Also If you want to trade your model 1 pulley for a model 2 pulley, flick me a pm
