PART THREE - THE NEW MOON RISES

I guess it must be serendipity that an owner of a New Moon Model A contacted me recently,
saying he had one of these rare lawnmowers!

It is amazing that the machine has probably been in the one family right from when it left
the showroom floor ... 3 generations! The current owner 'Jim of Melbourne' told me his grandfather
had the machine at Strathfield, Sydney, where it was used to cut the tennis court.

Jim has been most helpful in supplying information and photographs of the mower for this
important vintage mower record.

THE MACHINE
The little 14 inch machine is in original condition and is largely intact of its components.
It has had a hard life, but not bad for an 85+ year old veteran.

[Linked Image]
[Linked Image]

THE NAME PLATE
The big surprise for Jim was the uncovering of the manufacturer's nameplate on the fuel tank,
hidden by a thick layer of light green enamel paint for many decades. Jim thinks it was very
close to the paint his father painted their house in Pymble when they lived in Sydney . . .
He figured Dad was just 'preserving' the plate.

The mower has a name plate attached to the fuel tank. I could only make out parts of two words
'New' and 'Gas'. The rest of the writing had worn away with time. Anyway, I decided to brush off
some of the grime and you can imagine my delight when the old words started to appear! I didn't
think to take a 'before' shot, but I took one part way through.

[Linked Image]
[Linked Image]

The two things of note about the plate are the quite distinctive font on the make. The other is
the confirmation that this was one of the Albion Street machines, the final address, when the
company traded as P.F. Lark & Company.

TO BE CONTINUED ...