PART SIX - Comment
So ... what do we make of all of this?

The advertisements suggest that this was, not only a production machine,
but the kick-start Champion was advertised widely and over a long period.
I have shown two particular adverts here - from late 1957 and 1960 - where
the kick-start was advertised. This does not suggest, at all, a failed
project or design.

I feel (as speculation) that these two recorded machines (from 2012 and
2016) were not prototypes but now incomplete production machines. Bits
have been removed. Why?

There are two possibilities:
[1] The design had in-service issues.
Here, the design was sound but suffered from longer term failures in service.
It may be that dirt or grass ingress fouled the mechanism, particularly the
pawl arrangement contained within the blade holder. The solution here was
the removal of components and the reverting to the back-up - the pulley
and lanyard system.

This design failure is not un-precedented. Very few intact Victa Automatics
survive - with key Predicta parts having been removed in service in the
early years.

[2] Parts Availability
It appears that Champion Mowers stopped trading in the early 1960s.
With that advent there would have arisen the issue of spare parts availability.
If the Champion kick-start system failed it may be that non-availability of
spare parts meant option B - removal of the system, and return the machine to
the manual pulley and lanyard system (as in possibility 1 above).

Either possibility may explain the lack of evidence for the Champion kick-start
machines today. They were clearly sold - but where are they? I am convinced that
some intact machines are 'out there'...

As to whether the 2012 and 2016 Champion mowers discussed here were prototypes
will have to remain an open question. I have argued here that they are incomplete
production machines rather than prototypes, but that is speculation based on
arguments presented here.

The rest is history.
---------------------------
Jack

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