Hi BS,
Your engine was built on Neil Diamond's birthday, that being the 24th of January but in 1996 and not 1941, so from that I'd say that the machine itself was probably built somewhere prior to June of that same year as by then the model 45 had nearly come to a stand still and Rover probably had a fairly small amount of horizontal shaft engine held in stock.
Your machine certainly looks pretty much original without any changes that Rover brought in during the last phase of model 45's. It didn't have the plastic cover fitted as there are no screw holes for it's attachment but the big safety factor hadn't kicked in as yet by 96. That came a bit later with them changing the position of the clutch lever to the rearward facing version just before ending production in around 2009.
I can't see any reason to say that the engine is not original and also some of these Rover Reds came out without black paint on the primary clutch assembly as it looked better being bright die cast finish which looked far better against red and black than all mechanicals being black. BTW it has the "Magnatron" Ignition as all the Briggs engines had by that stage as they discarded mechanical points and had the "Easy Start" slogan opposed to their earlier catch cry "Easy Spin". Yes normally Rover put a "45" decal on the handlebar shield, but maybe it was an initiative by Briggs to have the user promote the new ignition on the end product and receive a reduction in engine pricing.
It will be interesting to see what is under all the black gunk on the front engine deck rail and if there is any signs of fatigue setting in. I hate seeing mowers being sold like that as it hides many sins.
With a reasonable amount of TLC yours will scrub up nicely and the chrome will make it POP against the red and black livery that was the last Model 45.
Cheers,
BB.
Last edited by Bonnar_Bloke; 24/04/19 05:48 PM. Reason: added info
