OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Reel-Type Mowers Austal Villiers Everyman Reel Mower

Hi I am new to thus forum so anyway- I bought this old mower after doing up a couple of push mowers. Its Austal villiers. I am intetested in dating the machine and am doing a complete strip and clean and paint.

If anyone can date this from engine mumbers etc here they are. I hope I am posting in the right place.

Crank case 131 x 50
178

Cylinder 3812
B6698
PD5
E

Hello Hepsibar
It's great another A-V is saved.

Dating is problematic - and better info will probably be
the numbers stamped on the flywheel.

That this carries an 'X' number is important; meaning
it was Australian 'built'.

The record I have says this was a Condeco spec. ...
meaning the engine is original to your machine.
131X appears early in the record too:



The problem is that no one seems to know whether AUS
built originally meant 'assembled' or 'manufactured'.

I have little idea when the 'X' engines first appeared.

Villiers AUS were clearly assembling engines from imported parts
from probably the mid-1950s. Early AUS Villiers manufacture
was about changing that parts ratio - as more parts were made here.

Your engine is a Villiers MK2 Midget, and my best guess is that
your mower dates to the mid-to-late 1950s.

Cheers
---------------------
Jack

Wow thankyou very much for your time! I will get flywheel numbers asap. 😀

Still to get flywheel numbers but here are some pics.

Up and running, 😀

Hi Hepsibar,
Excellent looking machine and fine attention to detail, well done.

G'day Hepsibar
That's brilliant! A nice front image there.

I can't help but think that the A-V Everyman was named
after the book re-prints of classic literature ... HERE.

Everyman was a clever name that captured a fact: -
Post-war, for the first time, most Australians could afford a power mower.
For the working classes it was not easy - but it was doable.

This was a mower made available to 'every man'.
At least, that was the intention (I think).

Having said that, the Everyman was still about a third dearer
in price than Victa's most expensive rotary in the late 1950s.

56 guineas for a Victa Automatic compared to 79 guineas for
an Everyman in 1958.

It would be great if you could take a photo of the maker's plate.
That will help with provenance and value down the track.

Cheers & thanks
-------------------------------
Jack

Thankyou jack and Normk,

Its still not finished but i will photograph he makers plate asap.

I have the original catcher(in poor condition) but am missing the fairing/cover that sits above the grass deflector and goes under the exhaust. I have the grass deflector but its not fitted.

My slightly off colour choice was for various reasons Black and gold look good so instead of re-plating parts I will paint black or polish if they are brass.

I fired the engine up today and it runs very nicely.

Makers name plate

Hello Hepsibar and Norm
That's great and it has helped me better understand
the A-V model numbering system.

The '2M14' tells us this is a Mark 2 Villiers Midget with 14"cut.
A-V also made a Model G at this time. It's now clear this
referred to the smaller 70cc Villiers Model G engine.

Note the change in address of the later serial number machine.

--------------------------
Jack