OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Question On Scott Bonnar Cylinder Mowers Scott Bonnar Standard - Villiers Petrol

Can anyone help with information about a Scott Bonner reel mower made in Adelaide and fitted with a Villiers WLA engine.
A photo and year of manufacture would be great.
Regards
Steve

Hello Woodsy

Could you give us some more information?
I don't know what a Villiers 'WLA' engine is...
Scott Bonnar used Villiers engines on its residential and commercial mowers.

The SB experts might be familiar with this engine...?

Cheers.
---------------------------
JACK.

Never heard of of a WLA either ??

Its OK guys I found what I was looking for in the history section. I will get some pictures tomorrow and post them Regards
Steve

Hi Woodsy, and a warm welcome to the forum. It great to have you aboard.
Looking forward to seeing your pics....The instructions for using the forum 'Inline Uploader' can be found HERE
Once again Woodsy, to OutdoorKing.

Scott Bonner 16" with Villiers Engine number WLA 53929

Hello Woodsy,

Yep, that's a rare machine.
Based on the Standard Electric frame, the petrol machines are not common at all.
Date of manufacture - late 1920s or early 1930s. This is uncertain.

I personally favour the early 1930s - because Scott Bonnar were selling imported
petrol mowers (Atco) in the late 1920s - from middle of 1928 to 1931. At one point,
they were the sole Atco Agent for SA.

Scott Bonnar were committed to selling their electric machines.
The petrol Standards were not promoted - perhaps because the procuring of suitable
petrol engines was a real problem.

Historically, an important find.
-----------------------------------------
JACK.

Hi Woodsy,

That is a good find! The sales ledger excerpt on this site shows one record for a similar mower with the same type of engine. The ledger date is 1942. The standard petrol mowers seem to have been available between 1936 and the early 1940's. You can see the record here:

https://www.outdoorking.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=35237#Post35237

Cheers,
Sir Chook

Hello Sir Chook

Nice to hear from you!
Yes, I note that ledger extract. The issue for me is why a small standard with
petrol engine would have survived the introduction of the Centenary model in 1936.
The availability of a Villiers engine during the war years is also not explained ... yet.

Could you help us with what Villiers model this would be.

Cheers.
-------------------
JACK.

Hi Jack,

I too wondered that. I suspect that as the petrol Standard and the electric Standard were quite similar that it may have been a bit cheaper than the Centenary.

What is interesting is that the same ledger shows a similar mower in 1936 being fitted with a Villiers engine with a prefix of WL and a Centenary from the same year being fitted with an engine with the same prefix. Up until after the World War 2 Villiers used letter codes to define variants of engines, however may of these are not known. I would assume that the WL and WLA prefixes are variants of the same base engine. The WLA engine appears to have similarities with the Mk XIC, particularly the head design and decompression valve. The big difference with the WLA seems to have a different flywheel and a cowl (looking at photos of the Centenary it has the "normal" flywheel and alloy cover). The flywheel fan and cowl on the engine showed on the Standard are quite different from the engines used on Atco and other mowers from the 1930's onwards - it is questionable as to whether these would have been produced by Villiers. In terms of engine availability I would suspect that the engine may have been prewar stock.

Finds like these are certainly interesting as they tend to create more questions than they answer.

Cheers,

Sir Chook

Hi Sir Chook

Thanks for that.
Any new information helps here.


Isn't that the truth. Isn't that the truth?

All very interesting.
---------------------------------
JACK.

Hi Woodsy,

I was having a bit of a think about the engine on your Scott Bonnar. On some of my prewar Villiers engines the cylinder barrel has a Mark number on it - see photo below which shows the markings on the Mk VI-A engine on one of my Atco Standards.



This number is not present on all engines, as I have one that says that it was manufactured for Atco by Villiers and says 2 1/2hp. On later engines the number tended to be a part number. Is there anything cast on the back of the barrel as shown in the picture?

Cheers,

Sir Chook

Hi All,

I have managed to obtain this interesting little Villiers engine. It is a Villiers Mk XI-C that has the serial number WLA 53824. Consequently, it can be confirmed that the so-called WLA engine is a Mk XI-C (147cc). Given the shape of the petrol tank and the cowl I am certain that this engine would have originally been attached to a Scott Bonnar mower, probably a Standard.




Cheers,

Sir Chook

Hi Sir Chook
That's some great research there.
So the engine in the photos here would be a Mk XI-? then, given the differences?

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

Hi Jack,

The engine that I have shown a photo of and the one on Woodsy's mower are both XI-C engines and from what I can see in the Scott Bonnar factory picture, this engine also appears to be the same (albeit with some minor differences).

Pre-war Villiers engines generally had a Mark (series) number identified by Roman numerals and a letter that identified the nominal engine capacity. The letters that tend to be seen in mower applications are: A (250cc), B (350cc) and C (150cc). It would appear that the letter prefix associated with the serial number (e.g. WLA) identifies particular specifications.

If we look at Scott Bonnar's use of Villiers engines at this time, there appears to be two main specifications - WL and WLA. It is not overly clear as to what the exact differences are. However, a visual comparison indicates that the key difference is the fitment of the fan and shroud. The photos below compare the two - NB both engines are Mk XI-C engines (photos by Woodsy and Stationary).




Villiers WL (No 53376)




Villiers WLA (No 53929)

Cheers,

Sir Chook