OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Reel Lawn Mowers, Atco & Villiers etc. ATCO Heavy Duty 16 - 147cc Villiers

Can anyone help me ID this beast of a mower I found at the local recycling center yesterday? The Villiers (which still runs sweetly) is a 25C, made in England in 1955. The mower has a 16" cut and quality Hoffman bearings throughout. Above all, it weighs an absolute ton!

Craig

Hi Craig, and on a good score there mate.
Unfortunately it's got me stumped, I've never seen anything like it....However, I like you, suspect that it is a British made machine,and you could contact the Old lawn Mower Club; webquery@oldlawnmowerclub.co.uk and they may be able to identify it for you.
Best of luck with it Craig, please let us know how you get on.

Are you sure it isn't just an ATCO that has had some bad luck along the way? The layout looks like a normal ATCO, but with home-made handgrips and clutch lever, and with no kick-start. Having said that, it is over 40 years since I sold my ATCO, so perhaps I'm missing something obvious.

Hi Grumpy, no, mate, I don't think it's an ATCO, I have a sneaking suspicion that it might be a Suffolk "Sixteen" with some home improvement....plus it has a kick starter, check the pics again mate, it's on the inside of the engine (between the engine and clutch) and the foot pedal looks like a sort of stirrup shape made of flat strip steel and the method of operation is a sprocket; (on the engine shaft, you can just see it) and a casting with holes/slots in it, to engage the sprocket.

So it has a rope start and a kickstart as well-hmm. Of course a kickstart on the inboard side of the engine certainly isn't ATCO, and the engine mounting isn't either. I wondered about the idler on the cutting cylinder drive chain - I don't recall my ATCO having one, but I might be wrong.

You're spot-on with the kick-start Darryl.

The freewheel hub is a classic old 'Villiers De-Luxe' which is totally worn out...hence the rope.
The kick start lever itself is made from plate steel welded (very neatly) around chain itself...see pics below

Hi Craig, mate, talk about ingenuity, that's bloody brilliant!!
They say that "necessity is the mother of invention", and this really shows how clever someone was, in solving the problem.
He was obviously very good welder by the look of it also.
Fantastic, Craig, thanks for the pic!

Wait till you see the clutch.......heheh.

Now I think of it, this mower may have had a small bit part in the original Mad Max movie.... You know, that previously deleted scene right at the start where his wife is nagging him to mow the lawn but he wants to go down to the pub with the boys and watch the game....

Hi all. I realise its a long time ago but I think this may be a machine made by Greens of Leeds, or an Atco heavy duty machine for professional use ( hence the large engine ) A close up of the clutch and reel always helps if available

G'day midget98,

It is an Atco Heavy Duty machine.
These are not common at all in this small size.
The bigger sizes were fitted with JAP engines (as below).



All very heavy duty.
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JACK.