Donny your machine looks in great factory finish condition
now that you have controlled the rust good way to keep it away is to wipe the mower over with a oily rag just enough oil to leave some on the surface of the mower you can apply this to the whole mower handle bars reel motor except muffler of course.
to help stop rust I never wash my cylinder mowers after use
I use my air compressor to blow them down to remove grass clippings dust ect reel and mower come up spotless this way and never get wet. just don't use to much air pressure if you try so you don't blow your paint off
I think you mean your starter cord is not retracting fully some times it just needs some lubrication
to do this remove engine cowing this also contains the rewind starter
with the cowling off the engine you will see the nylon starter pulley which the starter cord is wrapped around
you can spray some wd40 and squirt some oil in the pulley hub hole then pull the starter cord half a dozen or so times till it frees up and rewinds firmly
after a while no lubrication and grit makes the pulley stick and not rewind properly the wd40 and some oil gets it working again
