OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Collectors Corner Rotary Villager Pinnock Cheetah 2 ,circa 1965

Hi all,

Just thought I would add these images for the records,thanks to Jack for the PINNOCK-VILLAGER - Brochure - c1965 here https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/92410/pinnock-villager-brochure-c1965.html

I managed to track down a catcher after seeing the image of the catcher in the brochure.

Cheers
Max.

G'day Max

This is a most exciting find!
These are brilliant images for the record.

This was a good design let downed by a troubled company.

The thing that sticks out is the catcher.
This is the closest I can see to an Art-Deco or Art Nouveau style.
Who else did round vents!!!

Also note the high base skirt, mid-arch, large rear wheels,
lever-sector 'step' height adjuster, stream-lined cowling, chrome,
quick-release handles, and rewind starter.

That's not bad for '65!

This is a rare and collectable machine, important
to early AUS rotary lawnmower making.

Many thanks Max for your understanding the significance of
these early rotary lawnmowers.

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

I see their sewing machines now and then, and I once had a Pinnock fan heater with an interesting streamlined pressed metal case, but I've never met one of their lawnmowers. So what went wrong with the Pinnock company? Fudged accounting and expansion on borrowed money like H G Palmer?

I'll answer myself here. Pinnock's hire purchase division moved into finance, largely on borrowed money, and their UK branch collapsed in 1967 when they were unable to pay interest to investors. This brought the whole company down. (Thanks to NLA Trove!)

Hello suebutcher
Many thanks for a succinct explanation there.

It would be interesting to research the collapse of HG Palmer and Pinnock.

I guess there were distinct differences.
Palmers was certainly about accounting standards; whereas Pinnock seems to
have involved deliberate fraudulent activity.

Both disasters seem to have involved companies that were rapidly expanding
beyond their means.

A good account of the Palmer failure has been told in the book Corporate Collapse.
https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2420184

The Pinnock collapse defrauded investors on a wider scale and it received
more publicity in the UK than here.

The think is, HG Palmer mowers were no more.
Villager managed to continue selling - but without a national distributor.
It would have been a painful death for the once serious 1950s Victa challenger.

The rest is history.
--------------------------------
Jack