I saw this listing the other day aswell and pretended not to see it as the wife has already put a ban on me buying more mowers. As CJ stated it's a Landmaster Gardenmaster tiller as I have 2 of these 1 which I bought last month for $30.00 hence why I closed my eyes at this one.
Just be carefully buying these old machines especially at the higher prices as you need to be sure they are fairly complete as you will find it almost impossible to find parts. From memory these machines were made sometime in the 1950's and if you are looking for parts they most likely will have to be sourced from the U.K. which will burn you in shipping and $ conversion. I noticed on this machine for sale it obviously has been painted green by someone and there are alot of parts missing around the engine, to be honest it could even have an engine swap and not be married with the original 80cc J.A.P engine but hard to tell from the photo as it looks like there may be an exhaust on the right hand side not at the front and the air vane covers are missing on the engine. The other thing that looks odd is the tiller attachment, it looks way to short and although there were many attachments for this machine the 4 digging blades look unusual as my 2 machines only have the 2 blade diggers. I got a whole create of attachments including the hood and never seen the 4 bladed system.
Going by the photo it looks more like a parts machine, for that price you would spend an eternity and more than what you paid for trying to source parts to get it complete. This one of mine I picked up for $30.00 is fairly complete it was just missing the yellow weight at the front but as I said my other machine is complete aswell but has a broken recoil pull starter spring and rusted out tank so when I get around to doing the restoration it will be 100% complete between the 2 machines with a few attachments.
If it's all there and complete its great little machine.
That dome head looks to big and high to be a J.A.P motor hence why the fuel tank has been removed from between the braces and mounted on the outside. I'm betting the J.A.P engine is in pieces in that box of bits. Looks like a bitza.
I also have one of these with a Victa on it also a set of Victa handles and not sure where the fuel tank came from. It is great in the vegie patch but not real good on hard ground
Hi exfarmer Interesting to see another one with that kind of engine. cant tell from the pictures with those Victor handles but guessing the originals have been chopped off. You need these ninja star blades to dig hard ground, not sure if there orgional, I know my great uncle made a whole heap of different blades for this machine. These work great to break up hard or clay soils and the odd small tree roots, works well to dig a trench and rip out grass so you can shovel it out easier.
G'day all and Gardenmaster lovers This is a great topic and thanks to all the replies.
There's no substitute for experience in my view. I loved Bonn Scott's advice to members. Very thoughtful and reasonable.
Norm - Elder Statesman - has convinced me of the Victa engine. The JAP engine has been replaced.
exfarmer adds comment about the limitations of domestic garden tillers. Don't expect these machines to be 'ground breakers' ... in any real sense. The fuel tank is, I believe, a 1960s Victa part.
Interesting broucher CyberJack, I thought these blades were original as the rivets looked more of a manufactured piece of meterial. I can confirm now I have all the standard parts including the weeder which I had no idea what it did. Guessing after 60 years these accessories went missing and the optional accessories are rare to find.
I find the Gardenmaster interesting because of its historical success in AUS and NZ.
It was a clear winner design for the home gardener. In fact, Masport, later, sold an extremely successful 'Home Gardener' take on the design. These sold in high volume from c1970s, but have a niche market today.
I have always noticed how similar the two were, would you know if attachments were interchangeable between the two brands? Just curious as the shafts look almost identical. The Landmaster has significance to me as I always remember it being used in my grandmother's garden and veggie patch when I was a kid, even back then I thought it was a vintage machine. It probably hadnt run for 30 years untill about 3 years ago when I cleaned it up threw an old gas tank on it and got it firing. Takes me back to my child hood when I hear that J.A.P engine.
Hi Jack, There must have been a lot of people with veggie gardens in those days, now if somebody has a veggie patch it is a bit of an oddity. I guess the supermarket ease of getting them had an impact. House blocks now do not allow for veggie patch and as people die off in the inner suburbs that had big yards are now snapped up to have units built on them, or they have one big ugly monolith built on them from fence to fence and any remaining area covered in concrete
Love that assembly line photo, where in Aus did this take place?
I think that older generation grew up living off the land prior to the wars when cars were only available for the wealthy, the higher class society would drive to the corner store and not get their hands dirty digging veggies while the rest had to survive in these tough times. We also need to remember not everyone had a fridge or ice box to keep things fresh back in those days, this is probably why the outside dunny was next to the veggie patch so when you got up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet you could get a snack on the way back to bed. The war was probably the biggest factor as this caused a great increase of migrants such as the Italians and Greeks who as we know came to this country in droves during the 50's & 60's. This is what these guys knew how to do best and every migrant terrace backyard had a bricked up veggie patch and no grass. Still to this day the last remaining survivors of theses migrants still have a veggie patch, my Italian grandmother who passed away 7 years ago still has to this day the bricked up veggie patches in her Sydney backyard where the old Landmaster did its job. My mother has now continued on the veggie patch growing strawberries, mangoes, parsley and even a pineapple to name some. The newer generation think veggies are made at Cole's and Woolies like the hot cross buns and wouldent know how to survive if the next war came along.
G'day Norm and Bon_Scott Totally agree, Australia was such a different place 'in the day'.
I remember when I did initial research on the man, Scott Bonnar, I was surprised that his first invention was a green feeder: because many Adelaide backyards had chicken pens.
Love that assembly line photo, where in Aus did this take place?
Bonn_Scott, it was the Latrobe Street, Ballarat, factory for the Landmaster.
The first Landmaster tillers sold here were fully imported from England. The British Firth Cleveland Group set up shop here, trading as Landmaster (Aust) Pty. Ltd., in the late 1950s. Some models, then, were made or 'assembled' here.
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/4wyRwe9.jpg)
