Skip to main content
Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

My 1960 Hayter Hayterette

Enter a word or two to search the forum section and click the Search Forum button.

Hi....I found this mower in a family member's shed and my wife wanted to throw it away....I thought otherwise and completely renovated it to use on my lawn....fabulous cut.

I hope you enjoy the pics as much as I enjoyed bringing it back to life......BTW I haven't seen many early Hayterettes (late 50's / early sixties) so I have no idea if this mower is of any interest - it being so old.

Cheers

Al

  

 

 

 

 

wristpin Tue, 18/06/2019

That is certainly an early chassis as indicated by the individual wheel adjusters needing a spanner. It appears to have been retro-fitted with a 5hp Briggs and Stratton engine which I don’t think was fitted at that time . If you have dated it using the engine code it could be older than you think; production started in 1957 and only ended in 2018.The period engine for that chassis could have been a Villiers, Clinton or 3.5hp BS. Several model updates later the 5hp BS appeared on the Hayterette Professional. The very early Hayterettes had an unpainted chassis.

BigAl Wed, 19/06/2019

Hi Wristspin....the engine is the original as the Briggs + Stratton engine codes match the codes in the manual I got from Hayter.....there's a machine code stamped on the front of the mower chassis...

I stripped the engine down and it was in remarkable good shape so I'm guessing these old B+S Engines were made to last!

The Hayter manual told me that it was made/sold in 1960....the engine dates from Dec 1959.

Fair play when I first started and it spluttered into life I was quite frankly amazed.

I use it on my lawn for 'winter' cuts...where I don't mind leaving clippings...the cut from the four bladed disc is very impressive.

Thanks for your interest

Cheers

Al

wristpin Wed, 19/06/2019

Interesting, there can’t be many of that era still about.  Do you have the full Model, Type and Code numbers from the engine itself?

Clive1997 Wed, 19/06/2019

Hello 

Interesting to see your early Hayterette, what is the serial number on the chassis usually just near the hole through the top, we have a couple of early Hayterettes one is No. 169 (1958) with the villiers engine which I believe only appeared on the first 1903 machines with the Briggs & Stratton being used from machine No. 1904 onwards which would have been 1960.

Our earliest Briggs model from memory is No. 2249.

BigAl Wed, 19/06/2019

Hi there ...yes I've got the serial nos. etc....

The Hayterette is machine number: 2199

The B+S nos. are : 61702.  907539. 5912110

In the manual I obtained from Hayter (who were really helpful) it states that m/c no. 2199 has a 61702 Briggs Engine.

What does puzzle me is that the engine was painted silver not red....there was no sign of red whatsoever....so I'm assuming it's original colour was silver......would this be usual for this age of Hayter?

wristpin Wed, 19/06/2019

That  61702. number makes it a 6 cubic inch 3 HP lump not a 5 as I first thought  which makes far more sense. The perspective of the images makes it look taller!  

Your comment about the engine being silver raises another query! Your very first image shows what I see as  a "bronze" coloured engine, I have always been under the impression that BS only used bronze  for replacement engines and that the original supplies to Hayter would have been red on a Hayterette. Later engine Type numbers include a trim code which would now give a clue.  In the light of Hortimech's comments, in another thread,  about Hayter's production variations it possibly suggests that they ran out of red engines and bought the "bronze" replacements to keep the production line working. Alternatively your machine was supplied with a Villiers engine and, early in its life, was re-engined. Brian Bell's Seventy years of Garden machinery says that in 1958 the new Hayterettes were fitted with a Villiers 98cc engine ( a two-stroke, I believe) .and cost £36. The illustration in the book shows a red fuel tank and wheels.

 

BigAl Thu, 20/06/2019

Hi there.... unfortunately the bronze colour is just surface rust...the picture doesn't do it justice....there's no sign of any other colour on the engine except silver.

I've inserted pictures of from the Hayter manual that shows my Hayterette (2199) was fitted with a Briggs.....fair play these old manuals are a work of art.

I understand from the Briggs maintenance manuals that some part of the middle number of the engine's serial number indicates what colour it was when it left the factory.... maybe someone knows how to decipher this?

.... again thanks for your interest.

Cheers

Al

wristpin Thu, 20/06/2019

The Briggs “serial” number - Code in their speak just relates to the year, month, day and shift of manufacture. The  Model number to the general engine build  and it is the Type number that may give a clue to the colour. I will do a bit of research there!

 

 

Clive1997 Sat, 22/06/2019

Here are some images of our Hayterettes, No. 169 1958 with Villiers engine & No. 2249 1960 with Briggs & Stratton, interesting that the latter one is only 50 machines away from yours, so both could have been in the factory at the same time!!

Lee Smallwood Mon, 24/06/2019

Hi, sorry to jump in, Hayter question, I'm watching a Hayter on eBay not far from me, with a ratchet type starting handle, do you know when these were fitted, I'm sure at the AGM there was another rotary mower with the same sort of handle, can't remember if it was a Hayter though, eBay no 123790062004, I don't think it's particularly early like the beauties above, but are they "rare" with these sort of stsrter handles, as the seller thinks? Any info greatly appreciated. 

 

wristpin Mon, 24/06/2019

Ask the seller to read off the Model, Type and Code numbers from the label above the exhaust on  blower housing .  The Code will date it. Those wind up starters were a good idea - that wasn’t !  Once the engine became a bit worn or just out of tune they didn’t have enough “ umph” to start them.  The oldest Haytettes  such as the one on this thread have the “ nut and bolt” height adjusters. The next generation such as the one on fleabay have the addition of of the spring lever quadrants for spannerless height adjustment. The fleabay machine, unusually,  seems to have the levers all in tact, possibly due to starting difficulties it was abandoned to the back of the shed. Machines with those height adjusters were coming into us for service in the early eighties, usually with one or mor broken levers which soon became unavailable.

 

Lee Smallwood Tue, 25/06/2019

Cheers for info Clive, I might treat myself to it, haven't bought a mower since May. I'm getting a twitch.