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Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

Dennis Premier MK1 questions

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Good day fellow mowers,

I have recently come across two Dennis Premier MK1 mowers, one 36" and the other 30". They have sat unused for the last 10+ years in a shed. The engines aren't siezed but the mower is mostly brown due to rust. I forgot to check the make of the engines.

I have previous experience in restoring classical cars so I would like to give these a go and try and give them a full restore as I don't have the time or effort to rebuild a car right now. I just have a couple questions:

1) I currently have no use for them as they are too large for my lawn, is there a market for these if they are fully restored?

2) Would I be better off striping them down and selling them for parts?

Thanks in advance for your input.

redfernmowers Tue, 04/10/2011

Hi and welcome, I too am new here but not new to lawn mower restorations. The Dennis machines are worth restoring, the key thing is taking the time and patience to fully restore them, there are parts available if I remember right, it's a question of finding them.

 

These can fetch quite a price when restored and tuned up as there are plenty of folk including collectors or grounds keepers needing quality equipment.

 

I'd love to take one on for a full restoration but having no transport to pick a machine up is a pain. I'd do some homework on them first, investigate where there may be troublesome parts and a sensitive method of removing parts will help immensely. 

 

One tool I can highly recommend and can't sing it's praises highly enough is an ultrasonic parts washer where both heat and ultrasonic waves take out rust, etc with a good chemical compound like the products from shield technology ltd.

 

 

lew

meegulthwarp Wed, 12/10/2011

I have decided to not re-build these mowers. I just don't have the need for them and I am running into money constraints. A fully restored Dennis is up on eBay for £999 and has been there for a while, it seems like you have to know your market if you want to sell them. If anyone is interested in them then get in touch with me, I am based in Devon near Crediton. There is two Dennis Premier MK1 mowers, one has a 30" cut and the other is 36" there is also a 6ft rear pull blade as well.