Honda launched their range of lawnmowers in the UK at Syon Park, London in August 1978.
The first mower range, with three-speed self-propelled or manual push models, was the rotary HR21 with a 21” cut and a 3.5 hp Honda GV150 engine; the range was priced from £215 to £280. The mowers had a one-piece cast-aluminium deck with the option to be used as a rear bagger, a side-discharge mower with an optional attachment, or as a mulcher. From launch, a feature on many Honda mowers was Roto-Stop which was a deadman’s handle that stopped the cutting blade but left the engine running.
The HR21 won a gold medal in 1978 for the Best Machinery Introduction at the Institute of Groundsmanship International Exhibition.
In 1979 the HR17 with a 2.2 hp engine was introduced, it had a 17” cutting width, an aluminium deck, newly designed controls and a single-stem handle which could fold flat for storage. This model was shown at The Chelsea Flower Show in 1980; incidentally, this mower was shown alongside the newly introduced Honda F200 mini tiller.
In 1980 the new 5 hp Honda HR21-5 professional mower range was said to give an unbeatable combination of performance, economy and reliability. The range was designed for the care of amenity grass, highways and motorway verges. The push model HR21-5 PEW was supplied with a rear grass deflector; the HR21-5SE and SXE models had large capacity rear grass collectors made from heavy-duty nylon; these latter two models were self-propelled.
Aimed at the domestic market in 1981 was a newly-introduced electric 17” rotary mower HREL17. This model had a 1300w electric motor, roto-stop, a single-stem handle and rear discharge with a collector bag.
At the Institute of Groundsmanship Exhibition at Windsor in 1982, Honda announced an agreement with Wolseley-Webb to produce a range of Honda-branded cylinder mowers for the UK. These Honda-powered mowers with recoil start were aimed at the top end of the market and were the 2 hp models HC14 and HC18, and 3.5 hp model HC21X – the model number denoted the cutting width in inches. A larger model, the HC24X with 5 hp, was available with a trailed sulky seat with a roller, and in 1985 was priced at £975 + vat. However, potentially, models such as the HC16 and HC20 may have their origins in Morrison rather than Webb designs.
….The above is the data and research but not written as a story yet…
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