The company was founded by John Longhurst.
Pace mowers started in about 1954-55 in the garage of a suburban house.
Shortly after, complaints were made by the residence so John was forced to move to a small factory in Burwood.
Some years later John Longhurst bought a factory at silverwater.
Pace was doing very well and became Victa's major competitor, they had a better product and were selling in a different area of the market.
It was when John Longhurst started developing his own engine for Pace mowers that
Mervyn Richardson realised how much of a threat this would be, and made John Longhurst an offer he couldn't refuse.
Victa took over Pace mowers in 1959
Steve Colman was appointed GM of Pace Mowers after the take over.
The takeover was kept secret which only senior Victa management new of.
Victa now had control of the 2 most popular mowers at the time.
At one stage Pace was producing 1 mower per minute.
Pace mowers ended in 1965 when Gary Richardson (Victa) decided to shut it down.
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New Pictures of Pace mowers which may have been made earlier than 1956 have just been sent to me.
I have no paper work to ad, but it is clear that this model may be before the 1st model in the Pace manual.
Model ( unknown ), Villiers Engine, 2 side shutes and cast spoked wheels.
Picture generously supplied by Eddie.
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Pace Spanner
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Pace spare parts manual dated 1964
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