VILLIERS Mk10 ENGINE – c. 1965

The little Villiers Mk10 on display was manufactured in Ballarat Vic. It is driving an Onga 1” piston pump. The Mk10 is a simple, neat and compact engine with few moving parts. Villiers Engineering of Ballarat started producing Mk10 small air-cooled engines from 1953 and the model was continued until plant closure in the early 1970s.

History: Villiers was founded in 1898 by John Marsden. The business was named after the street of the same name in Wolverhampton, U.K. where the factory was located. Initially manufacturing pushbike parts for Sunbeam, its claim to fame was the freewheeling sprocket.  The firm branched into motorbikes in 1912 but by 1956 had built about 2 million engines, eventually going into liquidation in 1978.

Technical Specifications: Single-cylinder, 2-stroke engine with 98cc displacement. Bore 50mm and stroke 45mm producing 1hp at 2,000rpm or 1.3hp at 3,000rpm.