If your mechanic is able to offer 2000€ for an old generator your over paying him.

I mean... just because he's a mechanic doesn't mean he has to be poor or he can't save money. He could even see this as a business opportunity maybe restore it and sell it for higher, or just restore it as a hobby.

Good morning,

Thank you very much for accepting me into this forum.

So I’m a 26 yo Engineer from Portugal I work at my family’s agriculture company that used to produce cereals (mostly maize), vegetables, and grapes in over 140 acres of land since the mid 60’s. Nowadays we only have around 20 acres of vineyards, and around 18 acres rented to produce industrial tomato. Anyways we have an old warehouse with agriculture equipment from different eras that we no longer use. While our local mechanic was servicing one of our old tractors (Fiat 766 from the 80’s if anyone is interested) he spotted this generator (plate number: 2103ST231-03) mounted on a trailer and offered to buy it trailer included. First he offered 1200€ (1035 £) and now 2000€ (1725£).

Now while the money would come in very handy in our process of modernizing the company and upgrading any number of equipment in our facilities, we also don’t want to do give away something that could be valuable, and I personally don’t want to (although it’s not up to me to decide) since the companies property and estate has been slowly eroding away and being sold off leaving it a shell of what it once was. I know these old machines are not as efficient as modern ones but they can be extremely reliable and durable and could potentially be useful down the road. Even if not they are incredibly beautiful machines (from what I see in youtube videos) and it pains me to see it go. I would love to have the knowledge to restore this equipment to its full glory. However we as a company have to be pragmatic and move forward and not get stuck in the past to survive.

Anyways sorry for the ramble, the company’s current manager has tasked me with learning a bit more about the generator to know if this might be a good deal for us or not, so he can present the offer to the administrator (my father).
So from the research that I’ve been doing, It seems to be an Lister ST2 startomatic generator build in 1982, with a Lister ST2 diesel motor (21hp?) coupled to an 8,5 KVA dynamo made by a Portuguese company “Frapil” and a semi-modern rectifier/control panel (with the wiring in good state) installed in 97 which means the generator ran at least into the 2000’s when the company still sowed maize. The generator group is installed on a trailer that (comparing to other offers online) should be worth at least 400€ (345 £).
I would love to get the generator started but I don’t know how to (it seems to have a starter battery missing) and I’m afraid to damage it.

With that said I was wondering if anyone here know a little bit more about this machine, how long are they build to run? Fuel consumption? Is it worth restoring? Could it still be useful today? or if we ever need a generator would be better off just buying a modern generator?

Would you consider 2000€ to be a fair offer for the lot? Should we ask for more? Should we keep it?
I know some of these questions are difficult to answer without knowing the full context of the company, but I would like to know what other people think. And if there is information or photographs that I can provide that would help please let me know.

Thank you very much for the attention, sorry for the long post.

Martim