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A friend of mine found this bike in Michigan, in the back of a garage where it sat for 50 years. The story is, the original owner bought the bike new in 1970, rode it a few hundred miles, and crashed it. The right footrest was broken off and missing, the tach glass cracked and needle broke, headlight lens broken and missing, and choke lever broken. I traded a non running 1963 Parilla wildcat scrambler for this bike and neither I or my friend believed the Atlas miles were correct.
After I got the Atlas in my shop, I did everything I could to prove it was NOT original. I failed at every attempt; the speedometer worked, including the odometer, the air filter was original as were the Lucas plug wires. The date codes on both tires were correct with original Avon tubes, verified by an Avon tire rep. All the wiring is original and uncut, there was just one anomaly. One of the valve cover nuts was different than the others. Similar, but different. I thought this was odd until I tried to set the valves and one exhaust valve kept changing clearance. I regrettably pulled the head off and found a bent pushrod. Since I had the head off, I inspected it and it looked fine. Except what was that lodged inside the coils of the exhaust valve? Well well well, there was the missing valve cover nut, all gouged up from a binding spring, which bent the pushrod. I don't know if this happened before or after the accident, but I'm sure that's why it was never ridden again. I suppose he checked the valve clearances and then inadvertently dropped the nut inside the cavity and didn't know where it went so he just replaced it. I also found the tank was repainted black, over the original Flamboyant green paint. Maybe he thought green was bad luck? I will never know. I had the tank repainted the original color and have put 20 miles on it. What a fine machine it is.
IMG_20190426_162937_202.jpg
After I got the Atlas in my shop, I did everything I could to prove it was NOT original. I failed at every attempt; the speedometer worked, including the odometer, the air filter was original as were the Lucas plug wires. The date codes on both tires were correct with original Avon tubes, verified by an Avon tire rep. All the wiring is original and uncut, there was just one anomaly. One of the valve cover nuts was different than the others. Similar, but different. I thought this was odd until I tried to set the valves and one exhaust valve kept changing clearance. I regrettably pulled the head off and found a bent pushrod. Since I had the head off, I inspected it and it looked fine. Except what was that lodged inside the coils of the exhaust valve? Well well well, there was the missing valve cover nut, all gouged up from a binding spring, which bent the pushrod. I don't know if this happened before or after the accident, but I'm sure that's why it was never ridden again. I suppose he checked the valve clearances and then inadvertently dropped the nut inside the cavity and didn't know where it went so he just replaced it. I also found the tank was repainted black, over the original Flamboyant green paint. Maybe he thought green was bad luck? I will never know. I had the tank repainted the original color and have put 20 miles on it. What a fine machine it is.
IMG_20190426_162937_202.jpg
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