Atlantic Motorcycles (apologies to Albervin for mentioning them) a few years ago had a John Mossey created White Comet, it was obviously not original, but it looked really smart, it was not a stark bright white but more an ivory white, very tasteful, I was very tempted to purchase it but in the end resisted, it was in my opinion overpriced at the time, now it would have been the bargain of the century!
Multiple barn find
- Thread starter NP5891
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Hugo, could have been Ian Lang's Comet which was painted grey at one stage.
When you see the bikes, take the numbers at least. Engine number front left of crankcase, mating numbers between the cylinders, rear frame number left side low down near to rear wheel spindle, upper frame member on the steering column right hand side. If you buy the bikes, join this club and be prepared for an awful lot of free good advice, and probably a lot of help. If you don't please pass the numbers on via this site. We have a machine register and the chaps that run it would love to hear about bikes that have been off the scene for a while. If you buy the bikes the club will be able to give you the early build sheets and original specification on delivery.
Best of luck, nice problem to have.
Jim Burgess Norvin S.O.
Len, although I admit to being colour blind I am certain it was white. I think it was parked in a house drive on the Hendon Way, which was part of my regular Saturday morning route at the time. Talking of non-standard colours my Rapide was described as 'Fish Grey' in the original registration book when I bought it. This was a very dark gunmetal grey. At first I thought the black paint had faded and tried to restore it with T-cut. Only then did I look in the log book. Mind you the log book also claimed it was a Black Shadow but the engine number proved otherwise.
Thanks for the reply Jim. I've been trying to do as much research as possible, and have found some good info on here about where to look for numbers etc. Ideally, I will have time to inspect the bikes, and then contact the machine register to have them identified. However, due to the nature of such things, I will likely have to make the decision there on the spot. I know my uncle said the guy wanted something like 50K for all three bikes, but that was 15 years ago. As far as I know, all bikes are supposed to be runners, but have had the crankshafts taken out?! Just what I've been told. Apparently the guy was quite paranoid about them being stolen, hence removing the cranks. From memory the so called 'White lightning' is painted white, but I'll have to confirm that.
To me it seems that if the 'white lightning' bike is complete, restored, but in bits, and actually a Rapide, its probably worth only ~30k? It will most likely have missing bits and require some (probably a lot!) work to get it running. Anyone care to comment? Need a rough idea so I know don't overpay.
The racing bikes - well I have no idea. I don't know the history. I have the feeling however that they wouldn't be worth as much as the road going one, as apparently they have been heavily modified. Any comments?
IMHO you should be budgeting at LEAST $10K PER BIKE for a complete check over/engine and chassis rebuild/full new rubber, tyres, seals and hoses etc. no matter how good they look. Based on bitter experience.
It would be a good idea to get a Spares list and any available books/ photographs to find out what is missing. Even if the gentleman purveying these machines has cranks they may well be worthless! Do not trust any claims for work done unless they can be verified by someone who KNOWS what he/she is looking for. Unless the racing bikes are still "fit for purpose" and have goodies like TT/GP carburettors and KVF TT magnetos they may be worth considerably less than a sound road-going machine. In my opinion without much more information and expert help you may be opening a "Pandora's Box of Worms" to quote a local radio personality.
Atlantic Motorcycles! That rings a bell. Several years ago I restored a Black Prince on behalf of it's owner. He was very pleased with and rode it frequently. Then, for reasons unknown he dropped out of VOC activities and contact was lost. Later the bike appeared in an Atlantic M/C's advert for, at the time, a very high price. I emailed this firm telling them if the purchaser wanted to know how much work went into the machine they were welcome to contact me. Nothing was heard. Did you buy MUT 916? (I think that's the correct reg. number) I'd love to know where it is now.
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