A LESSON IN PERFECTION
From a very young age, motorcycle enthusiast Gary Athey worked diligently under his father’s tutelage at Athey’s Garage in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Started in 1946 by his dad, the garage looked after machining and rebuilding all manner of engines, transmissions and differentials — anything that required specialized equipment to bore cylinders, cut valve seats, machine crank journals or simply change oil and filter and perform a tune up.
“When I was 16, I remember a customer rode into the repair shop on an Ariel Square Four,” Gary explains. “I was captivated by the sight and thought maybe one day I’d own one.” Fast forward to 1998. Gary was still thinking about an Ariel Square Four, but more than that, he was talking about the machines, too. “My wife, Virginia, said to me, ‘Well, find one’,” Gary recalls.
Needing no further encouragement, Gary started looking for a Square Four but had little luck locating one that was for sale near his Green Bay home. He finally learned of a Square Four that was available at Baxter Cycle in Marne, Iowa, and Gary made plans to go take a
