While not the actual first quad ATV, I believe this company made the first four-wheeled ATV a few years prior to this example that’s for sale here. This rare 1983 Avenger 400 ATV can be found here on Facebook Marketplace just north of St. Paul, Minnesota, and they’re asking $850. Here is the original listing, and thanks to SG… er… I mean, yeah, let’s check it out!
It’s human nature to want to dispute things; it must be in our DNA. At Barn Finds, we always want the truth, at least as far as the internet and other actual sources can dig up that truth. We know that when we say “The first, the oldest, the biggest, the fastest, etc,” it automatically forces people to look it up to see if we’re right, or even close. Sometimes we get it wrong, so don’t feel bad about jumping right in and typing out “First quad ATV,” I’m sure you’ll find that it was the company that made this one. Here’s a video on YouTube showing one of these ATVs being brought back to life, pretty fun. This one for sale here has a pull start, and the one on YouTube was electric start only, which is what my oddball three-wheeler has.
By “first quad ATV,” I’m not talking about the first 4WD ATV, just the first generally recognized commercial, factory-made ATV with four wheels. You may come up with other answers, but generally, Adventure Vehicles out of Monroe, Louisiana, is credited with having gone from making three-wheeled ATCs to four-wheeled ATVs in or around 1980. I would have guessed that Honda would have been the first, and from what I’ve found, they were the first to offer 4WD in a four-wheeled ATV, but even Suzuki beat Honda to the quad ATV market in 1982. Again, you may find different information out there. And I’m not talking about kits, but factory-produced ATVs with four wheels. Many sources say that Suzuki was the first, but Adventure Vehicles had them beat by at least two years. Adventure Vehicles’ factory is said to have burned down in the mid-1980s, and they could never recover, given the influx of Japanese ATVs at the time.
Have I gone over that enough?! (zzzzzzzz)… Sorry about all of that buildup, but it brings us to this 1983 Avenger 400 quad. This was basically a three-wheeled ATC with a redesigned front end to allow four wheels. It was a genius move, and I’m sure other companies were also working on it at the same time. The Avenger 400 was powered by an 8-hp Kohler single (like my oddball Commuter Industries TE-380), very unlike Honda or Suzuki’s slick engines, but they were made mostly for farmers and other similar users, not really for recreational uses. A torque-converter transmission and chains provided the movement to the rear wheels only. They offered a 4WD model around 1984, but by then, Honda had a 4WD ATV. The seller says they bought this from the original owner, and I would already own this if I weren’t getting rid of most of my motorcycles and other vehicles. Have any of you heard of this ATV?
The truth? You can’t handle the truth. I defy your truth handling abilities. ATV history goes all the way back to the beginning. Since most travel was off road anyway, Model Ts with dozer tracks, and went from there. I’d say this may be the 1st conventional ATVs, but looking back, some wild creations were made. Multiple drive axles, pivoting frames, tracks, spikes, those kooky spinning drum things on a tractor, you name it, it’s been tried. Regardless who you went with, they saved a lot of steps, and unless you really need an AWD unit, this will work fine. Just stay away from mud, they are incredibly helpless when stuck. You’ll realize why they went to AWD.
No gearhead that saw “Diamonds Are Forever” could forget the chase scene out in the alleged Nevada desert on the 3 wheel Honda ATV’s (amongst other scenes). But later on, when those that thought it was Honda’s fault that they fell off while trying to reenact that scene, Honda realized they needed another wheel to make it a more stable platform and thus the 4 wheel ATV craze really took off as I recall.. No real epiphany on Honda’s part, just good marketing. This one you found Scotty was probably as reliable and maybe cheaper but they didn’t get Sean Connery to use it in a movie hence it faded into ATV history.
Good and interesting find, sir, as is the 6 wheeler here earlier.