The bike design traces itself back to the pioneering era when
Gottlieb Daimler designed a similar prototype in 1886, since then the conventional seating position has been used on all bikes with the exception of the few bikes like the commercially successful
Ner-a-car and unsuccessful
Quasar. The bike design was first instigated when Gurney took a 1976
Honda XL350 as a base to develop the first design evolution known as the A-1 (a.k.a. "Grandpa Gator") and was completed in 1980. The bike was named after the reptile of the
same name, due to the bike's long, low appearance and was also chosen to reflect the North American nature of the species. After several years of R & D, with eighty nine different riders consisting of professional motorcycle and car racers, prominent bike enthusiasts, engineers, journalists and regular Sunday riders to help develop the bikes through test rides along with Gurney's busy schedule running a team, six different prototype configurations all have logged thousands of miles before Gurney and his team decided on a sixth evolution, the A-6, with full
fairing to be launched in 2002 with an intention to build no more than 36 as it was the number that appeared on the Eagle-
Weslake Formula One racer which won the
1967 Belgian Grand Prix. The weight of the Alligator is 320lbs. In 2002 AAR announced plans to build an updated version of the Alligator, called the 'Instigator', which was to be powered by a 1,820cc S&S V-twin engine, but production never began. == References == ==External links==