How much is the overhang at the front over the windows 90+ compared to the non-overhang on the early 82-88 Barths?
Does it serve any purpose??

Probably mainly a styling gimmick, but it does serve the purpose of keeping roof runoff from flowing directly onto the upper windshield seal. I had a tiny leak from that seal even with the overhang. It would have been much worse if the full force of the runoff hit the seal.

Avoiding runoff on to the skin above the windshield is a Good Thing.

The constant accumulation on that area of salt-laden dew and fog runoff has caused some corrosion problems on my Barth.

Mostly styling. The styling is a take off of the 80s Newell which had the overhang as did some buses.

I knew a Barth owner who who liked the new brow so much that he took his back to the factory for a retrofit. I forgot how much they charged him, but it was a bunch.

I did read an article from when Barth became Barth RSV. It explains that it was a style gimmick to help rid the new coaches from having too much of a retro appeal. They did'nt want to totaly get rid of the old look but they found that one piece of fiberglass enough to split the differance. (Funny because I would think the other coaches would be trying to mimick the Barth look!) I love the overhang but it is a bit incovenient to have to get a ladder out to scrub the soffit portion, ( or the visor- horizontal portion,...whatever the proper nomanclature), which collects bugs quite well around dusk here in the midwest. I have not found a scrub pad that will attatch to a pole to properly clean it from afar.

Funny you should mention this. I am in the process of trying to put into print different things I've noticed about the Barth Coach.

Here is a little teaser that was taken from 2 pages of a currently 18 page article. Don't worry... Lots of pictures will make this a quick read.



1987 was the last year of the rounded, 3 piece, aluminum front roof . Somewhere around mid 1987 Barth started to produce a more modern looking extended cap over the front windshield. These caps were 1 piece and made of fiberglass.

Barth RSV 1995-98

The new paint designs at this point increasingly became one of waves and curves instead of straight lines and angles... The overhang above the windshield disappeared and, by the time the last Barth rolled out, looked more reminiscent of a city bus... minus the recessed signage.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill N.Y.:

1987 was the last year of the rounded, 3 piece, aluminum front roof. Somewhere around mid 1987 Barth started to produce a more modern looking extended cap over the front windshield. These caps were 1 piece and made of fiberglass.

My 84 has an aluminum center piece, which is rolled flat with the corners (which contain compound curves)made of FRP.

No, I don't understand why they weren't formed of aluminum like the back corners.

quote:

Originally posted by bill h:
No, I don't understand why they weren't formed of aluminum like the back corners.

That was a quick excerpt. A little later it shows this one and talked about the 73 and older Class A Barths.



Please tell me more about your 3 piece front roof section.

Here is one from Mary Ray's Regal.



Is yours like this one Bill?

quote:

Originally posted by Bill N.Y.:



Please tell me more about your 3 piece front roof section.

There is not much to tell, except that the center piece is rolled from a flat sheet and goes from the windshield rubber to the front edge of the roof sheet. The rivets on mine let go, so I had to reseal and rerivet last month. My back seam is popping rivets, too. I replace some last spring, but see another one has popped since then. I think the aluminum pop rivets they used don't like the salt-laden ocean fog and heavy dew every night.

quote:

Here is one from Mary Rays Regal.



Is yours like this one Bill?

Yup. Looks pretty much the same.

Treat the overhang carefully! It's fiberglass. When I was trying to wash off the Canadian mosquitos, I actually put the brush right through it. A little Bondo and some touchup paint later and I had it fixed.

Ouch!...I will keep that in mind. Here is a pic of the front of my 96.



Fiberglass front piece