It's nice to see older vintage & classic coaches get a new lease on life with a makeover that's over & above carpet and curtains.....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/motorhome-classic-street...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

quote:

from ad: This vehicle has classic lines and looks.

Apparently those of us who thought Barths have classic lines are coming from a different place.

"Classic" in the sense that one might expect Darth Vader to be in the driver's seat......

But come on, Bill....enlarge that pic of the engine.....ya gotta admit there's not too many 1973 motorhomes that look like that!

quote:

Originally posted by Lee:
"Classic" in the sense that one might expect Darth Vader to be in the driver's seat......

But come on, Bill....enlarge that pic of the engine.....ya gotta admit there's not too many 1973 motorhomes that look like that!

LOL...There is a black Barth in WA that is named Barth Vader. I have always like Foretravels, too, but the styling of the earlier models (the ones I could afford) always put me off.

Yeah, that engine cought my eye, too. Anyone who does a 427 is probably a gearhead. However, my experience with vents on finned rocker boxes is that the only way to keep them clean is with a air/solvent sprayer. Methinks the le chatelaine would protest too much if I did that. That air cleaner really lets a lot of noise out, too, especially when the secondaries kick in. And the overhead instrument panel? But ya gotta love the open front access.

It looks like the coach was a labor of love for him. I wonder if it has wood or metal body framing. I can't imagine anyone putting that much effort into a stick and staple MH. If metal, it could be a good SOB for anyone who finds the styling acceptable.

quote:

Methinks the le chatelaine would protest too much if I did that.

Who cares what she thinks?....It's the WIFE ya gotta be worried about..........

Lee:

Nice find, thank you.

It is clearly a labor of love and a real craftsman job. As a boater I would have placed the MDS stuff and the gages differently.

The overall aesthetic of the coach is clearly deeply personal. In simple terms I find the body design awkward; wonderfully, no make that masterfully, finished but the basic design remains awkward.

It is a good posting because once again I strongly rejoice in finding Dave’s web site and benefiting from everyone’s posting before I started my labor of love.



Timothy

Boy!! this coach brings back the old days. Bob and Don Spar put a very nice coach in the early 70's, before they sold to Coachman. You're right Bill H, it was of the stick and staple. I
had two of them in our fleet of 12 Motorhomes. We took one to the FMCA Convention in Dequoin, IL. It had a rear bed, center bath layout, and
my wife and I nearly floated out of the coach, because Sportscoach had not sealed the rear window, when we had a middle of the night thunder storm in Terrahaute, Ind.

Also, one of our engineers blew the 454 V8 in
Atlanta in one of the Sportscoaches, and had the engine replaced. I happened to take this
same coach on vacation to Mackinaw Island. We got as far as Charlevoix to see the old Castle,
and when I turned the coach around to go back to
town, the coach went dead. Absolutely dead!!! So we got road service out there, and he couldn't get it started, so he towed the coach
back into town, and parked me next to the local Chevrolet dealer. If I remember correctly, this was on a Saturday, and the dealer wasn't open until Monday morning. Well we spent an enjoyable Sunday in downtown Charlevoix, and
first thing Monday morning, the mechanics swarmed over the coach to find the problem. One of them found a loose wire at the B-plus terminal on the alternator bracket, and asked me to try the ignition switch. Voila!! It started!! Apparently, when the engine was replaced in Atlanta, the mechanic stripped the thread on the terminal stud, and when I turned the coach around at the Castle, the wire came free of contact with the stud, and I had no hot lead
on the engine. Ah! The long lost memories of the past.

Jake Jacobson