check out a very regal Regal:

http://www.caravanselecta.co.u...with-A-CS101327.aspx

Wow, $39,783.01 US dollars.

Wonder if it is right side drivers seat.....

quote:

Originally posted by Marvin+Doris:
Wonder if it is right side drivers seat.....

Frontal view looks like left side drive.
Nick

I recall when I first joined B-M there was a guy who bought and imported a Barth to the UK. I go there quite often as I work for a UK based company and it is rare to even see a Caravan (RV in the UK) never-mind a Barth. There are also very few campgrounds compared to the states.

There are two major considerations that would weigh on anyone buying a US RV, one is width; a 102" just wouldn't fit over there, the second is headlights would need conversion to dip to the left.

The Brits may be especially fond of a Barth as they have a long and interesting history with Al-U-MIN-IUM. The Land Rovers, AC Cobras, and numerous other vehicles were crafted in aluminum when most other nations used steel for auto skins. I recall my 72 MGB had an aluminum hood way back too. Even today many of the high end aluminum automotive parts come form the UK.

All this made me wonder...who found or invented aluminum...here's the WIKI on it:

No one invented Aluminum. It's a naturally occurring element, Atomic Number 13. Until late in the 19th century, aluminum was far more precious than gold or platinum. In spite of it's being the third most common element in the earth's crust, it was difficult to extract, so was extremely rare in any pure form. A pound of aluminum would have cost $100,000 in 1885, but because of the work of Charles Martin Hall in that year, a process for refining the metal inexpensively from ore made it more readily available, and the price plummeted. This once rare metal is now one of the most common construction metals in the world. Only steel is more used.

quote:

Originally posted by noble97monarch:
I recall when I first joined B-M there was a guy who bought and imported a Barth to the UK.

I think this is Grizzlygiant's old coach that he sold to Oliver.

quote:

Originally posted by oliver:
Thus I am going to convert to LPG which will cost $4,000 approx.

This could be the start of more Barths in England.

quote:

Originally posted by oliver:
Maybe I'll make it an annual pilgramage, come over the pond buy one, ship it home, live in it for a year, sell it in UK or Europe and keep repeating the glorious cycle!!!

The Ad does state that it has a recent LPG Conversion.

quote:

(with a new lpg conversion)

So...we got a count on Canadian members, how many Brit or other country members do we have Bill?

I'll bet there are some Barths in Central and South America. Maybe not legally, but....

Just to keep Blighty from getting too much credit.....The Wright Brothers flew because Charles Taylor built them an engine using much aluminum. It was far lighter than any other engine at the time.

Pierce Arrow used CAST aluminum bodies pre WWI.

Germany invented the far-stronger Duralumin alloy and kept it a military secret during WWI.

Junkers built the first all metal airplane, of steel, but switched to an aluminum skin almost immediately. He woulda used aluminum as a frame, but there was not enough allocated to his factory. His work (and the info on Duralumin was he impetus for postwar development in the US aircraft industry.

quote:

Originally posted by noble97monarch:
So...we got a count on Canadian members, how many Brit or other country members do we have Bill?

I believe there are 3 Barths in the UK. Here is an Iveco Barth that is tooling around Great Britain. Before Dave had his mishap with his PhotoBucket account and before Shutterfly closed down, we had those images of Oliver's coach.

quote:

Originally posted by Marvin+Doris:
Wonder if it is right side drivers seat.....

There were several RHD Barths made, but they were Mail Mobiles, intended for RFD mailmen to use for rural mail delivery. The idea was that the drivers could place mail in rural mailboxes without leaving their seat. The chassis were bought at close-out prices from Chevrolet, who had made them up as a special order for UPS, whose drivers were always jumping in and out of the right side for deliveries.

UPS discovered that the steering column on the right actually made things worse and canceled the order, leaving GM holding the bag. Barth bought the lot at almost giveaway prices, and started on the MailMobile production.

Margaret Thatcher, then PM of England, visited the Barth factory as part of an automotive industry sponsored trip to Michigan, and was sold on the idea of a RHD Barth. She had intended on using it as a secret love nest for an illicit affair she was conducting with Enoch Powell, but it was so conspicuous that it just became used as a mobile hunting lodge for her grouse and pheasant hunting husband and his cronies. Soon, others in the same circle wanted Barths, and Barth quickly built MHs on the rest of the chassis they had purchased, making a stunning profit that saved the company from the imminent that everyone feared would take place.

When Thatcher left office, Denis' friends drifted away, and sold their Barths. They later were acquired by the government and converted......

quote:

Originally posted by bill h:
(Margaret Thatcher) had intended on using it as a secret love nest for an illicit affair she was conducting with Enoch Powell, but it was so conspicuous that it just became used as a mobile hunting lodge for her grouse and pheasant hunting husband and his cronies.

Someone is getting a visit from MI-6

quote:

(Margaret Thatcher) had intended on using it as a secret love nest for an illicit affair she was conducting with Enoch Powell

That just creeps me out!!