I wouldn't know a Barth slide in if it bit me on the butt.

Michigan

That listing is gone but here's a slide in.
http://barthmobile.com/eve/for...=592107243#592107243

I can still bring the ad up, but it might be in a cookie or something. Let's try it this way.

I think it is...

I agree Bill. The window and light configuration is identical. The seller is in Michigan and was only asking $350 for it. Even if it's trashed inside, that's a pretty good deal. It's bow season for deer in Michigan so I didn't think it would last long. Some hunter probably slept in it last night.

quote:

Posted 10-08-2010 08:16 PM Hide Post
I can still bring the ad up, but it might be in a cookie or something. Let's try it this way.

The corners on this do not look like they have the radius of the Barth.


I tried to include the photo, no soap

quote:

Originally posted by Dick Dubbs:

The corners on this do not look like they have the radius of the Barth.

I don't know the year, but is it possible that it is an early model and they went to the wider radius corners later?

I couldn't find the posting of Barth's history, when did they start making RV's? Stinkydaddy's is a 1965 trailer w/large radius corners.

Pre-1963: Bob Barth built BeeLine trailers.

1963: Left Beeline to start Barth trailers

1968: Sold Barth company to Mike Umbaugh (investment banker)

1969: First Barth motorhome

1970: trailers phased out, now 100% MH & specialty vehicles

1998: Barth assets sold to Leatherman Construction

2001: (Feb) All Barth mfg activity ceases

Can't find any info on slide-in camper activity (although Class B's also tried for a year or two.)

quote:

Originally posted by Lee:
Pre-1963: Bob Barth built BeeLine trailers.

1963: Left Beeline to start Barth trailers

1968: Sold Barth company to Mike Umbaugh (investment banker)

1969: First Barth motorhome

1970: trailers phased out, now 100% MH & specialty vehicles

1998: Barth assets sold to Leatherman Construction

2001: (Feb) All Barth mfg activity ceases

Can't find any info on slide-in camper activity (although Class B's also tried for a year or two.)

Here are a few more interesting tidbits...

The Class C Chevy and Dodge Van's were from 1974-1977



1979 - Barth tried their hand at Conversion Vans.



In an effort to modernize the look... From about very late 1980 to early 1984 you had a choice between the front hood fiberglass Euro's to full fiberglass sprayed bodied "Barth's By MCC"

It appears, based on what we can document, that you could not buy a corrugated sided Barth unless you bought a Commercial Unit.

Euro 1980-1984... We found one from 1989


Barth By MCC 1980-1982


1981 Commercial Barth


1983 brought all aluminum back with the Regal.


The Class B on the Iveco Cutout seemed to be from 1983-1985.



1995 Mike Umbaugh gone

1995-1998 Dick Miller & Bill Prinz.

From what I understand about the Leatherman angle... He bought out the assets from Spartan and attempted to revive Barth again. He made one prototype and tried to get former and current owners to "Pre-Purchase" a new Barth.

It was described by someone as an RV Ponzi Scheme, or something akin to it. When he couldn't pull that off, Keith Leatherman took his one "Post Barth RSV" and motored off into the sunset thus killing the resurrection attempt.

quote:

Press Release: February 13, 2001.

Barth Custom Coach has ceased operations once again.

"Due to lack of orders and support for the continuation of the Barth, our family has made the decision not to produce the Barth Custom Coach," Keith Leatherman, president of Barth's parent company, Leatherman Construction Inc., said in a press release dated February 13, 2001.

Leatherman Construction had previously announced plans to manufacture 14 to 18 Barth custom motorhomes at a production facility in Albion, Indiana. The company reportedly spent nearly $500,000 to design, engineer, and produce a prototype complete with 14 new fiberglass molds. In the construction process, Barth incorporated a streamlined front to maintain the bus-type look typical of the earlier Barth motorhomes.

Barth road-tested the prototype for a full year and found it to be a quality product, according to Mr. Leatherman. He said the company had fielded numerous inquiries about purchasing a new Barth motorhome.

Leatherman Construction had purchased the assets of Barth RSV Inc. from Spartan Motors Inc. in 1998 with intentions of reviving the Barth motorhome.

The original Barth, founded in 1963, made factory-direct, custom-built motorhomes and motorized specialized vehicles for the recreational, educational, health care, governmental services, and transportation fields."

We list Barth Trailers & Coaches as being built from 1963-1998. But, there still could be a 2000, 2001 Barth by Keith Leatherman floating around.

My problem with this scenario is that his press release about reviving Barth he stated that he had a prototype built, he never supplied any pictures... For all I know, it was never built.

1 month after announcing that he spent a half mil retooling Barth, he then announced it was over. My opinion (skepticism) is that it never happened. But, if it did... I'd like to see some pictures.

Here is another announcement from November 15, 2000

quote:

Barth, one of the oldest names in high-end Class A motorhomes, is expected to return to the scene early next year.

A construction company owner from Albion, Ind., bought the Barth brand name about two years ago and he plans to resume production of bus profile, aluminum-skin units in the Northeast Indiana village around Jan. 1.

Keith Leatherman, the owner of the Barth brand, plans to custom-build the units and sell them directly to retail buyers, said Wayne Fox, general manager of Barth Custom Coach Inc.

However, Leatherman also hopes to find dealers to represent the Barth brand along the East and West coasts and the Gulf Coast states.

Barth units will be 30 to 40 feet long, will come with a galley slideout and will retail for $179,000 to $340,000.

They will come in three models: LS, Regency and Premier. The LS will be the shortest and least expensive and the Premier will be the longest and most expensive.

The 30-foot LS will be a gas engine unit on a Workhorse chassis. Thirty-foot LS gas units on a Ford chassis will be available on request, Fox said.

All other Barth units will be on Spartan diesel pusher chassis.

The 32-foot LS will come on a Spartan Summit while the 32- and 34-foot versions of the Regency will come on the Spartan Mountain Master. The 38- and 40-foot versions of the Premier will come on raised rail Mountain Master chassis.

Leatherman’s goal is to build 12 Barth units the first year and to build an additional two to three units in subsequent years, Fox said.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill N.Y.:

It appears, based on what we can document, that you could not buy a corrugated sided Barth unless you bought a Commercial Unit.

You lost me there.

quote:

1983 brought all aluminum back with the Regal.

Wsa all-aluminum ever really gone?

Do we know for sure when they started calling some of the coaches Regals?

quote:

Originally posted by Bill N.Y.:
It appears, based on what we can document, that you could not buy a corrugated sided Barth unless you bought a Commercial Unit.

quote:

Originally posted by bill h:
You lost me there.

1981'ish-1983'ish were dominated by the flat paneled Euro's and MCC by Barths. The corrugated, aluminum sided Barths were not produced in mass numbers. From the data tag project we could only find one Barth made in Sept 1981 that wasn't Euro or MCC and it was a commercial unit.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill N.Y.:
1983 brought all aluminum back with the Regal.

quote:

Originally posted by bill h:
Was all-aluminum ever really gone?

No, it doesn't appear to be. It appears that the commercial units were still all aluminum

quote:

Originally posted by bill h:
Do we know for sure when they started calling some of the coaches Regals?

From what can be gleamed of the data tag. Yes, 1983 was the first year of the Regal line.

Before that, they were called Barths, After that "Euro" and "MCC by Barth" and then "Regal".

Nothing is exact with Barth and my statements are to be considered in a broad sense of what went down. Look up the data tag project Bill and start crunching numbers. It's a little mundane, and probably irrelevant, but it shows how it played out.

quote:

We list Barth Trailers & Coaches as being built from 1963-1998. But, there still could be a 2000, 2001 Barth by Keith Leatherman floating around.

My problem with this scenario is that his press release about reviving Barth he stated that he had a prototype built, he never supplied any pictures... For all I know, it was never built.

1 month after announcing that he spent a half mil retooling Barth, he then announced it was over. My opinion (skepticism) is that it never happened. But, if it did... I'd like to see some pictures

At least Tucker and DeLorian had some prototypesand pictures.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill N.Y.:
1983 brought all aluminum back with the Regal.

quote:

Originally posted by bill h:
Was all-aluminum ever really gone?

quote:

Originally posted by Bill N.Y.:
No, it doesn't appear to be. It appears that the commercial units were still all aluminum

I want to clarify the "all aluminum" a little bit more - In April of 1987 the Regal line added a Composite Type of front top clip. Somewhere around this time frame, the Regency line had this done as well.



One more bit of interesting trivia...

I was told, by more than one Barth Employee when I was in Milford, that Barth made 1 Stainless Steel Coach. They didn't say if it was a Regal or a Regency.

They only built one, they said it was very heavy (Regency Maybe?) and they went thru a ton of broken drill bits and special rivets building this thing.

No photos or whereabouts of this unit is known.

quote:

Originally posted by DougZ:
I can still bring the ad up, but it might be in a cookie or something.

Did it say what year it was?