I saw on one of the Facebook pages that someone has recently purchased bill h's tag axle Barth. One pic was from the ad and $6500 was scratched out and $5000 was written in. I thought that was pretty low for a coach of this caliber, as I recall bill had put a 502 and a lot of other things into it. Scanning the pix I finally got to the interior as it is now. Totally gutted to the aluminum. I would assume that's how he bought it, so my question would be why would someone buy a perfectly good usable motorhome and gut it out and sell it at what I'm sure was a huge loss.

A good example of the fate of so many old coaches. Sad to see.

Buyer decides to renovate, completely guts the coach. Realizes it will take 3 times the price to redo and endless labor. Project stalls, coach sits. Next owner buys it for even less, comes to the same conclusion. Never gets used again, sits so long brakes, tires, appliances and driveline are shot. Scrapyard time...

So few people have the knowlege and skills to evaluate and complete a total restoration. Why they gut them completely never made sense to me. Fix what's broken, get some use out of the coach. Be sure it is what you want, then tackle the next phase. Keep it operational as much as possible. Don't start a project before all materials and new parts are in hand and paid for.

With the tag axle and the newer 502, Bill's coach has good bones. I wondered what happened to it. I hope someone who is capable can rescue it.

I looked at the photos. Interior was nice. Emphasis on "was." Owner said there was a water leak and everything had to go. Totally gutted. I don't see why they did walls, ceiling and everything. Hard to believe it could not be done in sections....

This is exactly why I rarely recommend anyone buying a "fixer upper" coach or boat. Usually a dead end money pit. Unfortunately many of our 30 year old Barths are falling into this category.

As for me, that is exactly what i am looking for, a fixer upper. However, the one i looked at in dallas over the weekend was too far gone, even for me.

Steve, maybe the water leak was similar to the one on the net where the guy was launching his boat and the dogs in the coach started it backing. I bet you could get pretty far down a ramp and stop without engine damage with that coach, would it be easier to claim water damage from a roof leak vs immersion?

Yeah, that was some "water leak!"