Well, it's close to what I'm looking for, in terms of size, and it sure looks like a Bustle out back.

But how the #$%&% do you get that paint ("high quality flat black"...) off of the aluminum so it can be polished?

Looks like the daddy of this one was a UPS truck....that is too strange.........

quote:

Originally posted on craigslist:
'73 Chevy Barth RV. Strong 350ci motor 66k mi. Sleeps 6, propane heat, stove ,
water, sink , refrigerator , toilet. Great 4 camping or hunting . High quality
flat black paint . $ 3.900 call 720 341 4586

quote:

Originally posted by Gorman Newman:
Looks like the daddy of this one was a UPS truck....that is too strange.........

The early Barths had a shorter front windshield. Here is a prime example of one.



Sans the high quality flat black paint that is...

quote:

Originally posted by Roger in Seattle:
Well, it's close to what I'm looking for, in terms of size...

Roger... look for the PM that I sent you.

quote:

Originally posted by Gorman Newman:
Looks like the daddy of this one was a UPS truck.....

This is one of a whole fleet of black Barths. They were purchased by a black agency of the Feddle Gummint for crew transport to and from the SR71 Blackbird at Area 51 way back when it was a big secret project. They were all painted black to confuse spies with satellites and looky-loos with binoculars and cameras. The idea of painting them black was not to make them black, nor was it to make them all look alike. It wasn't even because they had lots of black paint. It was to eliminate their radar signature as they drove to and fro in the dark. They used the same special high quality flat black paint the Blackbird used, so they were practically invisible at night, and difficult to spot on the blacktop roads of Area 51. If you have ever noticed that there are no stripes down the middle of any of the roads there, it is so the Stealth Barths would be harder to detect on the blacktop.

These are the most prized of all Barths, as they also had a Banks dual-turbo 468 engine installed, with a Gear Vendors overdrive. Those naughty boys who like to go fast in their Barths love these because they are invisible to police radar, IR, Lascar, Vascar and even melt into the blacktop as seen from the eye in the sky.

Several of them have placed very high in the annual Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash of yore. One was first used as a chase car/support vehicle for the Skoda team, but it turned out that it was faster and more reliable than the Skoda entry, so the team finished in the Barth. By sheer coincidence, the driver of that Barth was Bart Markel, a motorcycle racer, whose nickname was Black Bart. He was known for riding faster on bikes others couldn't handle. Well, word got around, and the next year there were several other RVs wanting a piece of the action. The only one that came close was a Revcon with a Joe Mondello Olds engine. The Revcon was very fast due to its lightness and low profile, as well as the belly pan. Of course, Mondello's engine, taken from his Parker Enduro win, helped a lot, too.

But, I digress. The RV class was neck and neck until the Olds spun a rod bearing, a weakness of that marque, and the Barths swept the field. Sadly, a number of other RVs failed or crashed, and because of the danger of bad publicity, RVs were banned, and have never been invited back.

One of the Factory Barth drivers told me that it was a good thing, as the Black Barths were getting too fast for their own good, far beyond the potato chip truck chassis' capabilities. Some of the mods they did were picked up by IPD, SuperSteer and Hellwig, and can be bought today.

Buying the Black Barth would be owning a piece of history. Perhaps the last one, as most of the other ones fell victim of their own speed and got into the notorious P30 death speed wobble, a deadly combination of a yaw and a Dutch Roll. Barth knew of this, and also knew there was no escape, as each oscillation fed the previous until it pitched itself into the air to land in a 45 degree roll. So they fitted a Martin-Baker (no relation to the eponymous Erwin Baker of the Cannonball Run) ejection seat for both driver and navigator. If anyone goes to look at this, you can tell if it is the real deal by looking for evidence of a hatch over each seat. And if the H is missing off the end of the Barth logo, it will be the Crown Jewel of the Barth racing history.

bill h, ..........looks like you were pretty deep into the sauce, .....................hell it's almost believable

That's right Dick, he's been there again. I know the signs. You ought to see when he gets into scientific theory. That's really scary.

There was also another fact based account on this Barth too. Maybe Bill H. can F5 my mind.

quote:

There was also another fact based account on this Barth too. Maybe Bill H. can F5 my mind.

Black Rock Desert, that's where a bunch of space cadets gather annually for some kind of GTG

Bill h , what a great story of the history.........that is so cool. Thanks for that knowledge...incredible gorman

bill h - via Rusty as an innocent conduit:

"We're watching you"

You actually had me until the ejector seat part.