We met up with a 1990 20' Barth Regal at a truck stop in Ft. Stockton yesterday. He was headed west from Louisiana to his house in Arizona. Said he new Billy T.
I-10 was said to be closed from Texas to Arizona last night and this morning due to weather, so we are holed up at the KOA in Van Horn Tx. until tomorrow. Down to 17F last nite with an inch or two of snow and 'sposed to be colder tonight!
Maybe Benson or Tucson tomorrow. Hope it warms up some.
Don

Happened to find this pic my wife took as we were pulling out of the truck stop so thought I'd post it.

What a cutey! Is this the shortest motorhome [class A built as a motorhome] we know of?

There have been other 20' Class A's.
But not many.
http://www.viewrvs.com/a/argosy/argosy20.php
I looked up Safari Trek, thinking they were made that short, having no bed other than the Magic Bed over the cockpit. I found that those seem to have been only as short as 24'.

It seems in the back of my mind, that back in the 1970's, Winnebago made an 18' class A.

I just Googled it and Winnebago did make an 18 footer. Basically, a bathroom in back, a kitchen area and 2 sofas.

I remember going skiing (about 1981) to Colorado with a family. We took several vehicles and several of us guys got the dinky little Winnebago. It seemed like it had a 318 and it was roomier than a van...

I should have been clearer. I meant Barth.

quote:

It seems in the back of my mind, that back in the 1970's, Winnebago made an 18' class A.

The Winnebago D-18's were really cool. They looked the best from 1968 to 1970 and then they rounded off the front point by the grill and it started to look a little wimpier. Before purchasing the Barth I researched them for a while but they lacked quality of construction in comparison with the Barth units. They came with a 318 and unless really well stored, were prone to rusting underneath (in the midwest anyway). There is a real nice example somewhere, I will see if I can find it the 1972



and the 1970

Neither link worked for me, Kris

A customer had an eighteen or nineteen foot wini way back when. Built on a ford chassis with a 300" Ford 6.

The Cortez motorhome 19-21' frontwheel drive was a compact all-steel coach manufactured by the Clark Equipment company of Kent Ohio.

Full timed for 3.5 years in a 1976 model with the 455 cu. inch Oldsmobile Toronado engine. 9-10 mpg.

rb

Here's a few pictures:

Interesting. I had thought the Cortez was equivalent to a Superior, on a Dodge truck chassis.

The Cortez had independent torsion bar suspension,roll bar construction, with over 150,000 welds. A boast I heard several times was that there never was a recorded fatality in a Cortez, due to robust construction; that one went over the cliff along the pacific coast highway in Big Sur, California, with the coach occupants surviving.

Rust was a major problem - when cooking, condensation formed on inner roof. Too bad they didn't have an aluminum skin, as did Barth, Revcon, Newell and others. Oxidation, loss of electrons was its undoing for longevity.

Here are a few links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortez_Motor_Home

http://www.cortezcoach.com/

rb